The San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's second season in the National Football League (NFL), and its 12th overall. The team improved on their 5–6–3 record in 1970. It was Harland Svare's first season as the team's head coach. After a 1–4 start, the Chargers would slightly improve, winning 3 of their next 4 games. However, they would lose 3 of their final 5 games en route to a 6–8 finish. Their record was 6-1 at home and 0-7 on the road. The only bright spot was quarterback John Hadl who completed 233 passes out of 431 attempts for 3,075 yards and 21 touchdowns and won the NFL Man of the Year award as well as leading the league in both passing yards and touchdown passes.
Offseason
NFL draft
Roster
Preseason
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 August 7 Washington Redskins W 19–10 1–0 San Diego Stadium 2 August 14 Minnesota Vikings L 7–34 1–1 San Diego Stadium 3 August 22 at San Francisco 49ers L 17–28 1–2 Candlestick Park 4 August 28 New Orleans Saints W 22–7 2–2 San Diego Stadium 5 September 3 at Los Angeles Rams W 20–14 3–2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 6 September 11 Atlanta Falcons W 21–14 4–2 San Diego Stadium
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 19 Kansas City Chiefs W 21–14 1–0 San Diego Stadium 54,061 Recap 2 September 26 Oakland Raiders L 0–34 1–1 San Diego Stadium 54,084 Recap 3 October 3 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–21 1–2 Three Rivers Stadium 44,339 Recap 4 October 10 at Kansas City Chiefs L 10–31 1–3 Municipal Stadium 50,514 Recap 5 October 17 at Denver Broncos L 16–20 1–4 Mile High Stadium 51,200 Recap 6 Buffalo Bills W 20–3 2–4 San Diego Stadium 49,261 Recap 7 October 31 New York Jets W 49–21 3–4 San Diego Stadium 44,786 Recap 8 November 7 at New York Giants L 17–35 3–5 Yankee Stadium 62,905 Recap 9 St. Louis Cardinals W 20–17 4–5 San Diego Stadium 46,486 Recap 10 November 21 at Oakland Raiders L 33–34 4–6 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 54,681 Recap 11 November 28 at Cincinnati Bengals L 0–31 4–7 Riverfront Stadium 59,580 Recap 12 December 5 Minnesota Vikings W 30–14 5–7 San Diego Stadium 54,505 Recap 13 December 12 Denver Broncos W 45–17 6–7 San Diego Stadium 44,347 Recap 14 December 19 at Houston Oilers L 33–49 6–8 Houston Astrodome 35,959 Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Week 2: vs. Oakland Raiders
Week 3: at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 4: at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 5: at Denver Broncos
Week 6: vs. Buffalo Bills
Week 7: vs. New York Jets
Week 8: at New York Giants
Week 9: vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Week 10: at Oakland Raiders
Week 11: at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 12: vs. Minnesota Vikings
Week 13: vs. Denver Broncos
Week 14: at Houston Oilers
Standings
Awards Walt Sweeney and Gary Garrison were named to the AFC Pro Bowl squad; No Chargers were named All-Pro by the Associated Press, though Sweeney was named the best in his Conference. Hadl was a runner-up for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award, receiving one of the sixty available votes.
References