The ** San Diego Chargers season** was the franchise's second season in the National Football League (NFL), and its 12th overall. The team improved on their 5–6–3 record in 1970. It was Harland Svare's first season as the team's head coach. After a 1–4 start, the Chargers would slightly improve, winning 3 of their next 4 games. However, they would lose 3 of their final 5 games en route to a 6-8 finish. The only bright spot was quarterback John Hadl who completed 233 passes out of 431 attempts for 3,075 yards and 21 touchdowns and won the NFL Man of the Year award as well as leading the league in both passing yards and touchdown passes.

Offseason

NFL draft

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 2: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 3: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 4: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 5: at Denver Broncos

Week 6: vs. Buffalo Bills

Week 7: vs. New York Jets

Week 8: at New York Giants

Week 9: vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Week 10: at Oakland Raiders

Week 11: at Cincinnati Bengals

Week 12: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 13: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 14: at Houston Oilers

Standings