San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Originally called the Los Angeles Chargers, the club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The club spent its first season in Los Angeles, California before moving to San Diego in 1961.
The Chargers won one AFL title in 1963 and reached the AFL playoffs five times and the AFL Championship four times before joining the NFL (1970) as part of the AFL-NFL Merger. In the 34 years since then, the Chargers have made ten trips to the playoffs and four appearances in the AFC Championship game.

1970-1981
In 1970 the San Diego Chargers were placed into the AFC West division after the NFL merger with the AFL. But by then, the Chargers fell on hard times; Gillman, who had returned as general manager, stepped down in 1971, and many of the Charger players from the 1960s had already either retired o traded. The Chargers acquired veteran players like Deacon Jones Johnny Unitas however it was at the later stages of their careers and the team struggled placing third or fourth in the AFC West each year from 1970 to 1978.
1978 was marked by the "Holy Roller" game, or as Chargers fans call it the "Immaculate Deception". It was a game-winning play executed by the Oakland Raiders against the Chargers on September 10, in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium.What many Charger fans believed should have been called an incomplete pass (and possibly intentional grounding) was seen as a fumble and the rest of the play involved illegal batting of the ball. The officials did not think the illegal actions were obvious enough to call a penalty so the play ended in a touchdown.With 10 seconds left in the game, the Raiders had possession of the ball at the Chargers' 14-yard line, trailing 20-14. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler took the snap and found himself about to be sacked by Chargers linebacker Woody Loweon the 24-yard line. Stabler lost the ball, and it rolled forward towards the San Diego goal line. Running back Pete Banaszak tried to recover the ball on the 12-yard line, but could not keep his footing, and the ball was pushed even closer to the end zone. Raiders tight end Dave Casper was the next player to reach the ball but he also could not get a hand on it. He batted and kicked the ball into the end zone, where he fell on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out. With the ensuing extra point by placekicker Errol Mann, the Raiders won, 21-20.
1979 marked a turning point for the Chargers franchise as The Sporting News named team general manager John Sanders NFL Executive of the Year after balloting of other NFL executives. Fouts set an NFL record with his fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game, in a game in which he threw for 303 yards against the Raiders. The team coached by Don Coryell (with an offense nicknamed "Air Coryell," featured running back Chuck Munce along with Winslow, Joiner and wide receiver John Jefferson) clinched their first playoff beth in 14 years with a 35-0 victory against the New Orleans Saints. On December 17, the Chargers defeated the Denver Broncos 17-7 for their first AFC West division title since the AFL-NFL merger before a national Monday Night Footbal television audience and their home crowd. Their time in the playoffs was short as they would lose to the Houston Oilers 17-14 loss in the divisional round. Ron Mix became the second AFL player and second Charger to be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, during halftime of the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.
The 1980 team saw Fouts set a club record with 444 yards passing in the Chargers' 44-7 victory over the New York Giants. Kellen Winslow caught 10 passes for 171 yards and Chargers clinched their second straight AFC West title by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-17 and finished the regular season with an 11-5 record. In the playoffs, they won the divisional round 20-14 over the Buffalo Bills. However, they fell one game shy of Super Bowl XV in a 34-27 loss to the eventual-champion Raiders.
In 1981, the Chargers won their third straight AFC West title with a 10-6 season. They traded wide receiver John Jefferson to the Green Bay Packers after he held out for an increase in salary. Defensive end Fred Dean also became involved in a hold out and was traded to the 49ers. He would go on to lead the 49ers and the NFL with 17.5 sacks and win his first Super Bowl ring. In the playoffs, they managed to outlast the Miami Dolphins in the divisional round, 41-38, in a game that became known as The Epic in Miami. The temperature was 85°F with high humidity (29.4°C) at the Miami Orange Bowl but it did not stop either team's offense. The Chargers were led by quarterback Dan Fouts who made the Pro Bowl for the third year in a row, setting an NFL single season record at that point and time of 4,802 yards and 33 touchdowns. The Dolphins were led by head coach Don Shula and featured a defense that gave up the fifth-fewest points in the NFL in the regular season.
This game set playoff records for the most points scored in a playoff game (79), the most total yards by both teams (1,036), and most passing yards by both teams (809). Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke eventually kicked the winning 29-yard field goal after 13:52 of overtime to help San Diego beat Miami, 41-38. The image of an exhausted tight end Kellen Winslow, who finished the game with 13 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown, being helped off the field by two of his Chargers teammates has been replayed countless times. Kellen Winslow was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.
However, the eventual-AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals, playing in their first AFC Championship Game, defeated the Chargers 27-7 in what became known as the Freezer Bowl. The temperature of nine degrees below zero with a wind-chill factor of minus 59 makes this the coldest weather conditions for a title game in the history of the NFL. Chargers owner Gene Klein tried to get the Bengals to postpone the game but he was turned down as the Bengals felt that the weather would be an advantage for them versus the Chargers.

1982-1993
In a rematch of the 1981 American Football Conference Championship Gane the Chargers played the Bengals in San Diego on December 20th, 1982. The Chargers would generate a total offensive yardage record of 661 (501 yards passing, 175 yards rushing) that still stands as the most in team history in defeating Cincinnati, 50-34. Klein cut salary in preparation of selling the team, sending defensive linemen Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Louie Kelcher to San Francisco, where they would join Dean and offensive tackle Billy Shields for another 49ers championship in Super Bowl XXIV.
The Chargers made it back to the playoffs during the strike shortened 1982 season, but after beating the Steelers in the first round, they lost to the Dolphins 34-13 in a rematch of their playoff game from the previous season. That loss began a slide for the Chargers, who from 1983 to 1991 failed to make the National Football League playoffs every season.
In 1984 Alex Spanos purchased a majority interest in San Diego from Klein on August 1. Benirschke was named "Miller Man of the Year" and Joiner set an NFL record with his 650th pass reception in the fourth quarter of the game at Pittsburgh. In 1985 guard Ed White set an NFL record by playing in 241 NFL games, most all-time among offensive linemen. Al Saunders was named the seventh head coach in Chargers history in 1986 following the resignation of Coryell. In 1987 Joiner retired to become receivers coach of the Chargers. The Chargers finished with an 8-7 record, their first winning record since 1982, despite winding up with six straight losses. In 1988 Fouts retired after 15-year career in which he set seven NFL records and 42 club records, and became the NFL's second most prolific passer of all-time with 43,040 yards. Fouts's jersey number (14) was retired at halftime of "Dan Fouts Day" game in San Diego. In 1989 Dan Henning, a former Chargers quarterback, Washington Redskins assistant, and Atlanta Falcons head coach, was named the eighth head coach in Chargers history. Marion Butts set a club record with 39 carries and a team rookie record with 176 yards in Chargers' 20-13 win in Kansas City. After a three-year stint as Director of Football Operations, Steve Ortmayer was released after the season and replaced by Bobby Beathard.
Henning's tenure with the Chargers lasted three seasons as Bobby Ross was hired as head coach in 1992 and the Chargers acquired quarterback Stan Humphries in a trade with Redskins. The Chargers would lose their first four games of the season and come back to became the first 0-4 team to make the playoffs as they won 11 of the last 12 games and clinched the AFC West title. Ross was named NFL Coach of the Year for the Chargers' dramatic turnaround by Pro Football Weekly. In the first round of the playoffs, the Chargers shut out the Kansas City Chiefs 17-0, but the Dolphins shut the Chargers out in the divisional playoffs to eliminate the Chargers. In 1993, the Chargers finished 8-8 (fourth in their division).

1994-2003
In the 1994 season, the Chargers made their first and, so far, only Super Bowl appearance, against the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX. They got to the Super Bowl by winning their first six regular season games, the only NFL team to do so in 1994, and finished the season 11-5. Quarterback Stan Humphries and wide receiver Tony Martin combined on a 99-yard touchdown completion to tie an NFL record during a defeat of the Seattle Seahawks, 27-10. They would become the 1994 AFC West Division champions behind a defense led by linebacker Junior Seau, defensive tackles Reuben Davis and Shawn Lee, defensive end Leslie O'Neal and an offense keyed by running back Natrone Means, Humphries and Martin. The Chargers had upset victories over the Dolphins and Steelers in the AFC playoffs. Despite those two close triumphs (22-21 against the Dolphins in the Divisional Round, and 17-13 against the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game), the Chargers lost Super Bowl XXIX to the 49ers, who were led by quarterback Steve Young (Super Bowl MVP) and wide receiver Jerry Rice. Despite the lopsided loss in the Super Bowl, Beathard, who traded for or drafted the bulk of the Chargers roster, and who hired coach Ross, was named the NFL's smartest man by Sports Illustrated and became the only general manager to lead three different teams to the Super Bowl (Chargers, Dolphins, Redskins).
The Chargers follow-up year in 1995 didn't bring the same success of the previous season, but the team still managed to get into the playoffs with a five-game winning streak to end the season at 9-7. However, in the first round, the Chargers were eliminated by the Indianapolis Colts in a 35-20 defeat. In 1996, Running back Rodney Culver and his wife, Karen, were killed in the crash of ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades. Culver was the second player in team history to die while on the active roster after David Griggs was killed in a one-car accident in Davie, Florida 11 months earlier. 1997 would find Ross and Beathard at odds with one another and would result in Ross and his staff being released. The Chargers selected Kevin Gilbride to become their new head coach. Gilbride, whose coaching background with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oilers featured a more open passing attack would mark a major change in offensive style from the ball control ground game of Ross. Beathard drafted quarterback Ryan Leaf after trading several players and draft choices to the Arizona Cardinals in order to move up to the second pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. The Chargers would see the team struggle in pass protection resulting in Humphries suffering several concussions and his retirement from the game. Gilbright was replaced by interim head coach June Jones, who was on the Chargers' staff before the hire. Jones would leave the team at the end of the season to coach at the University of Hawaii and the Chargers would name former Oregon State University head coach Mike Riley as their new head coach. Leaf wound up having a disappointing career with the Chargers after a great deal of controversy with both the Charger management as well as the press and his teammates. His failure to be the player the team envisioned was seen as a black mark on the franchise and will be remembered by some as one of the worst draft/trades in the history of pro football. Quarterback Jim Harbaugh, who was acquired in trade with the Baltimore Ravens for a conditional draft choice in 2000, became the Chargers starting quarterback. Beathard retired in April 2000 and was replaced January 2001 by John Butler, former general manager of the Bills. From 1996 to 2003, the Chargers had eight-straight seasons where they were .500 or worse.
2001 saw Norv Turner, the former head coach of the Redskins, named offensive coordinator by Riley. Turner would go on to install the offense that he coached with the Dallas Cowboys under Ernie Zampese, former offense coordinator during the Coryell era. The Chargers signed Heisman Trophy winner free agent quarterback Doug Flutie, formerly with the Bills and traded the team's first overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons for the first round selection (fifth overall) and third-round selection in the same draft. In addition the Chargers obtained wide receiver/kick returner Tim Dwight and the Falcons' second-round draft selection in the 2002 NFL Draft. The Chargers used those selections in the 2001 draft to select Texas Christian University running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Purdue University quarterback Drew Brees.
Hired as a replacement to Riley, Marty Schottenheimer's Chargers squad opened the 2002 season with four straight victories making him the only coach in team history to win his first four games. Butler would succumb to cancer after a nine-month struggle in April of 2003. Replacing Butler was A. J. Smith, who was named Executive Vice President-General Manager, replacing his close friend. Smith and Butler had worked together with the Bills playing key roles with Buffalo's Super Bowl teams. In 2003, the Chargers traded Seau to the Dolphins for a draft pick in 2004 NFL Draft. Seau was selected to 2003 Pro Bowl, his 12th Pro Bowl selection of his career, and in his final season with the Chargers, he was chosen by teammates as the recipient of the Emil Karas Award as the team’s Most Inspirational Player. Also in 2003, Tomlinson accumalated 195 total yards from scrimmage in a late season game against the Packers to raise his season total to 2,011 and became the first player in team history and the eighth player in NFL history to record consecutive 2,000-yard seasons. Tomlinson also became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and catch 100 passes in the same season .

2004
Although the Chargers were tied with three other teams for the worst record of the 2003 NFL season, the league’s tie-breaking system gave San Diego the number one pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. With this pick, the Chargers selected Quarterback Eli Manning from the University of Mississippi despite Manning's stated desire to play elsewhere. New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who had been in trade negotiations for several weeks before the draft with the Chargers, selected quarterback Philip Rivers fourth and traded him along with additional draft picks to the Chargers. Rivers was expected to compete for the starting quarterback job, but he held out of training camp in a contract dispute. Drew Brees, who received the majority of snaps at quarterback during Rivers' hold out, would retain the starting quarterback position. The team earned a trip back to the post-season in 2004 by capturing the AFC West division title with a 12-4 regular season record. The Chargers entered the first round of the playoffs but were eliminated by the New York Jets, who won in overtime 20-17. Rookie kicker Nate Kaeding missed a 40-yard field goal that would have advanced San Diego into the next round, thus opening the door for a Jets victory. Despite an abrupt ending to their season, Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year for the season, and Brees was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
During the 2005 NFL Draft, the Chargers drafted linebacker Shawne Merriman with a draft pick acquired from the Giants in the Eli Manning trade, who would go on to become a selection to the 2006 Pro Bowl and the 2005 Defensive NFL Rookie of the Year Award recipient. The team then used their second first round selection on defensive tackle Luis Castillo.The Chargers started the season without tight end Antonio Gates as he was suspended two games by Smith for holding out in training camp. The 2005 season saw LaDainian Tomlinson's 18-game touchdown scoring streak end as Kaeding had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown in a 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on the road. Facing the 13-0 Colts on the road, the Chargers took a 16-0 lead into the third quarter of the game, but the Colts responded with 17 points of their own to take a 1-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Chargers would retake the lead on a field goal by Kaeding then scored again on an 83-yard touchdown run by Michael Turner. However a week later, the Chargers lost on the road to the Chiefs as an injured Tomlinson rushed for only 47 yards. The Chargers would go on to lose their season finale to the Broncos, with Brees suffering a dislocated shoulder to end the Chargers' 9-7 season.

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