The San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professionally trained American football team located in San Diego, California. They are members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The club was originally called the Los Angeles Chargers and began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The San Diego Chargers first season was spent in Los Angeles, California before moving to San Diego in 1961.
In 1963, the San Diego Chargers won one AFL title and reached the AFL playoffs five times as well as the AFL Championship four times before joining the NFL in1970 as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.
The team has made seven trips to the playoffs and has had three appearances in the AFC Championship game. At the end of their 1994 season, the Chargers appeared in Super Bowl XXIX facing the San Francisco 49ers.
San Diego Chargers and the Hall of Fame
The San Diego Chargers have managed to have five players and one coach enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio: wide receiver Lance Alworth (1962-1970), quarterback Dan Fouts (1973-1987), head coach/general manager Sid Gillman (1960-1969, 1971), wide receiver Charlie Joiner (1976-1986), offensive lineman Ron Mix (1960-1969) and tight end Kellen Winslow (1979-1987).
Recent Victories for the San Diego Chargers
In recent activity, the Chargers opened the season on September 11, 2006 with a 27-0 triumph over the division rival Oakland Raiders. This was a second game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader and marked the first time the San Diego Chargers shut out the Raiders since a 44-0 win in 1961.
This win resulted in the Chargers extending their winning streak against Oakland to six games. At the same time, head coach Marty Schottenheimer enhanced his head coaching record against the Raiders 26-7. Schottenheimer also received his 187th career victory and passed Chuck Knox to become the seventh most winning head coach in NFL history.
That shutout also marked the second time that Oakland has ever been shutout in the teams own stadium.