2001 San Diego Chargers season | |
---|---|
Head Coach | Mike Riley |
Home Field | Qualcomm Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 5–11 |
Place | 5th AFC West |
Playoff Finish | did not qualify |
Timeline | |
Previous season | Next season |
2000 | 2002 |
The 2001 San Diego Chargers season began with the team trying to improve on their 1–15 record in 2000. It was Mike Riley's final season as the teams head coach. At the end of the season running back LaDainian Tomlinson won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Offseason[]
Becoming the "Bills West"[]
In January 2001, Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson fired his general manager, John Butler, and his entire staff. The Chargers immediately signed Butler, and within weeks, Butler had lured several recognizable names from the 2000 Bills team: defensive end Marcellus Wiley, linebackers Sam Rogers and John Holecek, kicker Steve Christie and most notably, quarterback Doug Flutie, who had been cut by the Bills in a bitter quarterback controversy involving Rob Johnson. With so many former Bills connections, the team was often referred to as the Bills West.[1][2]
As such, the October 28 matchup between the Bills and Chargers in San Diego was heavily promoted as a dual grudge match, not just between Johnson and Flutie, but also between Wilson and Butler, with Wilson having been quoted as wanting to win the Chargers game more than the Super Bowl.[1] Despite the fact that the Bills were having a very bad season, and the Chargers' fortunes (at the time) had turned significantly, the game was very competitive, coming down to the final minutes play. Trailing 24–20, Flutie scrambled 13 yards to put the Chargers up 27–24; when kicker Jake Arians attempted a 44-yard field goal to tie the game, it was blocked.[3] The Chargers, then 5–2, would not win another game the entire season, going 0–9 in the remaining nine games.
NFL Draft[]
Michael Vick was selected in the 2001 NFL Draft as the first overall pick and first African American quarterback taken number 1 in the NFL Draft. The San Diego Chargers had the number one selection spot in the draft that year but traded the rights to the first overall choice to the Atlanta Falcons a day before the draft, for which they received the Falcons' first round pick (5th overall) and third round pick in 2001 (used to draft CB Tay Cody), a second round pick in 2002 (used to draft WR Reche Caldwell) and WR/KR Tim Dwight.[4] With the Chargers' downgraded spot (the 5th overall), they selected Texas Christian University running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who went on to become league MVP in 2006 .[5] Although Vick has never become league MVP, he finished second in voting in 2004.[6] In this way, Tomlinson and Vick are linked as having been "traded" for each other, although the transaction was actually the result of traded draft picks and contract negotiations.
Round | Player | Position | School/Club Team |
---|---|---|---|
1 (from Atlanta) | LaDainian Tomlinson [7] | Running Back | Texas Christian |
2 | Drew Brees | Quarterback | Purdue |
3 (from Atlanta) | Tay Cody | Cornerback | Florida State |
4 (from Pittsburgh through New England) | Carlos Polk | Outside Linebacker | Nebraska |
5 | Elliot Silvers | Tackle | Washington |
Personnel[]
Staff[]
2001 San Diego Chargers staff | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
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Regular season[]
Schedule[]
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | September 9, 2001 | Washington Redskins | W 30–3 | |
2 | September 23, 2001 | at Dallas Cowboys | W 32–21 | |
3 | September 30, 2001 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 28–14 | |
4 | October 7, 2001 | at Cleveland Browns | L 20–16 | |
5 | October 14, 2001 | at New England Patriots | L 29–26 | |
6 | October 21, 2001 | Denver Broncos | W 27–10 | |
7 | October 28, 2001 | Buffalo Bills | W 27–24 | |
8 | November 4, 2001 | Kansas City Chiefs | L 25–20 | |
9 | November 11, 2001 | at Denver Broncos | L 26–16 | |
10 | November 18, 2001 | at Oakland Raiders | L 34–24 | |
11 | November 25, 2001 | Arizona Cardinals | L 20–17 | |
12 | December 2, 2001 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 13–10 | |
13 | December 9, 2001 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 24–14 | |
14 | December 15, 2001 | Oakland Raiders | L 13–6 | |
15 | December 23, 2001 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 20–17 | |
16 | December 30, 2001 | Seattle Seahawks | L 25–22 |
Standings[]
AFC West | ||||||
Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland Raiders | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 399 | 327 |
Seattle Seahawks | 9 | 7 | 0 | .562 | 301 | 324 |
Denver Broncos | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 340 | 339 |
Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 320 | 344 |
San Diego Chargers | 5 | 11 | 0 | .312 | 332 | 321 |
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Roth, Leo. Bills East vs. Bills West. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. 23 October 2001.
- ↑ Banks, Don. AFC is where all the action is lately. SI.com. 19 October 2001.
- ↑ Flutie works his magic – again – to beat Bills 27–24. Associated Press. 28 October 2001.
- ↑ ESPN – Chargers big winner in different draft-day deal – NFL
- ↑ NFL Most Valuable Players – NFL MVP Player of the Year
- ↑ Barry Wilner (2005-01-11). "Manning NFL MVP again: 49 TDs, passing rating of 121.1 make Colts QB near-unanimous pick". The Decatur Daily. http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/050111/nfl.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
- ↑ NFL Draft – 2001 NFL Draft Results
- REDIRECT Template:Los Angeles Chargers
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