San Diego ? The San Diego Chargers have beaten the New England Patriots in September and October without any problem.

Now they need to do it in January, when the Patriots really shine.

The Patriots visit the Chargers today in the divisional round, and the numbers don’t lie – it should be a pretty good game.

San Diego has been supercharged by NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, who rewrote the league’s single-

season scoring records with 31 touchdowns and 186 points. He’s still looking for the first playoff win – and touchdown – of his six-year career.

New England is led by Tom Brady, the quarterback who is 11-1 in the playoffs, including three Super Bowl victories in a four-year span.

There are plenty of other factors.

San Diego scored an NFL-high 492 points behind Tomlinson and first-year starting quarterback Philip Rivers. New England held its opponents to 237, second-lowest in the league. Defensive-minded coach Bill Belichick no doubt will throw something at Rivers the QB hasn’t seen.

While the Patriots will try to keep marching toward their fourth Super Bowl appearance in six seasons, the Chargers and their coach, Marty Schottenheimer, will try to erase some brutal playoff history.

The Chargers haven’t won in the playoffs since stunning Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game on Jan. 15, 1995. Counting the Super Bowl wipeout that followed, they’ve lost three straight in the postseason.

And of course, Schottenheimer is 5-12 in the playoffs, with Cleveland, Kansas City and San Diego. Should the loss column hit 13 short of the Super Bowl, he could be fired by general manager A.J. Smith. They haven’t seen eye to eye – or even spoken much – in the last several months. Schottenheimer has a year left on his contract, at more than $3 million.

San Diego has beaten the Patriots twice in the last five regular seasons, in 2002 in San Diego and in 2005, when they snapped the Patriots’ NFL-record 21-game home winning streak.

Then again, all that might not matter today.

“I honestly don’t believe the outcome of this weekend’s game is going to be influenced in any way by history,” said Schottenheimer, who has lost his last five playoff games dating to 1993, when he was coaching Kansas City. “History is a road map. You know, it doesn’t give you the ultimate declaration of what is.”

What the Chargers hope for is a step toward their first Super Bowl title.