1979: Chargers 35, Saints 0 revisited

[74_75_78_79_]

In regards to tonight's Chargers@Saints contest, it reminds me of their '79 affair which was also in the Superdome. Other than a FWIW 5-4 start the year prior in '78, the Saints have never at all flirted with the playoffs nor a winning season as they did in '79 with a 7-6 start (7-3 the past ten games to be specific; they started 0-3)! They trashed Tampa Bay, 42-14, and also beat Washington - both on the road - leading up to this very winning start.

Game 14 would be a Monday Nighter with the Raiders coming to town. Saints would be up by scores of 28-7 in the 2nd Q, and 35-14 in the 3rd; but we all know what would happen. And then came the Chargers coming to town the following week who'd put up that 35-0 burger thus eliminating NO from contention. All 35 points were scored in the first half!! Archie threw no INTs, Fouts got sacked four times, nobody for SD rushed for 100 yards including Hank Bauer who had himself a latter day Jerome Bettis style outing. He rushed four times for one yard yet THREE touchdowns!!

Likely-enough the Chargers would have won anyway, but is the Saints getting bludgeoned as they did simply a product of being demoralized from collapsing the week before? If the Saints hang on vs Oakland, and still lose to SD anyway, then we would have had ourselves an 'NFC West Championship Game' the final week between Saints and Rams - both 8-7 going in! Saints, of course, won that actual Week #16 game but of course the Rams already clinched.

[7DnBrnc53]

That 1979 Charger team may have been their most dominating of the Air Coryell era. I still don't understand how they lost to Houston in the Divisonal Round. They probably beat the Steelers and Rams the next two weeks (not as bad as they defeated them in the regular season, though).

Does that lead to a dynasty? Probably not, since Gene Klein was a cheapskate. Also, Dan Fouts wasn't as great of a QB as some think, and it would take them until 1989 to get a defense that finished in the top-10 in fewest points allowed.

[74_75_78_79_]

That 1979 Charger team may have been their most dominating of the Air Coryell era. I still don't understand how they lost to Houston in the Divisonal Round. They probably beat the Steelers and Rams the next two weeks (not as bad as they defeated them in the regular season, though).

Does that lead to a dynasty? Probably not, since Gene Klein was a cheapskate. Also, Dan Fouts wasn't as great of a QB as some think, and it would take them until 1989 to get a defense that finished in the top-10 in fewest points allowed.

As regular-season-juggernaut-esque we may all look back on them as being, the '79 Chargers "only" finished at 12-4 as opposed to, say, 14-2. After nine games, they were "only" 6-3 as well as just 8-3 upon hosting the 9-2 World Champs who were coming off a combined 124-20 Super-Quadruple-Triumph over Denver, Dallas, Washington, and at KC (average final score of 31-5)!

Had ESPN already had their weekly 'Power'-rankings at the time, SD would not have reached #1 at all until that very 35-7 statement in front of their home-fans. And not just that, but they had to win their finale not just to clinch that very top-seed, but to win their division (over Denver)-period. It's very easy to forget all this.

And Coryell's Chargers always did have to rally their way into each playoff berth; not just '79. The following year, another one to easily forget being they also were top-seed along with appearing in the AFCC, they actually started at 6-4; and then they finished 5-1. In '81, they start...6-5! Then they lose at home to Buffalo in Week #14 to make it 8-6, only to then forge things by way of winning their final two with Bears gifting them an upset over Denver in the finale! In abbreviated '82, they start 1-2; Chiefs finally beating them in Week #2. But then they post 5-straight wins to make it yet another successful regular season.