2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers)

2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers) – Chargers

by Chase Stuart on August 29, 2019

in History

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens, and Bengals
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears, and Lions
AFC South: Jaguars, Colts, Texans, and Titans
NFC South: Panthers, Falcons, Saints, and Buccaneers
AFC West: Raiders, Chiefs
NFC West: Seahawks, Rams

The Chargers have a beautiful history.

The Chargers are home to two of the founders of the modern passing game in Sid Gillman and Don Coryell. Gillman coached the Rams in the late ’50s before coming over to the AFL to be the Chargers first head coach. He led the franchise to its only championship in 1963, and stands out as the franchise’s best ever head coach. A Hall of Famer, Gillman remains the team’s all-time leader in wins and games over .500, and has the best winning percentage among all coaches who spent at least three seasons with the team. Coryell, while arguably being more popular among younger fans, can’t match Gillman’s success (who was more influential is outside the scope of this article). Coming over from St. Louis in 1978, he immediately turned the Chargers into one of the league’s top passing attacks, but the defenses in San Diego were almost always awful. The notable exceptions to that were in 1979 and 1980: in ’79, San Diego lost in the Vernon Perry Game to the Oilers, and in ’80, the Chargers defense was obliterated by the Raiders at home in the AFC Championship Game. Coryell was a passing game innovator, but as a head coach, he finished with a worse record in San Diego than Norv Turner.

And a quick word about Marty Schottenheimer, who had considerable success with three franchises. He was at +0.8% here with the Chargers, matching what he did with the Browns and trailing his success with the Chiefs. Schottenheimer is the only coach in NFL history who was 14 games over .500 with three franchises; Bill Parcells, who was 4 games over .500 with three teams, is the only other head coach who finished even more than one game above .500 with three teams. And Chuck Knox (who went 37-36 with the Bills) is the only other coach with a winning record with three teams. ^[1]Well, technically, Buddy Parker counts if you include his 6-5-1 mark as co-coach of the Cardinals in 1949, as would Wade Phillips if you include his 2-1 mark as interim coach of the Falcons. By way of reference, there have only been 73 coach-team situations where a head coach was 14 games over .500 with a team, and Schottenheimer has three of them.

Ovr Rk	Coach	G	W	L	T	HC Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o HC	Diff
34	Sid Gillman	145	86	53	6	0.614	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.481	2.1%
63	Norv Turner	96	56	40	0	0.583	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.493	1%
70	Marty Schottenheimer	80	47	33	0	0.588	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.495	0.8%
71	Bobby Ross	80	47	33	0	0.588	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.495	0.8%
76	Don Coryell	125	69	56	0	0.552	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.495	0.8%
90	Anthony Lynn	32	21	11	0	0.656	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.497	0.6%
152	Charlie Waller	19	9	7	3	0.553	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.502	0.1%
287	Ron Waller	6	1	5	0	0.167	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.505	-0.2%
289	June Jones	10	3	7	0	0.3	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.505	-0.2%
325	Al Saunders	39	17	22	0	0.436	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.506	-0.3%
396	Kevin Gilbride	22	6	16	0	0.273	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.509	-0.6%
398	Harland Svare	26	7	17	2	0.308	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.509	-0.6%
404	Mike McCoy	64	27	37	0	0.422	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.509	-0.6%
470	Dan Henning	48	16	32	0	0.333	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.512	-1%
478	Tommy Prothro	60	21	39	0	0.35	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.514	-1.1%
488	Mike Riley	48	14	34	0	0.292	900	447	442	11	0.503	0.515	-1.2%

At quarterback, there will always be a debate between Philip Rivers and Dan Fouts for the title of best quarterback in franchise history. But when it comes to records, Rivers runs away with this one. The current Chargers star has a 118-90 record, while Fouts went 86-84 with the team. By this method, it’s Stan Humphries, quarterback of the ’94 Chargers, who has the second-best record in franchise history.

The worst? That’s a three-way battle between Craig Whelihan (2-12), Ryan Leaf (4-14), and John Friesz (6-17).

Ovr Rk	QB	G	W	L	T	QB Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o QB	Diff
32	Philip Rivers	208	118	90	0	0.567	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.489	1.8%
61	Stan Humphries	76	47	29	0	0.618	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.497	1%
72	Jack Kemp	28	22	6	0	0.786	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.498	0.9%
129	Tobin Rote	20	13	6	1	0.675	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.503	0.4%
184	John Hadl	122	59	54	9	0.520	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.505	0.2%
248	Dick Wood	2	2	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.506	0.1%
249	Rick Neuheisel	2	2	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.506	0.1%
251	Marty Domres	6	4	2	0	0.667	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.506	0.1%
294	Drew Brees	58	30	28	0	0.517	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.506	0.1%
319	Clint Longley	1	1	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
320	Cliff Olander	1	1	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
321	Mike Kelley	1	1	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
322	Jim Everett	1	1	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
323	Sean Lissemore	1	1	0	0	1.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
327	Mark Vlasic	3	2	1	0	0.667	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0.1%
430	Bob Clatterbuck	2	1	1	0	0.500	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0%
436	Erik Kramer	4	2	2	0	0.500	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0%
487	Dan Fouts	171	86	84	1	0.506	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.507	0%
611	Virgil Carter	1	0	1	0	0.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
612	Bob Gagliano	1	0	1	0	0.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
627	Tom Flick	3	1	2	0	0.333	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
628	Sean Salisbury	3	1	2	0	0.333	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
769	Steve Tensi	2	0	2	0	0.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
770	Gale Gilbert	2	0	2	0	0.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
771	Moses Moreno	2	0	2	0	0.000	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
775	Wayne Clark	4	1	3	0	0.250	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
776	Johnny Unitas	4	1	3	0	0.250	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
783	Babe Laufenberg	6	2	4	0	0.333	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.508	-0.1%
890	Jesse Freitas	7	2	5	0	0.286	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.509	-0.2%
898	James Harris	11	4	7	0	0.364	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.509	-0.2%
899	Jim McMahon	11	4	7	0	0.364	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.509	-0.2%
909	Billy Joe Tolliver	19	8	11	0	0.421	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.509	-0.2%
963	Mark Malone	8	2	6	0	0.250	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.509	-0.2%
1017	Mark Herrmann	7	1	6	0	0.143	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.510	-0.3%
1018	Ed Luther	9	2	7	0	0.222	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.510	-0.3%
1027	Jim Harbaugh	17	6	11	0	0.353	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.510	-0.3%
1071	Doug Flutie	22	8	14	0	0.364	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.511	-0.4%
1139	Craig Whelihan	14	2	12	0	0.143	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.513	-0.6%
1141	Ryan Leaf	18	4	14	0	0.222	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.513	-0.6%
1153	John Friesz	23	6	17	0	0.261	908	455	442	11	0.507	0.514	-0.6%

At running back, there’s LaDainian Tomlinson and then there’s everyone else. The Chargers have had some good running backs, but Tomlinson is one of the greatest running backs in history and arguably the best fantasy running back ever.

Rusher	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Rusher	Total Games	%
LaDainian Tomlinson	2001	2009	128	148	86%
Paul Lowe	1960	1968	55	94	59%
Ryan Mathews	2010	2014	50	62	81%
Melvin Gordon	2015	2018	45	57	79%
Natrone Means	1993	1999	45	63	71%
Marion Butts	1989	1993	44	78	56%
Chuck Muncie	1980	1984	41	57	72%
Don Woods	1974	1980	35	76	46%
Dickie Post	1967	1970	28	49	57%
Keith Lincoln	1961	1968	26	85	31%
Mike Garrett	1970	1973	21	46	46%
Rod Bernstine	1987	1992	20	64	31%
Gary Anderson	1985	1988	19	54	35%
Terrell Fletcher	1995	2002	19	112	17%
Tim Spencer	1985	1990	19	78	24%
Curtis Adams	1985	1988	16	27	59%
Gary Brown	1997	1997	14	15	93%
Earnest Jackson	1983	1984	14	28	50%
Clarence Williams	1977	1981	13	71	18%
Mike Tolbert	2008	2011	13	60	22%
Cid Edwards	1972	1974	13	35	37%
Lydell Mitchell	1978	1979	12	29	41%
Lionel James	1984	1988	12	67	18%
James Brooks	1981	1983	12	42	29%
Leonard Russell	1996	1996	12	15	80%
Gene Foster	1965	1970	11	69	16%
Branden Oliver	2014	2017	10	30	33%

As good as Tomlinson was at being a running back, Lance Alworth probably has a better claim to being on his position’s Mount Rushmore. However, Alworth does a bit worse here than you might suspect: he “only” led the Chargers in receiving yards in half of his games in San Diego. Part of the reason: as a rookie, Alworth joined a team with a Pro Bowl WR in Don Norton and a Pro Bowl TE in Dave Kocourek, and the second half of his tenure with the team overlapped with the emergence of Gary Garrison. One day, Keenan Allen should be at the top of this list, but when he does, it’s not Alworth, but Antonio Gates, that he’ll dethrone.

Receiver	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Receiver	Total Games	%
Antonio Gates	2003	2018	63	248	25%
Lance Alworth	1962	1970	56	113	50%
Charlie Joiner	1976	1986	48	171	28%
Gary Garrison	1966	1976	46	131	35%
Anthony Miller	1988	1993	42	95	44%
Tony Martin	1994	1997	34	68	50%
Keenan Allen	2013	2018	33	74	45%
Wes Chandler	1981	1987	33	98	34%
Kellen Winslow	1979	1987	28	115	24%
Vincent Jackson	2005	2011	26	99	26%
Ronnie Harmon	1990	1995	25	102	25%
Malcom Floyd	2004	2015	23	124	19%
Jeff Graham	1999	2001	21	44	48%
John Jefferson	1978	1980	21	48	44%
Don Norton	1960	1966	18	96	19%
Curtis Conway	2000	2002	17	43	40%
Dave Kocourek	1960	1965	17	89	19%
Eric Parker	2002	2006	16	64	25%
Freddie Jones	1997	2001	12	75	16%
LaDainian Tomlinson	2001	2009	11	148	7%
Tyrell Williams	2015	2018	10	54	19%
Nate Lewis	1990	1993	10	60	17%

That’s it for the Chargers version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

References[+]

References
↑1	Well, technically, Buddy Parker counts if you include his 6-5-1 mark as co-coach of the Cardinals in 1949, as would Wade Phillips if you include his 2-1 mark as interim coach of the Falcons.

Tagged as: 2019 Profiles

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