I came across an article at a website called the Professional Football Researchers Association that discussed the 1963 edition of the San Diego Chargers.......AFL Champion, San Diego Chargers.
It can be read and downloaded as a five page PDF but I included an excerpt (essentially the conclusion) which discusses the probability that the Chargers would have defeated the NFL Champion Chicago Bears in 1963 as well as the Chargers' impact on the junior league as a whole. I also included this particular bit because the owner of the Boston Patriots mentions that the Chargers did the AFL a favor by stomping the bejezzeus out of the Pats (I colored up the language....see direct quote below).
Sid Gilman added fuel to the fire, saying "We're champions of the world. If anyone wants to debate it, let them play us."
In the aftermath of their win over the Patriots, Otto Graham, the former Cleveland Browns' star QB, thought the Chargers were the best team in football that year. "If the Chargers could play the best in the NFL," Graham said after the AFL title game, "I'd have to pick the Chargers."
Patriots' team owner Billy Sullivan acknowledged that despite the final score of the title game, the Chargers' impressive win benefited the young AFL, even if it had to come at the expense of Sullivan's team. "It almost killed me to have to watch it." Sullivan said," But when you think about it from the stand point of our league, then you'd have to say that San Diego did us all a favor."
Indeed. Whether or not the Chargers could have defeated the Bears in a Super Bowl following the 1963 season will never be known. What is certain however, is that the Chargers established themselves as the first of the AFL's super teams. In so doing, they became the first AFL champion to invite serious comparisons with the best of the NFL. Which in 1963, was victory in itself for a league still struggling to create its own identity.
It feels kind of good to hear some positive things about a San Diego team, to see the word Champion bandied about. I also enjoy seeing Patriots acquiesce to the Powd-ah Blue. Here's to 2009-'10.
Another interesting aside.
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