1994 San Diego Chargers season

The 1994 San Diego Chargers season was the team's 35th, its 25th in the National Football League, and its 34th in San Diego.

The 1994 season began with the team trying to improve on their 8–8 record in 1993. They finished the season with an 11-5 record and were crowned AFC West Champions. Their success peaked with a 17-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. They would go on to lose to the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX, which was played at Joe Robbie Stadium, now known as Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is the only time the team has ever made the Super Bowl and at the same time, they were also regarded as a "Cinderella" team that season.^[1] The team wore throwback uniforms for one game during the season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

San Diego picked nine different players in the 1994 NFL Draft. Listed below are the players drafted that year.

• ^P - Current, future and/or former Pro Bowlers.^[2]

Personnel

Staff

Regular season

Schedule

Standings

^[3]

Playoffs

Deaths of players

The '94 Chargers are also remembered for tragedy in the form of numerous untimely deaths, as eight of the players from that '94 squad have died prematurely since that time, all by the age of 44. It is part of a locally infamous curse in the San Diego area, involving its sports teams.

• June 19, 1995 - Linebacker David Griggs died in a car accident when his vehicle slid off a ramp on Florida's Turnpike, linking to three roads just west of Fort Lauderdale and subsequently slammed into a pole, he was 28 years old.^[4]
• May 11, 1996 - Running back Rodney Culver died in a plane crash. Culver and his wife Karen were among 110 people (105 passengers, 5 crew members) aboard ValuJet Flight 592 when it crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing everyone aboard including the Culvers. He was 26 years old.^[5]
• July 1998 - Linebacker Doug Miller died after being struck twice by lightning during a thunderstorm while camping in Colorado. He was 29 years old.^[6]
• May 11, 2008 - Center Curtis Whitley died of a drug overdose. His body was discovered by sheriff deputies in his trailer home in Fort Stockton, Texas, just one day after his 39th birthday. One of the drugs he was known to use was Crystal methamphetamine.^[7]
• October 15, 2008 - Defensive end Chris Mims was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment by police officers conducting a welfare check. The most likely cause of death was cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart since he weighed 456 pounds when he died. He was 38 years old.^[8][9]
• February 26, 2011 - Defensive tackle Shawn Lee died from a cardiac arrest resulting from double pneumonia. Lee had been suffering from diabetes for years prior to his death. He was 44 years old.^[10]
• December 8, 2011 - Linebacker Lewis Bush died from an apparent heart attack, just six days after his 42nd birthday.^[11]
• May 2, 2012 - Linebacker Junior Seau died in his home in Oceanside, California. Seau was discovered already lifeless by his girlfriend. His death was likely a suicide since a self-inflicted gunshot wound was apparent to the chest. He was 43 years old.^[12][13]

References