1979 San Diego Chargers Statistics
Team Record: 12-4
Finishing 1st in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference
Postseason: 0-1 Lost Division Playoff
Coach: Don Coryell (12-4)
Location: San Diego, California
1979 San Diego Chargers Results
The San Diego Chargers of the National Football League ended the 1979 season with a record of 12 wins and 4 losses, finishing first in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference. The team compiled a postseason mark of 0-1.
San Diego moved the ball well, scoring 411 points, while the rigid defensive squad yielded 246. Dan Fouts directed the offense, slinging for 4,082 yards. Charlie Joiner paced all receivers, grabbing 72 passes, while John Jefferson accumulated 1,090 receiving yards.
Clarence Williams carried the pigskin for a team-best 752 yards for the Chargers.
The sticky-fingered defense pounced on 46 turnovers. Woodrow Lowe and Ray Preston each seized 5 opponent throws.
Don Coryell coached the team. The 1979 San Diego Chargers lost in the Division Playoff.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Fouts | 530 | 332 | 62.6 | 4082 | 7.7 | 24 | 4.5 | 24 | 4.5 | 65 | 28 | 195 | 82.6 |
| James Harris | 9 | 5 | 55.6 | 38 | 4.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 11.1 | 10 | 2 | 15 | 26.4 |
| Mike Thomas | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 18 | 18.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 118.8 |
| Hank Bauer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0.0 | ||||
| Mike Fuller | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Totals | 541 | 338 | 62.5 | 4138 | 7.6 | 24 | 4.4 | 25 | 4.6 | 65 | 31 | 223 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarence Williams | 200 | 752 | 3.8 | 55 | 12 |
| Mike Thomas | 91 | 353 | 3.9 | 21 | 1 |
| Lydell Mitchell | 63 | 211 | 3.3 | 15 | 0 |
| Artie Owens | 40 | 151 | 3.8 | 23 | 1 |
| Bo Matthews | 30 | 112 | 3.7 | 22 | 1 |
| Dan Fouts | 26 | 49 | 1.9 | 26 | 2 |
| Hank Bauer | 22 | 28 | 1.3 | 6 | 8 |
| James Harris | 6 | 26 | 4.3 | 18 | 0 |
| Mike Fuller | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff West | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | -2 | 0 |
| Charlie Joiner | 1 | -12 | -12.0 | -12 | 0 |
| Totals | 481 | 1668 | 3.5 | 55 | 25 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Joiner | 72 | 1008 | 14.0 | 39 | 4 |
| John Jefferson | 61 | 1090 | 17.9 | 65 | 10 |
| Clarence Williams | 51 | 352 | 6.9 | 14 | 0 |
| Bob Klein | 37 | 424 | 11.5 | 54 | 5 |
| Mike Thomas | 32 | 388 | 12.1 | 32 | 0 |
| Kellen Winslow | 25 | 255 | 10.2 | 30 | 2 |
| Lydell Mitchell | 19 | 159 | 8.4 | 24 | 1 |
| Artie Owens | 15 | 176 | 11.7 | 32 | 1 |
| John Floyd | 10 | 152 | 15.2 | 40 | 1 |
| Bo Matthews | 7 | 40 | 5.7 | 13 | 0 |
| Greg McCrary | 5 | 32 | 6.4 | 19 | 0 |
| Larry Burton | 4 | 62 | 15.5 | 23 | 0 |
| Totals | 338 | 4138 | 12.2 | 65 | 24 |
Kicking:
| Player | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Wood | 31 | 28 | 90.3 | 14 | 11 | 78.6 | 61 |
| Rolf Benirschke | 13 | 12 | 92.3 | 4 | 4 | 100.0 | 24 |
| Roy Gerela | 7 | 6 | 85.7 | 7 | 1 | 14.3 | 9 |
| Cliff Olander | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 | |
| Totals | 52 | 47 | 90.4 | 26 | 16 | 61.5 | 95 |
Punting:
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Fuller | 46 | 448 | 9.7 | 27 | 0 |
| Pete Shaw | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 11 | 0 |
| Mike Williams | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 10 | 0 |
| Don Goode | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 52 | 488 | 9.4 | 27 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artie Owens | 35 | 791 | 22.6 | 40 | 0 |
| Mike Fuller | 6 | 115 | 19.2 | 41 | 0 |
| Hank Bauer | 4 | 92 | 23.0 | 31 | 0 |
| Clarence Williams | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 19 | 0 |
| Lydell Mitchell | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 15 | 0 |
| Cliff Thrift | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Ralph Perretta | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 9 | 0 |
| Bo Matthews | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 50 | 1056 | 21.1 | 41 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodrow Lowe | 5 | 150 | 30.0 | 77 | 2 |
| Ray Preston | 5 | 121 | 24.2 | 35 | 0 |
| Glen Edwards | 4 | 99 | 24.8 | 53 | 0 |
| Mike Williams | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 50 | 0 |
| Mike Fuller | 4 | 39 | 9.8 | 23 | 0 |
| Pete Shaw | 3 | 54 | 18.0 | 30 | 0 |
| Bob Horn | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 30 | 0 |
| Don Goode | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 28 | 562 | 20.1 | 77 | 2 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Fouts | 13 | 6 | -20 | 0 | |||
| Wilbur Young | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Fred Dean | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jerome Dove | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Glen Edwards | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gary Johnson | 1 | 2 | 36 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cliff Thrift | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Linden King | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Clarence Williams | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Mike Thomas | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| James Harris | 1 | 1 | -7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Doug Wilkerson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Willie Buchanon | 0 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bo Matthews | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bob Klein | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Billy Shields | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Leroy Jones | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Woodrow Lowe | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Hank Bauer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Mike Fuller | 0 | 4 | 1 | -8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bob Horn | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Charlie Joiner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Lydell Mitchell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Kellen Winslow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Artie Owens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 31 | 37 | 37 | 1 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Clarence Williams | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | |||||||
| Mike Wood | 11 | 28 | 0 | 61 | ||||||||||
| John Jefferson | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | |||||||||
| Hank Bauer | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | ||||||||
| Bob Klein | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | |||||||||
| Rolf Benirschke | 4 | 12 | 0 | 24 | ||||||||||
| Charlie Joiner | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||||||||
| Dan Fouts | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Woodrow Lowe | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Artie Owens | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Kellen Winslow | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Roy Gerela | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | ||||||||||
| Wilbur Young | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| Lydell Mitchell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Bo Matthews | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| John Floyd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Mike Thomas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Greg McCrary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Cliff Olander | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Totals | 25 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 411 |
