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Before I delve into the historical context regarding Saturday’s Wild Card game between the Chargers and Texans in Houston, acknowledgment is due to my fellow San Diegans who have their own interpretation of the team’s past as it relates to its present.
I’m referring to the “Chargers are dead to me” folks who said the franchise ceased to exist the moment chairman Dean Spanos and family took the club north.
Eight years ago this month, Spanos severed a 56-year relationship with San Diego by announcing plans to relocate to Los Angeles. The way the exit was handled earned Spanos and sons no gold, silver or bronze medals for warmth, tact or business sense.
To many of the San Diegans who swore off the franchise, the team’s San Diego history doesn’t apply to the Los Angeles Chargers. Two different cities, two different histories, they say.
No less mindful of the saddest date in San Diego sports history — Jan. 12, 2017 — are the San Diegans who still regard the Chargers as the Chargers and follow them in order to delight in the team’s misfortunes.
Still other San Diegans have continued to support the team.
Now, about that history.
Oddsmakers favor the fifth-seeded Chargers by three points over the fourth-seeded Texans. The only other Los Angeles Chargers team favored in a playoff game was coach Brandon Staley’s second L.A. club that went into Jacksonville as a 21/2-point favorite.
Those Chargers led 27-0 in the third quarter but, giving Angelenos a full sense of the Chargering experience, lost 31-30 to the Jaguars.
For the San Diego Chargers and their fans, the worst moments often came when the team was favored to win a playoff game at home.
The most recent of such contests saw Norv Turner’s third Chargers team enter as a nine-point favorite against Rex Ryan’s Jets and exit with a 17-14 defeat witnessed by an announced crowd of 69,498 in Mission Valley.
The date was Jan. 17, 2010. The Chargers were fortunate that sunny afternoon, recovering all three of their fumbles and enjoying good health by NFL standards.
They just did too much Chargering.
They committed ten penalties, two for temper tantrums. Nate Kaeding missed three field goal tries. Philip Rivers threw two interceptions, saying later that Ryan’s defensive wrinkles in the second half created confusion.
Years later, in a stunning acknowledgment of the franchise’s fragile psyche, Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera credited Ryan for getting into the Chargers’ heads with his comments a few days before game. Ryan said that while the Chargers may be the better team, the Jets needed only to be better in that particular game.
As it turned out, it was the final home playoff game played by the San Diego Chargers. Though Spanos announced a contract extension for Turner two days after the defeat, the coach never took the Chargers back to the playoffs. Nor did Turner land another head coaching job after Spanos fired him following his sixth season.
What next?
Going 11-6 this year, Jim Harbaugh had the best first season as a Chargers head coach since Bobby Ross led his inaugural Bolts squad to an 11-5 record.
Even so, when it comes to countering Chargering tendencies in the playoffs, Harbaugh has some proving to do.
One assistant coach in the NFL, per The Athletic’s Mike Sando, proclaimed the Texans will “definitely” win Saturday’s game. Sando suggested that fresh in that coach’s mind was the Chargers’ collapse in the franchise’s most recent playoff game, at Jacksonville.
Harbaugh has transformed how the Chargers play, though.
They’re physical to the point of seeming to relish the chance to hammer on opponents for all four quarters. Less prone to beating themselves, they stand among the NFL’s leaders in fewest turnovers and fewest penalties. Harbaugh took a lot of stress off Justin Herbert, and seems to have him playing the best football of his career.
Forecast: the Chargers win this one, then it’s on to Kansas City.
Originally Published:
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