1973 San Diego Chargers

[Shipley]

Morbidly fascinating team on many levels. The Hadl Era of Charger quarterbacking ended. The team traded for a legend, Johnny Unitas, to come play for the 1973 Chargers. Svare’s “rebuilding” program comes to a horrible end as a drug scandal during a 2-11-1 season bottoms out the team. Interested to hear people's take on this team.

[BD Sullivan]

After getting blasted 38-0 by the Redskins in the opener, they come home to blow out the Bills, one week after O.J. shreds the Pats for 250 years. Four straight losses follow, the last a 41-0 rout by Atlanta, before they manage a 16-16 tie against the Browns. Cleveland was obviously looking ahead to their game in Minnesota the following week--although the miserable, muddy weather probably didn't help. Two more losses follow before SD comes home to beat a Saints team that was 0-7 on the road that year--and 5-2 at home. Their defense then gives up an average of 34 points in the final four losses to finish with a miserable 2-11-1 record. Joe Thomas really must have laid Unitas' legacy on thick if he was able to get a first rounder for him.

[JWL]

some stuff on Unitas and the '73 Chargers from another thread-

One bizarre anecdote revealed in the book that I did not know:

After the Jets lost to Miami to fall to 1-3 and with Namath and Al Woodall both out with injuries, San Diego representative Ron Mix asked Jets President Phil Iselin if they would be interested in trading for Johnny Unitas for a first-round draft choice. Iselin was intrigued about reuniting Unitas and Weeb Ewbank, and his other options were bleak at the time (they had Bill Demory on the roster and would sign Tim Van Galder to a short-term contract while Woodall healed).

But Ewbank made a few calls around the league and confirmed that Unitas was through, his arm was done. Meanwhile, Mix and Iselin had more back and forth and eventually Mix lowered his asking price from a first-round to a fourth-round pick, but the Jets still thought it was too high a pick and for too much money, as they would have to pay Unitas two years at $125K per annum.

The Jets went to New England with Bill Demory as starting QB. On a very windy day, Demory went 1 of 7 for 11 yards, and was sacked once for a loss of 11 yards, for a net of zero team yards passing. But the Jets won, 9-7, on the strength of a rushing attack that gained 232 yards on 58 carries, and three field goals.

[Shipley]

Naming Ron Waller as replacement coach didn't help things. I know someone who worked for him when Waller was head coach of the Philadelphia Bell in the WFL, and said he drank vodka and Fresca throughout the day. The chapter in the book Johnny U about his brief stint as a Charger was sad but interesting. He talks about how he visited one of the player's rooms to hang out with his new teammates, only to see what he thought was a cigarette was a joint they were passing around.

[JohnTurney]

https://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Season ... 0394402529

worth a read The Nightmare Season Hardcover – 1976
by Arnold J Mandell (Author)

[BD Sullivan]

In between the Chargers dumping Waller and hiring Tommy Prothro, they were supposedly looking at Frank Kush, presumably because they needed a disciplinarian-type and hiring the college coach was in vogue at the time. They ended up with Prothro because Gene Klein figured it would take Kush a year to get a feel for the NFL and they didn't want to waste time. That and the 10-year contract he was supposedly demanding.

At the time, the Chargers had a reputation of hiring guys with a Rams connection: Gillman, Svare, Waller and lived up to it by hiring Prothro.

Some other other reported candidates for the HC job were Broncos OC Max Coley, Niners assistant Doug(?) Giddings, Marion Campbell, Ernie Stautner, Bud Carson and Allie Sherman.

[Shipley]

In 1970, Waller served as offensive coordinator for the Pottstown Firebirds, the minor league team immortalized in the NFL Films documentary that ran before Super Bowl V. When he replaced Svare as head coach, he brought in former Firebird WR Ron Holliday to play for the Chargers. Famous/infamous Firebird QB King Corcoran was also angling to join him there when Unitas retired, but Waller knew Corcoran wouldn't be able to control himself living in Southern California. Several Firebirds (including Holliday and Corcoran) joined him the following season when he was head coach of the Philadelphia Bell in the WFL.

[74_75_78_79_]

.

[74_75_78_79_]

It was the last season they would wear the 'powder blue' unis; helmet not going back to white again until '07. 1974's new look would end up slightly evolving a few years later into what my first impression of the Chargers were by the time I started following football in '80, the peak of Air Coryell. Personally, I prefer those very '79-thru-'83 unis over the more popular 'powder blue' and wish they would not only go back to them, but play all their home games in white as they did during that winning time in the early-'80s. This way when you actually get to see them in those rare blue jerseys (as was the case with Dallas), it's a treat. Best example was the MNF season-opener at Clev '81. LIkely my favorite dark NFL uni of all-time.

Their unis got relatively boring by the time Henning arrived and stayed relatively boring all the way up through '06. Not too crazy about the unis they've had the last almost-ten years now. If they were going to go AFL retro, they should have done it all the way. Though not as much as '79-thru-'83, I still like the original 'powder blue'; liked seeing them during that '94 season. Apparently they, at the time, were undefeated when playing in their white throwbacks and wanted to play the Super Bowl in them vs San Fran. However, the NFL 'fashion police' intervened saying that they had to play in their regulars. Yes, bring back the '79-thru-'83s, all home games in white, but add just one thing...(in honor of that original look)...place that vintage patch logo on the shoulder - the one with the horse head over the lightning bolt and 'CHARGERS' beneath it all inside that Raiders-like 'shield'. NFL bed spread I had as a kid in the '70s with 26 team logos...always loved that one.

[JoeZagorski]

I remember that the NFL Films documentary Pro Football Pottstown Pa ran before Super Bowl VI, not Super Bowl V.