1963 San Diego Chargers season

1963 San Diego Chargers season
Head coach Sid Gillman
Home field Balboa Stadium
Results
Record 11–3
Division place 1st Western Division
Playoff finish Won AFL Championship (Patriots) (51–10)
Timeline
Previous season Next season
< 1962 1964 >

The 1963 San Diego Chargers season was the team's 4th in the American Football League. The team had gone 4–10 record in 1962. They won their only AFL Championship with a win over the Boston Patriots. Lance Alworth was named the league M.V.P.

The 1963 team was the Chargers' only championship season, AFL or NFL.[1] This is also the most recent world championship ever won by a major league sports team in the city and county of San Diego. In 2003, the team was inducted into the Chargers Ring of Honor.[2]

The Chargers were the only AFL team to go undefeated against four teams in the regular season that would go on to make the postseason.[3] The 1963 San Diego Chargers are also perhaps infamously known for being one of the first major sports teams in North America to have ever been known to use steroids.[4]

Season schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 8, 1963 Buffalo Bills W 14–10
22,344
2 September 14, 1963 Boston Patriots W 17–13
26,097
3 September 29, 1963 Kansas City Chiefs W 24–10
22,654
4 October 6, 1963 at Denver Broncos L 34–50
18,428
5 October 13, 1963 New York Jets W 24–20
27,189
6 October 20, 1963 at Kansas City Chiefs W 38–17
30,107
7 October 27, 1963 Oakland Raiders L 33–34
30,182
8 November 2, 1963 at New York Jets W 53–7
18,336
9 November 10, 1963 at Boston Patriots W 7–6
28,402
10 November 17, 1963 at Buffalo Bills W 23–13
38,592
11 December 1, 1963 Houston Oilers W 27–0
31,713
12 December 8, 1963 at Oakland Raiders L 27–41
20,249
13 December 15, 1963 at Houston Oilers W 20–14
18,540
14 December 22, 1963 Denver Broncos W 58–20
31,312

Game summaries

Week 8

1 234Total
• Chargers 7 171415 53
Jets 0 007 7
  • Date: November 2
  • Location: Polo Grounds, New York, NY
  • Game weather: 48°F; wind 16

[5]

Week 14

1 234Total
Broncos 7 1030 20
• Chargers 10 161022 58
  • Date: December 22
  • Location: Balboa Stadium, San Diego, CA
  • Game weather: 56°F; wind 5

[6]


Standings

AFL Western Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
San Diego Chargers 1130.7863–3399255W2
Oakland Raiders 1040.7146–0363282W8
Kansas City Chiefs 572.4172–4347263W3
Denver Broncos 2111.1541–5301473L7

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Championship January 5, 1964 Boston Patriots W 51–10
30,127

References

  1. ↑ As of 2011
  2. ↑ Gehlken, Michael (October 28, 2013). "Chargers to honor their title team". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on December 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1940 to 2011, in the AFL, in the regular season, team won game, in games against playoff teams only, only in games against teams with winning record for season, sorted by most games in season matching criteria.
  4. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=3866837
  5. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Dec-29.
  6. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Aug-16.