1998 San Diego Chargers season

The 1998 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 29th season in the National Football League (NFL), its 39th overall and was the second and final season under Kevin Gilbride. After a 2–4 start, Gilbride was fired and June Jones coached the final ten games of the season as interim head coach. The team's defense led the league in yards allowed; however, a weak offense under infamous draft bust quarterback Ryan Leaf meant that the team was last in the AFC West.

1998 San Diego Chargers season
Head coach	Kevin Gilbride (fired Week 6, 2–4 record) June Jones (interim)
General manager	Bobby Beathard
Owner	Alex Spanos
Home field	Qualcomm Stadium
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	5th AFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	SS Rodney Harrison LB Junior Seau

Following the season, Oregon State Head Coach Mike Riley would be named Head Coach.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1998 NFL Draft

1998 San Diego Chargers draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	2	Ryan Leaf	Quarterback	Washington State	from Arizona
2	59	Mikhael Ricks	Tight end	Stephen F. Austin
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1998 San Diego Chargers staff

	Front office Chairman of the Board – Alex Spanos President/Vice Chairman – Dean Spanos General Manager – Bobby Beathard Director of Player Personnel – Billy Devaney Director of Pro Personnel – Greg Gaines Coordinator of Football Operations – Ed McGuire Head coaches Head Coach – Kevin Gilbride Assistant Head Coach – Nick Nicolau Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Mike Sheppard Quarterbacks – June Jones Running Backs – Ollie Wilson Tight Ends – Bill MacDermott Offensive Line – Joe Bugel Offensive Assistant – Mike Cavanaugh			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Joe Pascale Defensive Line – Wayne Nunnely Linebackers – Jim Vechiarella Defensive Backs – Rod Perry Defensive Assistant – Kevin Lempa Special teams coaches Special Teams – Frank Novak Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – John Hastings

[1]

Roster

1998 San Diego Chargers final roster

	Quarterbacks 16 Ryan Leaf  5 Craig Whelihan Running backs 41 Terrell Fletcher 20 Natrone Means 43 Kenny Bynum 34 Tremayne Stephens Wide receivers 85 Tony Gaiter 82 Charlie Jones 10/86 Mikhael Ricks 84 Webster Slaughter 80 Bryan Still 87 Ryan Thelwell Tight ends 83 John Burke 81 Wendell Davis 89 Frank Hartley 88 Freddie Jones		Offensive linemen 67 Roman Fortin C 71 DeMingo Graham G 65 John Jackson T 64 Kendyl Jacox G 70 Vaughn Parker T 79 Marcus Price T 74 Raleigh Roundtree G 72 Troy Sienkiewicz T 73 Aaron Taylor G Defensive linemen 97 John Parrella DT 90 Marco Coleman DE 96 Norman Hand DT 95 William Fuller DE 99 Raylee Johnson DE 98 Mike Mohring DT		Linebackers 58 Lewis Bush 51 Gerald Dixon 54 Kurt Gouveia 59 Jon Haskins 55 Junior Seau 56 Steve Tovar Defensive backs 27 Charles Dimry CB 20 Mike Dumas FS 28 Dwayne Harper CB 37 Rodney Harrison SS 36 Lloyd Lee 29 Terrance Shaw CB 22 Jimmy Spencer CB 21 Scott Turner CB 23 Gerome Williams Special teams  2 Darren Bennett P  3 John Carney K 57 Marc Raab LS		Reserve lists 50 David Binn LS (IR) Practice squad 7 Jeff Baker QB Rookies in italics active, inactive, practice squad

Regular season

The opening game for 1998 constituted the first time since 1985 that the Chargers played the Buffalo Bills.[2] The reason for this is that before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team’s division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season.[3]

The team had an excellent defense, but the offense's 51 turnovers were the most in the league, including 34 interceptions. Quarterback Ryan Leaf had 15 interceptions and only two touchdown passes in ten games; Craig Whelihan also performed poorly. The ineffective offense, and rookie Leaf's obnoxious behavior toward teammates, damaged morale; outside linebacker Lew Bush recalled, "Try going into a game you have no chance of winning, knowing that if you give up more than one touchdown, it's over". Strong safety Rodney Harrison described the season as "a nightmare you can't even imagine. If I had to go through another year like that, I'd probably quit playing".[4]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	TV	TV time (PT)	Attendance	Record
1	September 6, 1998	Buffalo Bills	W 16–14	CBS	1:15pm	64,037	1-0
2	September 13, 1998	at Tennessee Oilers	W 13–7	CBS	10:00am	41,089	2-0
3	September 20, 1998	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 7–23	CBS	10:00am	73,730	2-1
4	September 27, 1998	New York Giants	L 16–34	FOX	1:15pm	55,672	2-2
5	October 4, 1998	at Indianapolis Colts	L 12–17	CBS	10:00pm	51,988	2-3
6	October 11, 1998	at Oakland Raiders	L 6–7	CBS	1:15pm	42,467	2-4
7	October 18, 1998	Philadelphia Eagles	W 13–10	FOX	1:15pm	56,967	3-4
8	October 25, 1998	Seattle Seahawks	L 20–27	CBS	1:15pm	58,512	3-5
9	Bye
10	November 8, 1998	at Denver Broncos	L 10–27	CBS	1:15pm	74,925	3-6
11	November 15, 1998	Baltimore Ravens	W 14–13	CBS	1:05pm	54,388	4-6
12	November 22, 1998	Kansas City Chiefs	W 38–37	CBS	1:15pm	59,894	5-6
13	November 29, 1998	Denver Broncos	L 16–31	ESPN	5:20pm	66,532	5-7
14	December 6, 1998	at Washington Redskins	L 20–24	CBS	10:00am	65,713	5-8
15	December 13, 1998	at Seattle Seahawks	L 17–38	CBS	1:05pm	62,690	5-9
16	December 20, 1998	Oakland Raiders	L 10–17	CBS	1:05pm	60,716	5-10
17	December 27, 1998	at Arizona Cardinals	L 13–16	CBS	1:15pm	71,670	5-11

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 0 7 7 14 • Chargers 3 0 10 3 16 Date: September 6 Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA Game start: 4:15 p.m. EST Game attendance: 64,037 Game weather: 73 °F (22.8 °C); wind 9 miles per hour (14 km/h; 7.8 kn) Referee: Ron Blum TV announcers (CBS): Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker

Scoring summary Q1 SD Carney 48 yard field goal SD 3–0 Q3 SD Still 6 yard pass from Leaf (Carney kick) SD 10–0 Q3 BUF Reed 43 yard pass from Flutie (Christie kick) SD 10–7 Q3 SD Carney 47 yard field goal SD 13–7 Q4 BUF Reed 5 yard pass from Flutie (Christie kick) BUF 14–13 Q4 SD Carney 54 yard field goal SD 16–14

[5]

Standings

AFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
^(1) Denver Broncos	14	2	0	.875	501	309	W1
Oakland Raiders	8	8	0	.500	288	356	L1
Seattle Seahawks	8	8	0	.500	372	310	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	7	9	0	.438	327	363	W1
San Diego Chargers	5	11	0	.313	241	342	L5

References

1. 2009 San Diego Chargers Media Guide. pp. 326–327. Archived from the original on October 15, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
2. Buffalo Bills v San Diego Chargers
3. History of the NFL’s Structure and Formats
4. Silver, Michael (August 30, 1999). "San Diego Chargers - After a season of discontent there's reason to be upbeat". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
5. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-19.