2001 San Diego Chargers season

2001 San Diego Chargers season
Head coach	Mike Riley
General manager	John Butler
Owner	Alex Spanos
Home field	Qualcomm Stadium
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	5th AFC West
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 2001 San Diego Chargers season began with the team trying to improve on their 1–15 record in 2000. It was Mike Riley's final season as the teams head coach. At the end of the season running back LaDainian Tomlinson won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Offseason

Becoming the "Bills West"

In January 2001, Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson fired his general manager, John Butler, and his entire staff. The Chargers immediately signed Butler, and within weeks, Butler had lured several recognizable names from the 2000 Bills team: defensive end Marcellus Wiley, linebackers Sam Rogers and John Holecek, kicker Steve Christie and most notably, quarterback Doug Flutie, who had been cut by the Bills in a bitter quarterback controversy involving Rob Johnson. With so many former Bills connections, the team was often referred to as the Bills West. (See also the 1995 Carolina Panthers season, in which Bill Polian brought several Bills contributors from the team's Super Bowl era to Carolina in its inaugural year of play.)

As such, the October 28 matchup between the Bills and Chargers in San Diego was heavily promoted as a dual grudge match, not just between Johnson and Flutie, but also between Wilson and Butler, with Wilson having been quoted as wanting to win the Chargers game more than the Super Bowl. Despite the fact that the Bills were having a very bad season, and the Chargers' fortunes (at the time) had turned significantly, the game was very competitive, coming down to the final minutes play. Trailing 24–20, Flutie scrambled 13 yards to put the Chargers up 27–24; when kicker Jake Arians attempted a 44-yard field goal to tie the game, it was blocked. The Chargers, then 5–2, would not win another game the entire season, going 0–9 in the remaining nine games.

NFL Draft

Michael Vick was selected in the 2001 NFL Draft as the first overall pick and first African American quarterback taken number 1 in the NFL Draft. The San Diego Chargers had the number one selection spot in the draft that year but traded the rights to the first overall choice to the Atlanta Falcons a day before the draft, for which they received the Falcons' first round pick (5th overall) and third round pick in 2001 (used to draft CB Tay Cody), a second round pick in 2002 (used to draft WR Reche Caldwell) and WR/KR Tim Dwight. With the Chargers' downgraded spot (the 5th overall), they selected Texas Christian University running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who went on to become league MVP in 2006 . Although Vick has never become league MVP, he finished second in voting in 2004. In this way, Tomlinson and Vick are linked as having been "traded" for each other, although the transaction was actually the result of traded draft picks and contract negotiations. The Chargers' other notable draft pick was Drew Brees, who would eventually win Super Bowl XLIV as a member of the Saints.

draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	5	LaDainian Tomlinson *	RB	TCU	Pick from ATL
2	31	Drew Brees *	QB	Purdue
3	67	Tay Cody	CB	Florida St	Pick from ATL
4	112	Carlos Polk	LB	Nebraska	Pick from PIT
5		Elliot Silvers	OT	Washington
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

2001 San Diego Chargers staff
	Front office Chairman of the Board – Alex Spanos President/Chief Executive Officer – Dean Spanos Executive Vice President – Michael Spanos Executive Vice President/General Manager – John Butler Assistant General Manager/Director of Pro Personnel – A. J. Smith Vice President of Football Operations – Ed McGuire Director of Player Personnel – Buddy Nix Director of College Scouting – Jimmy Raye Head coaches Head Coach – Mike Riley Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Norv Turner Quarterbacks – Mike Johnson Running Backs – Ollie Wilson Wide Receivers – Mike Sanford Tight Ends – Paul Chryst Offensive Line – Joe Bugel Offensive Assistant/Quality Control – Craig Dickenson			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Joe Pascale Defensive Line – Wayne Nunnely Linebackers – Jim Vechiarella Secondary – Rod Perry Defensive Corners – Mark Banker Defensive Assistant/Quality Control – Andrew McClave Special teams coaches Special Teams – Bruce Read Special Teams Assistant/Quality Control – Craig Dickenson Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – John Hastings Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Mike Schleelein

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Network	TV Time (PT)	Attendance
1	September 9, 2001	Washington Redskins	W 30–3	FOX	1:00pm	60,629
2	September 23, 2001	at Dallas Cowboys	W 32–21	CBS	10:00am	63,430
3	September 30, 2001	Cincinnati Bengals	W 28–14	CBS	1:00pm	56,048
4	October 7, 2001	at Cleveland Browns	L 20–16	CBS	10:00am	73,018
5	October 14, 2001	at New England Patriots	L 29–26	CBS	10:00am	60,292
6	October 21, 2001	Denver Broncos	W 27–10	CBS	1:00pm	67,521
7	October 28, 2001	Buffalo Bills	W 27–24	CBS	1:00pm	63,698
8	November 4, 2001	Kansas City Chiefs	L 25–20	CBS	1:00pm	58,789
9	November 11, 2001	at Denver Broncos	L 26–16	CBS	1:00pm	74,951
10	November 18, 2001	at Oakland Raiders	L 34–24	CBS	1:00pm	61,960
11	November 25, 2001	Arizona Cardinals	L 20–17	FOX	1:00pm	49,398
12	December 2, 2001	at Seattle Seahawks	L 13–10	CBS	1:00pm	55,466
13	December 9, 2001	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–14	CBS	10:00am	65,438
14	December 15, 2001	Oakland Raiders	L 13–6	CBS	1:00pm	67,349
15	December 23, 2001	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 20–17	CBS	10:00am	76,131
16	December 30, 2001	Seattle Seahawks	L 25–22	CBS	1:00pm	51,412

Game summaries

Week 7

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 10 0 14 24 • Chargers 10 3 0 14 27 Date: October 28 Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA Game start: 1:15 p.m. PST Game weather: 65°F; wind 7 Referee: Tony Corrente Television network: CBS

Scoring summary Q1 9:21 SD Richey 37 yard field goal SD 3–0 Q1 2:04 SD Jones 1 yard pass from Flutie (Richey kick) SD 10–0 Q2 14:14 SD Richey 25 yard field goal SD 13–0 Q2 7:01 BUF Johnson 1 yard run (Arians kick) SD 13–7 Q2 :05 BUF Arians 41 yard field goal SD 13–10 Q4 10:46 SD Perry 37 yard interception return (Richey kick) SD 20–10 Q4 10:21 BUF Price 61 yard pass from Johnson (Arians kick) SD 20–17 Q4 1:45 BUF Henry 3 yard run (Arians kick) BUF 24–20 Q4 1:19 SD Flutie 13 yard run (Richey kick) SD 27–24

Standings

AFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(3) Oakland Raiders	10	6	0	.625	399	327	L3
Seattle Seahawks	9	7	0	.563	301	324	W2
Denver Broncos	8	8	0	.500	340	339	L1
Kansas City Chiefs	6	10	0	.375	320	344	L1
San Diego Chargers	5	11	0	.313	332	321	L9