NFL Playoffs: Reliving Los Angeles Chargers’ top 3 wins in the Wild Card round

January 9, 1983, at Pittsburgh Steelers

Shortened by a strike, the 1982 NFL season featured a 16-team tournament in the playoffs. Though the Pittsburgh Steelers were no longer the superpower that they were in the 1970s, it still meant a lot to go to Three Rivers Stadium and get a win.

That was the task at hand for Dan Fouts and the 1982 Bolts. What a game it was.

Terry Bradshaw, in what would end up being his final postseason game. threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two critical interceptions. He also ran for a touchdown in the game.

The Chargers’ offense moved the ball, something it never had an issue with while Don Coryell coached the team. Still, this was the Steelers and they were supposed to win this game.

The Chargers trailed by 11 points in the fourth quarter (sound familiar?) and it looked like the chances of winning the game had all but disappeared. However, a fourth-quarter interception by Jeff Allen set the Chargers up at the Steelers’ 29-yard line.

On the very next play, Fouts was picked off by Mel Blount, but a holding call against the Steelers took it away. A few plays later, Fouts hit Kellen Winslow for an 8-yard touchdown pass to cut the score to 28-24.

The Steelers decided to get conservative, perhaps scared off by Bradshaw’s interception. They ran the ball six times in a row and were forced to punt. The punt traveled just 20 yards. Suddenly, the Chargers had the ball at their own 36-yard line with around four minutes left in the game.

Coryell turned to his big running back, Chuck Muncie, who ran the ball hard on the final drive. On the game’s crucial play, the Chargers faced 3rd-and-7 from the Steelers’ 12-yard line, coming up on one minute left in the game. Fouts threw a screen pass to Winslow who managed to get past the Pittsburgh defense and into the end zone, quieting the crowd.