CHARGERS HISTORY:
Welcome
to Los Angeles, the city big enough to carry two NFL franchises, the Rams and the
Chargers. The Chargers were initially
established in the city of Los Angeles back in 1960. Upon their entrance to the city of Angels, the
franchise got off to a hot start in the AFL with the Chargers winning ten-plus games in both their first two seasons in the league while making it to back-to-back
AFL Championship Games. The outcome wasn’t
what they had hoped for as they had lost both years to the same Houston
Oilers team. Originally the Chargers started
their franchise in Los Angeles but the following year the Chargers were forced
to move to San Diego due to the team’s competition in La La Land with the Los
Angeles Rams who had already set up shop in L.A. fourteen years before the Chargers arrival. The Chargers were a regularity in AFL Championship Games early in their franchise
history, appearing in five within their first six seasons. They ended up going 1-4 during that
Championship run and wouldn’t appear in any others nor would they make the
playoffs for the next fourteen seasons.
Since
the Chargers have been in the NFL, they haven’t yet tasted true success
other than that one AFL Championship win in 1963. The Chargers have only made it to the Super
Bowl once in 1995, though they wound up losing to the San Francisco 49ers. They also haven’t had a Head Coach that has
lasted longer than six seasons since Don Coryell (San Diego HC 1978-1985). In fact, the Chargers only ever had two Head
Coaches last at least seven seasons in franchise history (Don Coryell & Sid
Gillman 1960-1971). Long-time Chargers coach
Sid Gillman had a lengthy decorated tenure as he led them for 11
seasons. Gillman is the winningest Head
Coach the Chargers have ever had and possesses a record of 85-53-6. Coach Gillman had left the team and his
coaching duties nine games into the 1969 season because of a hiatal hernia
before coming back to coach them for the first ten games of the 1971 season.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS PART II:
After such a long history of San Diego being the home of the Chargers, the team decided to
give The Big Orange another go at hosting their NFL franchise. In 2017 the Chargers decided to pack up and
move the organization about two hours north (123 mi) up I-5 N to head back to where
the team was originally founded. Upon moving back to L.A. they haven’t been a great team, only registering
two playoff appearances in the past seven years. Before this season the Chargers have
only had two head coaches since their move back. Now with this year's new GM Joe Hortiz, along with first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh it sure appears that this
team will be heading towards a brighter future.
Los Angeles came into this season seeking a playoff run as
the Chargers are two years removed from their last one. No doubt he has done
a great job so far, giving life to their run game while also getting this defense
back on track. They currently are sitting in sixth place in the AFC, while having the best-scoring defense in the league.
The Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter, who also served as Head Coach
Jim Harbaugh’s DC last season in Michigan has the Chargers defense ranking in
the top ten for just about every defensive statistic. The Charger’s General Manager did a good job
in the offseason making some savvy moves, inking some very good veterans to deals. They completely bolstered their
running back room by signing both Ravens' previous running backs Gus Edwards and
the explosive but often injured runner J.K Dobbins (who led the league in yards per carry for a handful of weeks early on this season). That move came after Harbaugh decided to go
out and hire Greg Roman who spent four years with Dobbins and Edwards in Baltimore
under Jim’s brother John Harbaugh. They also made sure they got one of the top backups at the quarterback position for insurance
in case Herbert went down, which proved to be helpful as he was banged
up in pre-season, dealing with foot/ankle injuries, he also had to leave the field in multiple games this year missing a few snaps here and there. Another big move by the Chargers was signing
the great veteran O-lineman guard Bradley Bozeman. It’s almost as if John Harbaugh sent a gift
basket of talent to celebrate Jim’s return to the NFL as Bozeman also played
for Baltimore his first four years in the league before signing with Carolina
for two years.
Harbaugh
was instantly given the keys to LA among inking his name on the dotted line
when he took this Head Coaching job. It
should come as no surprise that he probably had a lot of say in who the team would
be drafting. The first thing the
Chargers did was draft the overall best offensive lineman in the 2024 NFL Draft
(LT Joe Alt). Then they figured it only
made sense to go out and try to address their lack of weapons on the outside after
moving on from both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Now the Chargers got themselves two young
studs to add to their receiver corps that will hopefully grow into stars soon. Ladd McConkey (already their best offensive weapon) out of
Georgia and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice’s son Brenden Rice who was drafted to L.A
by way of USC. The Chargers also found
themselves adding depth to their defensive backs as well as their front seven
through the draft.
If the Chargers indeed make the playoffs this year, I will not be surprised. Herbert needs to stay healthy and they need to get their ground-and-pound game back on track. Early on they were ranked 11th in rushing offense through the first four weeks of the season. Dobbins is out with another injury and they've faltered to 19th on the ground. Their air attack has looked better recently and they've also been putting more points on the board, but they do rank 25th in passing and 20th in scoring. The Chargers' defense has kept them in a bunch of games this season they had almost no shot of winning like earlier this year against KC when they could’ve possibly upset the Chiefs at home, but to no avail as they fell to the Champs 17-10. Then last week against the Falcons terrible defense that they only scored one touchdown by way of a pick-six. However, I will not count Sunday Night against the Chargers for the fact their top receiver rookie Ladd McConkey along with Dobbins were hurt, plus Herbert had to leave the game for a few snaps. The Chargers are still holding off the Broncos for the 6th seed, while also having a two-game lead over the likes of the Dolphins, Colts, plus they also own a tie-breaker over the Bengals. They should be able to make it into the postseason with only two tough games ahead when they take on the Buccaneers and the Broncos in the next two weeks (at home), the last two games are both road matches against two weaker teams (Patriots & Raiders).
