The Los Angeles Chargers are wearing royal blue pants, royal blue jerseys, and a white helmet against the Denver Broncos this Sunday. The team wore royal blue as the home jersey color from 1974 to 1984, when they were located in San Diego.
The Chargers will be wearing royal blue jerseys and pants with a white helmet as a throwback for the seventh time, and they are 6-1 with this combo. The helmet is slightly different, with the lightning bolt outline and number in royal blue.
Who Played in the Royal Blue Jerseys for the Chargers?
One of the best eras in Chargers history is when the team wore royal blue jerseys from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. The team had five players from the era inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: QB Dan Fouts, TE Kellen Winslow, WR Charlie Joiner, DE Fred Dean, and HC Don Coryell.
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The team under Coryell’s direction and his offense, “Air Coryell,” featured a high-powered passing game. Fouts made six Pro Bowls and led the NFL in passing yards for four consecutive seasons from 1979 to 1982.
The offense also featured a number of other Pro Bowl players, including Winslow and Joiner. Winslow led the NFL in receptions twice and made five Pro Bowls during his nine-year career. Joiner caught 586 passes and made three Pro Bowls in 11 seasons with the Chargers.
Dean has 52 sacks in 84 games with the Chargers and made the Pro Bowl two times before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers during the 1981 season.
Coryell became the Chargers head coach in 1978 after five seasons leading the St. Louis Cardinals. He went 69-56 with the Chargers and made four playoff appearances. The team reached the AFC Championship Game in 1980 and 1981.
How Many Uniforms Do the Chargers Have?
Los Angeles has four different styles of uniforms ready for this season. The primary uniforms feature a powder blue jersey with white pants or a white jersey with gold pants. These jerseys are a throwback to the team’s original appearance from the 1960s when they competed in the AFL in Los Angeles and San Diego.
According to the team’s website, team owner Barron Hilton associated “charge” with a lightning bolt, and he also liked the bolts on the Air Force helmets. He had a “Chargers Bolt,” which was designed for the team to be worn on the helmet, jersey, and pants.
The other combo the Chargers wore this season was a navy blue jersey and pants with slight modifications to the helmet in Week 12. This was the style when Pro Football Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson and Junior Seau played for the team. The Chargers wore navy blue jerseys in the franchise’s only Super Bowl appearance following the 1994 season. San Diego lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX.
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