Choosing your NFL/EFLI team - Optimists

San Diego Chargers

Colours: Navy, gold and powder blue

Mascot: Boltman

Stadium: Qualcomm Stadium

Home City: San Diego, California

Super Bowl wins: 0 (1 appearance)

Records over last 5 years: 46 wins, 34 losses, 2 playoff appearances

Best Players: Philip Rivers, Eric Weddle, Keenan Allen

Bio: To know Chargers football is to know pain. The talent has always been there, but the results never followed. For much of the 70s and 80s the team had four future Hall of Fame players in the same team, including three (QB Dan Fouts, WR Charlie Joiner and TE Kelllen Winslow) who revolutionized the game in Don “Air” Coryell’s downfield passing game.

In the 2000s they were often praised as the “most talented” team in the league; centred around running back Ladanian Tomlinson and his record shattering career. And yet the Chargers have just one AFL championship, in 1963. Since then, they’ve been to just one Super Bowl, a convincing loss to the 49ers.

The current team is on the rise. The heart and soul of the team is the polarizing QB Philip Rivers; some see him as brash and annoying, but to others he is simply a lover of the game, who wears his heart on his sleeve.

After a brief wobble in his otherwise stellar career, Rivers was second-best only to the record breaking Peyton Manning amongst NFL quarterbacks this year. The team made the playoffs against all odds and displayed some encouraging resiliency. With young talent in running back Ryan Mathews and rookie player of the year candidate Keenen Allen at receiver, the future looks bright for the Chargers. Just don’t expect a happy ending.