Taking Chargers

By Dan McLellan
Chargers’ new head coach Mike McCoy, photo courtesy Mike Nowak” alt=”Chargers’ new head coach Mike McCoy, photo courtesy Mike Nowak” src=”https://www.pacificsandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/011513_HeadCoach_042-001.jpg” width=”570” height=”380” />

The 2012 San Diego Chargers won seven out of 16 games and had some absurd and historic losses on the way to missing the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

“It was time for a change,” says Chargers owner/president Dean Spanos, who fired head coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith after the season ended.

Spanos hired Tom Telesco as his new GM. Telesco was formerly the Indianapolis Colts’ vice president of football operations.

“We set out to find the right person to bring about positive change,” says Spanos. “It was a tough decision, but in the end, all signs pointed to Tom.”

After hiring Telesco, the Chargers picked Mike McCoy to be the new head coach. The highly-sought-after McCoy, 40, was previously the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos.

Here are some of the crazy losses from 2012 that Telesco and McCoy were hired not to replicate:

• Against the Atlanta Falcons, the Chargers offense failed to score a single touchdown for the first time in 151 regular season games, a streak that had startied with Drew Brees as the Chargers quarterback.

• In Week 5 against the New Orleans Saints, Brees threw a record touchdown pass in his 48th straight game, but the Chargers lost anyway, blowing a 10-point, second-half lead.

• The Broncos beat the Chargers 35-24 after overcoming a 24-0 halftime deficit. It was the first time in NFL history a team down by 24 points won by double digits.

• In Week 12, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice converted 4th-and-29 for the longest fourth-down conversion since 2001. The Ravens then tied the game with a field goal and won in overtime.

Soccer it to Me

San Diego team Set win Streak

This season, the 13-time indoor soccer champion San Diego Sockers set a record for the longest winning streak of any professional sports team in the United States.

Previously, the record of 40 was held by the Sioux Falls Storm of the United Football League (2005-08).

The Sockers notched win number 41 in front of a Professional Arena Soccer League record crowd at the Valley View Casino Center. “It was one of those nights where the ball was finding the back of the net,” says PASL scoring leader Kraig Chiles.

At press time, the Sockers streak was still growing. They’d won 46/48 games in a row [46 as of January 14. They have 2 games before we ship; 1 more before we publish].

The Sockers play home games this month on February 1 (Dallas) and 10 (Arizona).