LA Chargers: Every Charger team that was 3-7 through 10 games

The LA Chargers have just three wins in 10 games, all of which are against teams high in the 2020 NFL Draft order.

The LA Chargers added their third win of the season in Week 11 as they bested the winless New York Jets; making the Chargers 3-7 for just the fourth time in franchise history.

At this point, the Chargers should be convinced more with winning these games than losing them. Sure, they would lose some draft capital, but the team is not going to be high enough to draft Oregon tackle Penei Sewell anyway. Might as well win some games to build on something for next year, like how the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals did last season.

In case you were unaware, both the Dolphins and Cardinals are in the middle of playoff runs just one season after winning the same number of games as the Chargers.

So what about the other Charger teams that started 3-7? Were they able to turn it around and win some games?

Every LA Chargers team to start the season 3-7:

1983 Chargers: 

The last Charger team to start with a 3-7 record was the 1983 Chargers and there are some interesting parallels between that team and the 2020 team.

The 1983 Chargers were right in the middle of the Air Coryell days in which Dan Coryell and Dan Fouts popularized a new form of offense that made the Chargers one of the best offensive teams in the league. The Chargers made the playoffs the four years prior to the 1983 season.

However, the team’s terrible defense caught up to them. That team led the league in passing yards and finished with a 6-10 record. Why? They ranked dead-last in points allowed (28.9 points per game).

The 2020 Chargers have an excellent passing attack led by Justin Herbert, who might just have the best passing season in franchise history as a rookie. However, their defense (and bad coaching) has hurt them. The 2020 Chargers have allowed 27.3 points per game.

1974 Chargers: 

The 1974 Chargers were not very good. They started with a 3-7 record that was pushed to a 3-9 record before winning the last two games of the season to finish with a 5-9 record. If it was a 16-game season, we can assume that this Charger team would have had six wins at the absolute most.

These Chargers were simply mediocre on both sides of the ball. They ranked 20th in points per game and 19th in points allowed (out of 26 teams).

However, just like the 2020 season, the 1974 season had some promise as young quarterback Dan Fouts won his first game with the Chargers, going 3-8 in 11 starts.

Just like the 2020 Chargers, the 1974 Chargers’ first win was a three-point victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

1962 Chargers:

This is back in the AFL days before the league merged with the NFL. In fact, this was just the third season in team history and the second in which they played in the city of San Diego.

The 1962 Chargers won just one game after starting 3-7, finishing with a 4-10 record on the year. It is hard to even compare this team to the modern-day Chargers as the game of football is so different but this season did see the debut of the best wide receiver in team history, Lance Alworth.

The current number one wideout, Keenan Allen, is well on his way to pass Alworth as the best receiver in franchise history, though. Allen trails Alworth by 2,345 receiving yards and has 70 more games on his contract as a Charger.

If Allen can average 70 yards per game in those 70 games (assuming he plays all 70) then he would finish with 12,140 receiving yards, which would pass even Antonio Gates.