JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- People have waited all season for the Chargers to explode. One of them finally did.

Outside linebacker Shawne Merriman could no longer hold back his anger after the Chargers imploded again, falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-17 before 66,732 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Sunday.

The Chargers' signature defensive player questioned whether his teammates detest losing as much as he does and disgustedly pleaded for a change of attitude.

"First of all, you've got to hate to lose," Merriman said. "You've got to hate to lose, man. This is not a good feeling."

Asked whether all the Chargers' players hate to lose, Merriman said: "No, no, no, no, not right now. Not yet. No."

The defeat left the Chargers sitting at 5-5, hardly the type of record forecasted for a team that returned 11 players who either played in the Pro Bowl or were named to the team last season.

And the latest loss, which saw the Chargers trail 10-0 after one quarter and by two touchdowns at halftime, didn't sit well with Merriman.

"This game is played with violence; this game is played with an attitude," Merriman said. "I have no friends out there on the field. Don't talk to me. I just want to play football for 60 minutes.

"You have to go out there and play aggressive for 60 minutes. That's how you win a football game.

"Not the first half, not the second -- 60 minutes of football. That's how you play the game. You have to want it and you have to hate to lose. You've got to hate to lose."

The team's marquee player -- reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson -- spoke in a less vocal fashion but agreed with Merriman's sentiments.

"It's human nature sometimes to get complacent," Tomlinson said. "People start patting you on your back when you have some success, and you get complacent and you think everything is going to come easy.

"Shawne may have a point there that some guys may take losing as just what it is -- we lost, but at least I still get paid. As long as you have that attitude, you're going to be losers."

Tomlinson said he thought the organization had weeded out uncommitted players a few years ago, and he predicted that some players will be shown the door after this season.

"Eventually, them guys are going to come to the forefront and then they're going to be out of here," Tomlinson said. "Guys like that don't last long around this league and certainly won't be around on this team. Pretty soon, they'll be out of here."

It's not a stretch to say the postgame sermons were more entertaining than the game, unless you're a fan of the Jaguars (7-3). Jacksonville came out storming while the Chargers sleepwalked -- running 22 offensive plays to the Chargers' six in the first quarter -- and built a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes.

The score was 17-3 at halftime before the Chargers finally began to look as if they knew it was game day.

"I don't want to blame it on time, but we're playing at 10 o'clock California time so your mind is into it and you try to get your body going at 10 o'clock in the morning to play a football game," strong safety Clinton Hart said. "That's no excuse, but sometimes it takes a little extra to get going when you have an early game like this.

"Still, no matter where you play, you have to get up and get going and try to take care of business."

The Chargers put together a solid five-play, 60-yard drive to start the second half, and Tomlinson's 6-yard touchdown run cut Jacksonville's lead to 17-10.

On their next drive, the Chargers faced fourth-and-2 from the Jaguars' 39, and coach Norv Turner opted to punt the football instead of going for the first down.

Though Jacksonville was pinned back at its own 13 by Mike Scifres, the Jaguars moved 87 yards in five plays to take a 24-10 lead. On consecutive plays, Jaguars quarterback David Garrard hit Dennis Northcutt for 22 yards, George Wrighster for 36 yards and Reggie Williams for 26 to move the ball to the 1. Garrard then threw a 1-yard scoring pass to Marcedes Lewis with 5:02 left in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Turner gambled on fourth-and-2 from the Jaguars' 37 by calling on Tomlinson to throw a halfback option pass. Tight end Antonio Gates was held up at the line, the play never developed, and Tomlinson ran out of bounds 3 yards short of a first down.

"Right or wrong, I thought we had a chance to hit a big play," Turner said. "Obviously, if you can't throw it, L.T. has his hands on the ball. At the time, it didn't work out."

Quarterback Philip Rivers took no issue with Turner's call.

"It's one of those … you hit a big play or you don't," said Rivers, who passed for 306 yards but threw two interceptions. "If you hit it, it's the best call in the history of the game. If you don't hit it, you get it questioned.

"I've never been one to question the plays and I'm not going to start that now."

Later in the fourth quarter, the Chargers moved 90 yards in seven plays, with Rivers throwing a 24-yard scoring pass to Gates to make it 24-17 with 5:06 left. But on the final possession, Rivers was intercepted by Sammy Knight with 1:26 to play.

Then it was time to ascertain why the Chargers -- who somehow lead the AFC West by half a game over Denver, pending the outcome of the Broncos' game tonight against Tennessee -- only showed up for one half of such a pivotal game.

"We can't click at a certain point," Merriman said. "We can't play better the first half or play better the second. We have to come out and play 60 minutes of football because if we don't, exactly what happened today is going to happen to us again.

"You've got to hate to lose, period. Whatever we're not doing right, we have to fix it."

Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.