Back in April, it was announced that the Los Angeles Chargers would be helping to kick off the 2025 NFL preseason, as they'll take on the Detroit Lions in the annual Hall of Fame Game on Thursday, July 31, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/5:00 Pacific at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
The Bolts' involvement makes sense, as legendary tight end Antonio Gates is one of the headliners of the 2025 Hall of Fame Class and will be officially enshrined two days later on Saturday, August 2.
Now, one could easily assume that the Chargers might not be too thrilled with having to play an extra preseason game. But if history is any indication of how this 2025 campaign will unfold, Jim Harbaugh & Co. should be absolutely thrilled with this scheduling.
And the reasoning there is that in each of the previous two instances in which the Chargers appeared in the Hall of Fame Game, they went on a Super Bowl run. And one can't help but notice the progression.
Allow us to explain.
Playing in the Hall of Fame game has been a great omen for the Chargers
In 1980, the then-San Diego Chargers made their first trip to Canton to take on the Green Bay Packers. In what turned out to be the lowest-scoring Hall of Fame Game of all time (you legit and obviously can't go any lower), the two teams battled to a 0-0 tie before the contest was called with 5:29 remaining in the fourth quarter due to lightning in the area.
The Chargers ultimately went on to win the AFC West with an 11-5 record behind a ridiculous campaign from Dan Fouts, who became the first quarterback ever to post two 4,000-yard seasons and set what was then a new single-season record with 4,715 yards.
Following a first-round bye in the postseason, the top-seeded Bolts knocked off the third-seeded Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round but were then defeated in the AFC Championship Game by the fourth-seeded Oakland Raiders by a score of 34-27.
Fourteen years later, to kick off the 1994 campaign, the Chargers made their second appearance in the Hall of Fame Game, taking a 21-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
And once again, they went 11-5 during regular season to win the AFC West, again earning a first-round bye in the postseason as the second seed in the conference.
After sneaking past the Miami Dolphins in the Divisional Round, 22-21, the Bolts took down the top-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC title game, 17-13, thus giving the franchise its first (and still only) trip to the Super Bowl.
Of course, that appearance didn't go so well, as the Chargers were soundly defeated by the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26, as NFL MVP Steve Young tossed a record six touchdown passes en route to adding a Super Bowl MVP to his trophy case.
So, as you can see, the only logical next step after this upcoming third appearance in the Hall of Fame Game is for the Chargers to win the Super Bowl. Sounds easy enough, right?
Obviously, this is all in good fun, but the Bolts have at least put themselves in contention to compete. Harbaugh has completely changed the culture of this club, turning around a team that went 5-12 in 2023 into a team that went 11-6 and made the playoffs in Year 1.
So, Chargers fans are naturally excited to see what happens in Year 2, which begins, of course, with the Hall of Fame Game. And from there, we just wait to see if history does its thing.