All-Time Bolts Bust Team

[Josh007]

the choice for QB was way to Easy! I don't think anyone would EVER dispute that choice.

[baphamet]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB1SD

Did Johnny Rodgers ever do anything?

sadly he was a huge bust in the NFL (due to injury) and should have made this list.

[Chargers Fan]

Originally Posted by crixus

The biggest bust has to be the 1-15 Chargers team. I felt so relieved when they finally won that one game late in the season. Going 0-16 would have made us a laughingstock, like it did to Detroit a few years ago.

And, it took a boneheaded penalty by the Chiefs along with a long FG by Carney for us to squeak out that single victory at home over KC. We'd lost so many heartbreakers that season, we were overdue for a win.

[desertswo]

Originally Posted by peteshawtheman

For me it's always Ron Billingsley. The Wyoming DE was drafted #14 in the 1st round of the 1967 draft because (don't laugh now) he was left-handed. Playing left tackle, he would supposedly keep everything inside with his great strength (which he admittedly had), but he just wasn't a great football player. A guy we passed on in that 1st round was: Alan Page. With the next (15th) pick, the Vikings made the Notre Dame DT (right) their 3rd 1st round selection. An All-Pro six times, a member of the NFL Hall of Fame, and a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court, this man really made his mark in the world. And the Chargers passed on him. There are draft busts and mistakes, but that is a whopper of the highest magnitude.

Beat me to it! Picking nits, but Page played Defensive End at Notre Dame. It was an inspired stroke of genius to move him inside at "only" 245 pounds. We'd laugh at the idea today, but that was about average size for linemen along both sides of the ball in the 60s and early 70s. What is scary is that he started marathon running late in his career and was playing at an advertised 225 pounds for the Bears, but I vividly recall a color commentator saying how he had weighed in the morning of a game at 218, and he was still getting sacks at that weight; 40 over the roughly 3.5 seasons he played in Chicago. I think we'd all be happy with numbers like that, regardless of weight.

However, he was subject to being had occasionally by teams that trapped a lot; never more heinously than on the infamous Kansas City Chiefs' "65 Toss Power Trap" in Super Bowl IV shown below commencing at about the 2:50 mark. Watch as KC's right guard Mo Moorman (#76) pulls to the left to trap the hard charging Page (#88) coming from his right Defensive Tackle position. Unfortunately, you cannot see the whole thing because the camera follows running back Mike Garrett into the end zone, but trust me; Page got smacked hard and Garrett was able to waltz into the end zone relatively untouched.

You Tube

You Tube

[crixus]

Originally Posted by Chargers Fan

And, it took a boneheaded penalty by the Chiefs along with a long FG by Carney for us to squeak out that single victory at home over KC. We'd lost so many heartbreakers that season, we were overdue for a win.

I blame it on Cryin' Ryan. He was a cancer to the team.

[peteshawtheman]

Originally Posted by desertswo

Beat me to it! Picking nits, but Page played Defensive End at Notre Dame. It was an inspired stroke of genius to move him inside at "only" 245 pounds. We'd laugh at the idea today, but that was about average size for linemen along both sides of the ball in the 60s and early 70s. What is scary is that he started marathon running late in his career and was playing at an advertised 225 pounds for the Bears, but I vividly recall a color commentator saying how he had weighed in the morning of a game at 218, and he was still getting sacks at that weight; 40 over the roughly 3.5 seasons he played in Chicago. I think we'd all be happy with numbers like that, regardless of weight.

However, he was subject to being had occasionally by teams that trapped a lot; never more heinously than on the infamous Kansas City Chiefs' "65 Toss Power Trap" in Super Bowl IV shown below commencing at about the 2:50 mark. Watch as KC's right guard Mo Moorman (#76) pulls to the left to trap the hard charging Page (#88) coming from his right Defensive Tackle position. Unfortunately, you cannot see the whole thing because the camera follows running back Mike Garrett into the end zone, but trust me; Page got smacked hard and Garrett was able to waltz into the end zone relatively untouched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coZxFtVsBVg

Thank you for that excellent historical analysis and reporting. Those were some really great times in the NFL with the pending merger and some memorable teams and players, and I do hate to talk about the negative, but just couldn't resist on that one as I do remember the San Diego Union article of the day.
I also watched Hadl and Dickie Post and, of course, Lance Alworth. And I note with sadness that Sam Gruneisen just passed away; he called the blocking for those great teams in the 60's. Ah yes, the 60's, my favorite decade.

[crixus]

So far this year's team is looking to be a shoe-in for the all time bust list.

[chargermoon]

you know i lived through the 90s, that was rough, but this is real bad. bobby beatherd,'' i know your in there somewhere''. not in washington'' sincere..........almost sincerely chargermoon aka lightning