1970 San Diego Chargers season

1970 San Diego Chargers season
Head coach	Charlie Waller
General manager	Sid Gillman
Owner	Gene Klein
Home field	San Diego Stadium
Results
Record	5–6–3
Division place	3rd AFC West
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1970 San Diego Chargers season began with the team trying to improve on their 8–6 record in 1969. It was their first season as an NFL team as a result of the NFL-AFL Merger, where the league was broken into two Conferences, with the AFL teams moving into the American Football Conference.

San Diego's 5-6-3 record was the first of seven consecutive losing seasons for the franchise. The 1970 Chargers are the last NFL team to record three ties in a single season, a record which will likely stand, as the NFL adopted overtime for regular season games in 1974.

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 20, 1970	Baltimore Colts	L 16–14	47,782
2	September 27, 1970	Oakland Raiders	T 27–27	42,109
3	October 4, 1970	at Los Angeles Rams	L 37–10	69,564
4	October 12, 1970	Green Bay Packers	L 22–20	53,064
5	October 18, 1970	at Chicago Bears	W 20–7	45,278
6	October 25, 1970	Houston Oilers	T 31–31	41,427
7	November 1, 1970	at Cleveland Browns	W 27–10	80,047
8	November 8, 1970	Denver Broncos	W 24–21	48,327
9	November 15, 1970	at Boston Patriots	W 16–14	30,597
10	November 22, 1970	at Oakland Raiders	L 20–17	54,594
11	November 29, 1970	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 26–14	50,315
12	December 6, 1970	Cincinnati Bengals	L 17–14	41,461
13	December 13, 1970	at Denver Broncos	T 17–17	50,959
14	December 20, 1970	Kansas City Chiefs	W 31–13	41,379

Standings

AFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	8	4	2	.667	4–0–2	7–2–2	300	293	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	7	5	2	.583	2–3–1	7–3–1	272	244	L2
San Diego Chargers	5	6	3	.455	2–2–2	4–4–3	282	278	W1
Denver Broncos	5	8	1	.385	1–4–1	3–6–1	253	264	L1

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

References