1978 San Diego Chargers: 9-7-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (206 points scored, 129 allowed) Road record: 4-4-0 (160 points scored, 183 allowed) Head Coaches: Tommy Prothro (1-3-0), Don Coryell (8-4-0) 366 points scored (6th of 28 teams), 312 points allowed (21st) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 271 477 3,375 ( 1) 6.63 26 30 590 2,096 (20) 3.6 16 5,471 ( 4) 51 Defense: 237 441 2,351 ( 7) 4.75 23 22 510 2,208 (15) 4.3 12 4,559 ( 8) 38
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 6 Rolf Benirschke K 15 6'0 170 23 2 California-Davis 10 Cliff Olander QB 9 6'5 196 23 2 New Mexico State 12 James Harris QB 9 6'3 217 31 9 Grambling 14 Dan Fouts QB 15 6'3 204 27 6 Oregon 18 Charlie Joiner WR 16 5'11 188 31 10 Grambling 20 Johnny Rodgers WR 6 5'10 180 27 2 Nebraska 26 Lydell Mitchell RB 16 5'11 198 29 7 Penn State 27 Glen Edwards DB 14 6'0 185 31 8 Florida A&M 29 Mike Williams DB 16 5'10 180 24 4 Louisiana State 31 Linden King LB 14 6'4 226 23 1 Colorado State 33 Don Woods RB 16 6'1 209 27 5 New Mexico 35 Larry Barnes RB 4 5'11 220 24 2 Tennessee State 37 Hank Bauer RB 16 5'10 204 24 2 California Lutheran 40 Clarence Williams RB 10 5'9 198 23 2 South Carolina 41 Bo Matthews RB 11 6'4 230 26 5 Colorado 42 Mike Fuller DB 16 5'9 188 25 4 Auburn 43 Rickey Anderson RB 16 6'1 211 25 R South Carolina State 44 Pete Shaw DB 16 5'10 184 24 2 Northwestern 45 Hal Stringert DB 13 5'11 185 26 4 Willamette 48 Jerome Dove DB 14 6'0 186 25 2 Colorado State 50 Don Goode LB 14 6'2 225 27 5 Kansas 51 Woodrow Lowe LB 16 6'0 227 24 3 Alabama 52 Ray Preston LB 16 6'0 215 24 3 Syracuse 53 Ralph Perretta C 15 6'2 250 25 4 Purdue 54 Jim Laslavic LB 16 6'2 240 27 6 Penn State 55 Bob Horn LB 16 6'3 237 24 3 Oregon State 57 Rick Middleton LB 12 6'2 228 26 5 Ohio State 58 Mark Slater C 9 6'1 252 23 R Minnesota 60 Dan Audick OG 1 6'3 255 23 2 Hawaii 62 Don Macek C 14 6'3 253 24 3 Boston College 63 Doug Wilkerson OG 16 6'2 257 31 9 North Carolina Central 64 Charles Aiu OG 6 6'2 250 24 3 Hawaii 66 Billy Shields OT 16 6'7 254 25 4 Georgia Tech 67 Ed White OG 15 6'2 270 31 10 California 68 Leroy Jones DE 16 6'8 265 28 3 Norfolk State 69 John Lee DE 1 6'2 253 25 3 Nebraska 70 Russ Washington OT 16 6'6 290 31 11 Missouri 71 Fred Dean DE 15 6'3 228 26 4 Louisiana Tech 73 Charles DeJurnett DT 15 6'4 270 26 3 San Jose State 74 Louie Kelcher DT 15 6'5 282 25 4 Southern Methodist 77 Buddy Hardaway OT 12 6'9 309 23 R Oklahoma State 79 Gary Johnson DT 15 6'2 254 26 4 Grambling 80 Jeff West P 16 6'3 211 25 4 Cincinnati 82 Pat Curran TE 14 6'3 235 33 10 Lakeland 83 John Jefferson WR 14 6'1 190 22 R Arizona State 84 Bob Klein TE 16 6'5 245 31 10 Southern California 85 Artie Owens WR 13 5'10 174 25 3 West Virginia 87 Larry Burton WR 3 6'1 193 26 4 Purdue 88 Greg McCrary TE 8 6'3 230 26 3 Clark Atlanta 89 Dwight McDonald WR 12 6'2 187 27 4 San Diego State 99 Wilbur Young DE 10 6'6 290 29 8 William Penn
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dan Fouts 381 224 58.8 2,999 7.87 13.4 24 6.3 20 5.2 22 130 83.0 James Harris 88 42 47.7 518 5.89 12.3 2 2.3 9 10.2 8 43 34.4 Cliff Olander 8 5 62.5 49 6.12 9.8 0 0.0 1 12.5 2 18 40.1
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Lydell Mitchell 57 500 8.8 2 John Jefferson 56 1,001 17.9 13 Bob Klein 34 413 12.1 2 Don Woods 34 295 8.7 0 Charlie Joiner 33 607 18.4 1 Bo Matthews 11 78 7.1 0 Hank Bauer 10 78 7.8 1 Artie Owens 9 188 20.9 0 Pat Curran 9 92 10.2 2 Larry Burton 5 127 25.4 3 Johnny Rodgers 5 47 9.4 0 Dwight McDonald 3 84 28.0 1 Larry Barnes 2 13 6.5 0 Greg McCrary 1 29 29.0 1 Clarence Williams 1 17 17.0 0 Rickey Anderson 1 -3 -3.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Lydell Mitchell 214 820 3.8 3 Don Woods 151 514 3.4 3 Hank Bauer 85 304 3.6 8 Bo Matthews 71 286 4.0 0 Clarence Williams 27 76 2.8 0 Dan Fouts 20 43 2.1 2 Greg McCrary 2 18 9.0 0 Rickey Anderson 3 11 3.7 0 Larry Barnes 3 8 2.7 0 John Jefferson 1 7 7.0 0 James Harris 10 7 0.7 0 Johnny Rodgers 1 5 5.0 0 Jeff West 1 0 0.0 0 Cliff Olander 1 -3 -3.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Artie Owens 20 524 26.2 0 Johnny Rodgers 11 287 26.1 0 Clarence Williams 6 143 23.8 0 Rickey Anderson 6 83 13.8 0 Mike Fuller 5 109 21.8 0 Don Woods 2 37 18.5 0 Bob Horn 2 27 13.5 0 Ray Preston 1 15 15.0 0 Bob Klein 1 13 13.0 0 Don Macek 1 6 6.0 0 Rick Middleton 1 5 5.0 0 Mark Slater 1 3 3.0 0 Hal Stringert 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Mike Fuller 39 436 11.2 10 0 Johnny Rodgers 11 88 8.0 5 0 Pete Shaw 4 46 11.5 3 0 Artie Owens 1 20 20.0 0 0 Don Goode 1 0 0.0 0 0 Mike Williams 1 0 0.0 1 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 14 WR John Jefferson 102 Arizona State 2 41 OT Buddy Hardaway 12 Oklahoma State 3 71 RB Rickey Anderson 16 South Carolina State 5 135 OG John Choma 27 Virginia [pick acquired from LA] 7 180 DB Cliff Featherstone Colorado State 8 220 P Gavin Hedrick Washington State [pick acquired from OAK] 9 237 DT Henry Bradley 43 Alcorn State 9 248 LB Blake Whitlatch 4 LSU [pick acquired from OAK] 10 264 TE Charles Price Cincinnati 12 321 WR Kevin Bell 9 Lamar
Traded draft picks: #4 to STL (George Collins), #5 to DET (Dan Gray), #6 to DET (Tony Ardizzone), #8 to OAK (Mark Nichols), #11 to OAK (Dean Jones)
Transactions:
| 04-26-1978 | traded Tom Graham to Eagles for Philadelphia's #10 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 05-02-1978 | traded San Diego's #5 and #6 picks in the 1978 draft to Lions for Jim Laslavic |
| 05-03-1978 | traded Larry Dorsey to Chiefs for Wilbur Young |
| 05-03-1978 | traded a #8 pick and a #11 pick in the 1978 draft to Raiders for a #8 pick and Oakland's #9 pick in the 1978 draft |
| 07-27-1978 | traded future considerations to Eagles for Harvey Goodman |
| 07-28-1978 | traded Rickey Young to Vikings for Ed White |
| 08-04-1978 | traded Booker Brown to Buccaneers for Tampa's #4 pick in the 1980 draft |
| 08-06-1978 | traded Richard Keys to Bills for past considerations and/or future considerations |
| 08-18-1978 | traded Bill Munson to Bills for Buffalo's #7 pick in the 1980 draft |
| 08-22-1978 | traded San Diego's #6 pick in the 1979 draft to Steelers for Glen Edwards |
| 08-23-1978 | traded Joe Washington and San Diego's #5 pick in the 1979 draft to Colts for Lydell Mitchell |
| 08-28-1978 | placed John Choma on injured reserve |
| 08-30-1978 | Chiefs claimed Dave Lindstrom on waivers |
| 09-04-1978 | placed John Lee on injured reserve |
| 09-25-1978 | sent San Diego's #3 pick in the 1981 draft to Cardinals as compensation for hiring head coach Don Coryell |
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 at Seattle Seahawks W 24-20 1-0-0 09/10/78 vs Oakland Raiders L 20-21 1-1-0 09/17/78 at Denver Broncos L 14-27 1-2-0 09/24/78 vs Green Bay Packers L 14-27 1-3-0 10/01/78 at New England Patriots L 23-28 1-4-0 10/08/78 vs Denver Broncos W 23-0 2-4-0 10/15/78 vs Miami Dolphins L 21-28 2-5-0 10/22/78 at Detroit Lions L 14-31 2-6-0 10/29/78 at Oakland Raiders W 27-23 3-6-0 11/05/78 vs Cincinnati Bengals W 22-13 4-6-0 11/12/78 vs Kansas City Chiefs W 29-23 (OT) 5-6-0 11/19/78 at Minnesota Vikings W 13-7 6-6-0 11/26/78 at Kansas City Chiefs L 0-23 6-7-0 12/04/78 vs Chicago Bears W 40-7 7-7-0 12/10/78 vs Seattle Seahawks W 37-10 8-7-0 12/17/78 at Houston Oilers W 45-24 9-7-0