The 2013 season was the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

' 44th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), their 54th overall, and their first under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Mike McCoy. The Chargers finished the regular season with a record of 9–7, improving on their 7–9 record from

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. Also, they qualified for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the first time since

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. The Chargers defeated the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

in the Wild Card round by a score of 27–10, but lost to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in the Divisional round by a score of 24–17. This was the Chargers' final playoff appearance in San Diego. They did not play in the postseason again until

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, after relocating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The new head coach, Mike McCoy, along with

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Ken Whisenhunt Kenneth Moore Whisenhunt (born February 28, 1962) is an American football coach and former tight end who is currently an offensive analyst for Penn State. He played college football at Georgia Tech and was drafted in the twelfth round of the 198 ...

, completed the Chargers' first winning season since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Only two offensive coaches returned from 2012 in an overhauled coaching staff, and a revamped offensive system had

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Philip Rivers Philip Michael Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football at NC State and was sele ...

release the ball earlier and taking what opposing defenses conceded. Rivers was sacked 30 times, compared to 49 the previous year, and threw for 4,479 yards and 32

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s while tying a career-high with a 105.5

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leag ...

. San Diego's rushing attack improved from the prior season's 1,461 yards and 3.6 yards per carry—tied for the second worst in the league—to 1,965 yards and a 4-yard average. Although they were speculated to have a poor, disappointing season, and getting off to a shaky start, the Chargers finished in the top eight of the overall standings. Rivers was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year, and

Keenan Allen Keenan Alexander Allen (born April 27, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California before leaving after his junior year. He was draft ...

broke out into the national scene as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

sensation, breaking multiple wide receiver rookie records. Whisenhunt left at the conclusion of the season to become the head coach of the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

Signings

Re-Signings

Departures

NFL Draft

Draft notes

Staff

Final roster

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

:Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Postseason

Game summaries

Regular season

Week 1: vs. Houston Texans

With the loss, the Chargers started their season 0–1.

Week 2: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 3: at Tennessee Titans

Week 4: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Week 5: at Oakland Raiders

This game was moved to an 8:35 pm. PDT kickoff, and from CBS to NFL Network as a "special edition" of ''

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...

'', as extended time was required to convert the field back from its baseball configuration due to an

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

American League Division Series In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series (ALDS) determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring ea ...

game the previous night.

Week 6: vs. Indianapolis Colts

Week 7: at Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 9: at Washington Redskins

Week 10: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 11: at Miami Dolphins

Week 12: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 13: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Week 14: vs. New York Giants

Week 15: at Denver Broncos

Week 16: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 17: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City missed a field goal as with a few seconds left to send the game into overtime, where Nick Novak kicked the game winner. With the win, the Chargers finished the 2013 season with a record of 9–7 and clinched the second wild card spot, becoming the 6th seed entering the

Postseason

AFC Wild Card Playoff Game: at #3 Cincinnati Bengals

With the Chargers defeating the Bengals, 27–10, they recorded their first playoff victory since 2008 and advanced to the AFC Divisional Playoff Game.

AFC Divisional Playoff Game: at #1 Denver Broncos

With the Chargers falling to the Broncos, the Chargers finished the season 10–8, their first double-digit winning season since 2009.

Standings

Division

Conference

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{2013 NFL season by team

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

San Diego Chargers seasons