2003 San Diego Chargers season - Wikipedia
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| 2003 San Diego Chargers season | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Alex Spanos |
| General manager | A. J. Smith |
| Head coach | Marty Schottenheimer |
| Home field | Qualcomm Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 4–12 |
| Division place | 4th AFC West |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers | None[1] |
| All-Pros | 1[2]
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The 2003 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 34th season in the National Football League (NFL), its 44th overall and the second under head coach Marty Schottenheimer. They finished the campaign last in their division with only four wins and earned the #1 pick in the 2004 NFL draft. They played one “home” game during the season, against the Miami Dolphins, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona where the Arizona Cardinals played, due to the Cedar Fire. The team declined from the previous season, as the Chargers won four games and surrendered the second most points per game (27.6), trailing only the Arizona Cardinals during the season. It was the worst season of Schottenheimer's career, and also his fourth consecutive non-winning season in the NFL, but also his final losing season as a coach.
On April 11, 2003, general manager John Butler died from lymphoma and A. J. Smith, a former assistant to Butler, took over the position for the next 10 seasons; during the season the Chargers wore a patch on their jerseys with the initials "JB" to commemorate John Butler.
For the first time since 1989, Junior Seau was not on the opening day roster.
| 2003 San Diego Chargers draft | |||||
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 | Sammy Davis | CB | Texas A&M | Pick from PHI |
| 2 | 46 | Drayton Florence | CB | Tuskegee | |
| 2 | 62 | Terrence Kiel | S | Texas A&M | Pick from GB |
| 3 | 80 | Courtney Van Buren | OT | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | |
| 4 | 112 | Matt Wilhelm | LB | Ohio St | |
| 5 | 149 | Mike Scifres | P | Western Illinois | |
| 6 | 188 | Hanik Milligan * | S | Houston | |
| 7 | 229 | Andrew Pinnock | FB | South Carolina | |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career |
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Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
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Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
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In addition to their regular games with AFC West rivals, the Chargers played teams from the AFC North and NFC North as per the schedule rotation, and also played intraconference games against the Jaguars and the Dolphins based on divisional positions from 2002.
Oddly, this season marked the first time that the Chargers played the Jaguars, despite that team existing since 1995. This occurred due to old NFL scheduling formulas in place prior to 2002, whereby teams had no rotating schedule opposing members of other divisions within their own conference, but played interdivisional conference games according to position within a season’s table.[4] The Chargers played the Tennessee Titans only once during this period[5] (in 1998) but played the Bengals five times[6] during these years.
In preceding years, even longer gaps between two teams playing each other had occurred. For instance the Jets never opposed the Cardinals between 1979 and 1995 inclusive.[7]
The Week 8 home game against the Miami Dolphins was relocated to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona due to a massive wildfire that turned Qualcomm Stadium into an evacuation site.[8]
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 7 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 14–27 | 0–1 | Arrowhead Stadium | 78,048 | Recap |
| 2 | September 14 | Denver Broncos | L 13–37 | 0–2 | Qualcomm Stadium | 65,445 | Recap |
| 3 | September 21 | Baltimore Ravens | L 10–24 | 0–3 | Qualcomm Stadium | 52,028 | Recap |
| 4 | September 28 | at Oakland Raiders | L 31–34 (OT) | 0–4 | Network Associates Coliseum | 54,078 | Recap |
| 5 | October 5 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | L 21–27 | 0–5 | Alltel Stadium | 48,954 | Recap |
| 6 | Bye | ||||||
| 7 | October 19 | at Cleveland Browns | W 26–20 | 1–5 | Cleveland Browns Stadium | 73,238 | Recap |
| 8 | October 27 | Miami Dolphins | L 10–26 | 1–6 | Sun Devil Stadium | 73,014 | Recap |
| 9 | November 2 | at Chicago Bears | L 7–20 | 1–7 | Soldier Field | 61,500 | Recap |
| 10 | November 9 | Minnesota Vikings | W 42–28 | 2–7 | Qualcomm Stadium | 64,738 | Recap |
| 11 | November 16 | at Denver Broncos | L 8–37 | 2–8 | Invesco Field | 75,217 | Recap |
| 12 | November 23 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 27–34 | 2–9 | Qualcomm Stadium | 52,069 | Recap |
| 13 | November 30 | Kansas City Chiefs | L 24–28 | 2–10 | Qualcomm Stadium | 57,671 | Recap |
| 14 | December 7 | at Detroit Lions | W 14–7 | 3–10 | Ford Field | 61,544 | Recap |
| 15 | December 14 | Green Bay Packers | L 21–38 | 3–11 | Qualcomm Stadium | 64,978 | Recap |
| 16 | December 21 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 24–40 | 3–12 | Heinz Field | 52,527 | Recap |
| 17 | December 28 | Oakland Raiders | W 21–14 | 4–12 | Qualcomm Stadium | 62,222 | Recap |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Week 1: at Kansas City Chiefs
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Week 2: vs. Denver Broncos
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Week 3: vs. Baltimore Ravens
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Week 4: at Oakland Raiders
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Week 5: at Jacksonville Jaguars
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Week 5: San Diego Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars – Game summary
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Week 7: at Cleveland Browns
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Week 8: vs. Miami Dolphins
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Week 9: at Chicago Bears
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Week 10: vs. Minnesota Vikings
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Week 11: at Denver Broncos
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Week 12: vs. Cincinnati Bengals
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Week 13: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
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Week 13: Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers
at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California
- Date: November 30
- Game time: 1:15 p.m. PST
- Game weather: 71 °F (22 °C), relative humidity 48%, wind 8 mph
- Game attendance: 57,671
- Referee: Mike Carey
- TV announcers (CBS): Dick Enberg, Dan Dierdorf and Bonnie Bernstein
- Box score
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Week 14: at Detroit Lions
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Week 15: vs. Green Bay Packers
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Week 16: at Pittsburgh Steelers
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Week 17: vs. Oakland Raiders
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Week 17: Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers
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| AFC West | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
| (2) Kansas City Chiefs | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 | 5–1 | 10–2 | 484 | 332 | W1 |
| (6) Denver Broncos | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–1 | 9–3 | 381 | 301 | L1 |
| Oakland Raiders | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 1–5 | 3–9 | 270 | 379 | L2 |
| San Diego Chargers | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 1–5 | 2–10 | 313 | 441 | W1 |
- ^ "2003 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ "2003 NFL All-Pros". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ 2012 San Diego Chargers Media Guide. pp. 263–264. Archived from the original on October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ "History of the NFL's Structure and Formats, Part Two". Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
- ^ San Diego Chargers v Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers
- ^ San Diego Chargers v Cincinnati Bengals
- ^ Arizona Cardinals v New York Jets
- ^ Dillon, Jeff (October 26, 2003). "Week of Fire -- Fire crews battle to limit damage from raging wildfires". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
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