Tag Archives: 1981 San Diego Chargers

The Epic In Miami: San Diego 41 Miami 38 1981 AFC Divisional Playoff

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With the NFL turning 100 this year, it’s impossible not to have great players, great coaches, or great games to look back on. The lasting image in the minds of fans everywhere was this epic shot of Hall of Fame TE Kellen Winslow being helped off the field by T Billy Shields and TE Eric Sievers.

It came at the conclusion of of one of the greatest games in NFL history and was the signature game in a Hall of Fame career.

Yet if we flashed you back to the early 1980’s the San Diego Chargers had the most prolific offense in the history of the NFL. The legend of “Air Coryell” had taken flight with Coach Don coming over from St Louis and took full advantage of the liberal passing rule changes of 1978.

Beginning in 1979 Dan Fouts set the NFL ablaze becoming the first QB since Joe Namath in ’68 to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season. His 4,082 yards in ’79, 4,715 in ’80, and finally 4,802 in ’81 were all NFL records as the Chargers chased a championship. Fouts had the league’s best arsenal in acrobatic receiver John Jefferson, route running Charlie Joiner, and the aforementioned Winslow. This was the original “Greatest Show on Turf” as Charger games became all the rage to watch for their ability to score from anywhere at any time. The league struggled to defend them as:

  • The ’79 Chargers were 1st team since the ’70 merger to pass more than run (541 att/481 rush)
  • In ’79, Jefferson (61 rec/ 1,090 yds 10 TDs) & Joiner (72 rec /1,008 yds 4 TDs) became 1st set of 1,000 yd seasons in NFL history. Both made Pro Bowl
  • On 10/19/80 the Chargers were 1st team in history to have both WR and TEs over 100 yds in 44-7 win over NY
  • In ’80 became the 1st team in history with 3- 1,000 yard receivers (Jefferson 1,340 yds, Winslow 1,290, Joiner 1,132) All 3 were Pro Bowl & All Pro…also 1st in NFL history.
  • Chuck Muncie in 1981 set an NFL record with 19 TDs rushing.

Wes Chandler raced 56 yards for a score with a first quarter punt return. The score was 10-0 (SD)
Heinz Kluetmeier

Despite all the records the Chargers couldn’t win in the postseason. They fashioned a 12-4 record in ’79 which included a 35-7 pounding of the eventual champion Steelers. Only to lose 17-14 in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history to a depleted Oiler team. Vernon Perry intercepted Fouts a playoff record 4 times.

The Chargers bounced back in ’80 with an 11-5 record and homefield advantage where they bested Buffalo 20-14. Then fell at home in the AFC Championship 34-27 to the eventual champion Oakland Raiders.

Having fallen to the Super Bowl champion Raiders the year before and feeling they matched up to Pittsburgh in ’79, the Chargers were on the doorstep although the clock was ticking. Their championship window was closing and once the front office traded All Pro WR John Jefferson to Green Bay and Pro Bowl DE Fred Dean to San Francisco, it appeared shut.

Down in Miami, Don Shula had rebuilt the Miami Dolphins from the smash mouth back to back champions that won Super Bowls VII & VIII. Up until 1980 he still had Hall of Fame QB Bob Griese to lead his offense as a new “No Name Defense” emerged.

The Dolphins made the playoffs in ’78 behind Delvin Williams spectacular 1,258 yard season running the football. In that year Griese was injured for an extended period and the Dolphins won with backup Don Strock. He had a record of 5-2 while outperforming the vet tossing 12 TDs to only 6 interceptions. Griese had a more efficient season when it came to completion percentage and this hurt Strock.

He was hot & cold yet showed enough flash to get on the field but didn’t engender enough confidence to turn the offense over to him. When Griese returned from injury in ’78 and ’79 he always got his job back.

Then in 1980 Griese’s career ended with a shoulder injury early in the season. Shula worked in rookie QB David Woodley along with Strock as he searched for that perfect chemistry on offense. By this time Delvin Williams had moved on as Shula raised Larry Csonka from the dead and paired the two in the backfield to mixed results.

Somehow in ’81 Shula willed the Dolphins to an AFC East title with “Woodstrock” and the combination of rookie FB Andra Franklin and solid RB Tony Nathan each rushing for 700 yards. This was a team of “no names” as Miami fielded only 1 Pro Bowl player on their entire roster in NT Bob Baumhower #73. Who were these guys??

This hodge podge group ranked 16th on offense and 15th overall on defense. It was a testament to Shula’s coaching they were even winning. Somehow they went 11-4-1 & made it into the playoffs for the 3rd straight year. Hosting a playoff game for the 1st time since 1978.

Their opponent would be the Chargers who were falling from the elite when they pulled a coup and traded for electrifying wideout Wes Chandler. On the strength of Dan Fouts’ record 4,802 yard season, the Chargers limped to a 10-6 record.

Limped?? Well yes their defense never recovered from the Fred Dean trade. In ’79 the Chargers were 5th overall in defense then were ranked 6th in ’80 while leading the NFL in sacks. Without their prime time pass rusher the Charger’s defense plummeted to a ranking of 27th. Consequently San Francisco, where Dean was traded to, rose to 2nd overall…yet I digress

Dean’s absence had an affect on both the Chargers defense in ’81 and what was about to happen as these two teams staggered into the ’81 AFC Divisional playoff…

A playoff game that nearly went to 6 quarters at 75* in high humidity that had everything. Multiple blocked field goals, a dramatic comeback from the home team after falling down 24-0 early. The Chargers fighting to stave off a valiant comeback only to have to make a dramatic drive themselves to tie it 38-38 just to go into overtime.

Fouts 433 yds passing was a playoff record until Bernie Kosar threw for 489 yards in an ’86 double overtime epic against the New York Jets.

Kellen Winslow’s 13 receptions established another as he went for 166 rec yards, 1 TD and the blocked kick to send the game into overtime. He left the game several times due to injury where he was suffering from cramps and dehydration.

Each team left it out on the field in one of the greatest games in NFL history. The toll it took on the Chargers having traveled cross country was immense. The following week they had to play in a 140 degree variance when they played the AFC Championship in Cincinnati at -59* wind chill. A game known as The Freezer Bowl. The coldest game in NFL history.

Hall of Fame Member Fred Dean & The Chancellor at the PFHoF in ’18. Ironically behind us was Dan Fouts & Kellen Winslow at a table.

The no name Dolphins had proven their mettle and would go on as one of the elite teams in the AFC, playing in 2 of the next 3 Super Bowls. As for the Chargers, the loss of Fred Dean had caused a season long collapse of their defense culminating in allowing Miami a season high of 478 total yards. It marked the 8th time San Diego’s defense allowed their competitors over 400 total yards in a game over the ’81 campaign.

Ultimately this spectacular game became the crowning jewel in the career of Coach Don Coryell and Air Coryell’s legacy. Having lost the ’80 and ’81 AFC Championship Games they fell back to the pack as other teams would rise to elite status. However this team was reincarnated as The Greatest Show on Turf resurrected their playbook winning Super Bowl XXXIV while becoming one of history’s greatest offenses two football generations later.

Yet this was The Epic in Miami… one of the great games in NFL history.

Dedicated to the memories of Don Coryell, Chuck Muncie, David Woodley, and Larry Gordon, Steve Sabol, and narrator Harry Kalas.

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Legendary Days: The Freezer Bowl- 1981 AFC Championship Game (Chargers Edition)

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For all the romanticized hyperbole when The Ice Bowl is brought up, The Freezer Bowl is largely forgotten about. The 1981 AFC Championship between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers was colder from a wind chill factor perspective at -59*.  Do you realize that is 90* below freezing?? This was where Air Coryell unceremoniously crash landed for good and became the ultimate lesson on why achieving home field advantage is so important.

It was a hard earned lesson and we covered this in the championship rings for Cincinnati… so this one is being told from the Chargers’ perspective

Head Coach Forrest Gregg carried off by his Cincinnati Bengals players.

One man happened to be involved in both games.  Hall of Fame Tackle Forrest Gregg started for the Green Bay Packers in the ’67 NFL Championship. Then he went into coaching where he was the Bengals head man when they advanced to the ’81 AFC Championship Game. The winner would make the trek to Super Bowl XVI in frozen Pontiac Michigan, they first had to endure the coldest game in NFL history.

A frozen Dan Fouts.

Coming into 1981 the San Diego Chargers had been the vanguard of the new passing offenses that dominated with the rules of 1978, which liberalized the passing game. Head coach Don Coryell had revived the passing attack with many of Sid Gillman’s principles from the old AFL Chargers and forged a passing game that became the scourge of the league.

Now the head slap was outlawed on the line of scrimmage. Offensive linemen were allowed to extend their arms in pass protection, and receivers weren’t allowed to be hit after 5 yards. Offenses had been liberated from the thunderclap of defense which had dominated both the AFL & NFL since the mid 60’s.

Dan Fouts became the 1st QB to challenge and break Joe Namath’s all time record 4,007 yards passing when he broke it with 4,082 in 1979. Then he pushed it to new heights throwing for 4,715 yds in 1980, and finally 4,802 in 1981. However his Charger teams fell short of greatness by short circuiting in the playoffs. First they stumbled in a mind numbing 17-14 upset loss at home to the Houston Oilers in ’79, then again to the arch rival Oakland Raiders in the 1980 AFC Championship Game.

Also a loss at home in sunny San Diego. In all reality this team was losing it’s prime and not capitalizing on the championship window that was before them.

Armed with 3, 1,000 yard receivers in TE Kellen Winslow, WR Charlie Joiner, and now WR Wes Chandler, it was interesting to watch individual battles. Fouts led the league with 33 TDs, the late Chuck Muncie led the league with 19 rushing TDs to go with his 1,144 yards and James Brooks had nearly 900 yds from scrimmage and 6 more scores. Nevertheless they fell to 10-6 and had to go on the road in the ’81 playoffs.

One reason this game wasn’t remembered with the reverence of The Ice Bowl is it didn’t produce a champion. Another reason is it was buffered against 2 other memorable playoff games in January 1982. One was the Epic In Miami where the Dolphins and the Chargers played in 76* weather for 6 quarters in a 41-38 divisional thriller. The other was The Catch in the NFC Championship between San Francisco and Dallas the following week. Yet earlier on January 10, 1982 San Diego’s 2nd straight road affair took them to Cincinnati for the AFC Championship Game.

If you’re keeping score at home, yes the San Diego Chargers had to play in 140 degree temperature difference in one week’s time.  There were heated buses outside Riverfront Stadium in case fans needed to get warm. A Sports Illustrated article the following week reported 43 fans suffered heart attacks at the game.

Temperature difference withstanding, the divisional game against Miami went into 6 quarters in high humidity, so the Chargers were exhausted.

It was the end of an era for Charger power. Sure they made the playoffs in 1982 but so did everyone else in the strike shortened year where 16 teams were in a single elimination tournament. Proof?? They beat a Pittsburgh team in the 1st round that had been shut out twice by non playoff teams. In one of them they lost to Buffalo 13-0 and finished the day with -2 yards passing. Yes that is with Terry Bradshaw….yet I digress

Age and injuries caught up to the Chargers as well as AFC West opponents to their air attack. John Elway and Marcus Allen came in and the balance of power shifted toward the Broncos and Raiders. In 3 of the next 5 years, Fouts watched those teams play on the Super Bowl stage he so desperately wanted to lead the Chargers to. He retired after the 1987 season and when you look back to the 2 AFC Championship Games lost it was this one that produces the most what ifs.

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The Freezer Bowl – 1981 AFC Championship Game

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For all the romanticized hyperbole when The Ice Bowl is brought up, The Freezer Bowl is largely forgotten about. The 1981 AFC Championship between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers was colder from a wind chill factor at -59*. This was where  Air Coryell unceremoniously crash landed.

One man that happened to be in both games was Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg. He was the starting Tackle for the Green Bay Packers in the ’67 NFL Championship. Then he was the Head Coach of the Bengals in 1981 when they advanced to the AFC Championship Game. In a game where the winner would make the trek to Super Bowl XVI, they first had to endure the coldest game in NFL history.

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From the perspective of the ’81 San Diego Chargers

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One reason this game wasn’t remembered with the reverence of The Ice Bowl is it didn’t produce a champion. Another reason is it was buffered against 2 other memorable playoff games in January 1982. One was the Epic In Miami where the Dolphins and the Chargers played in 81* weather for 6 quarters in a 41-38 thriller. The other was The Catch or the NFC Championship between San Francisco and Dallas later that same day.

If you’re keeping score at home, yes the San Diego Chargers had to play in 140 degree temperature difference in one week’s time. Cincinnati won the game and went on to Pontiac, Michigan to face the 49ers in Super Bowl XVI. Yet it’s hard to forget -59* below zero.

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