The Chargers FIRED Their OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR After ONE GAME (1991 Chargers)

In 1991, the San Diego Chargers hired former USC head coach Ted Tollner to be their new offensive coordinator. After just one game, which was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chargers head coach Dan Henning fired Ted Tollner, meaning that Tollner served a grand total of one game as the team's offensive coordinator. This is the bizarre story of why that was the case
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Members of the 1991 Chargers:
John Carney
John Kidd
Bob Gagliano
John Friesz
Chris Samuels
Gill Byrd
Anthony Shelton
Stanley Richard
Floyd Fields
Donald Frank
Donnie Elder
Darren Carrington
Sam Seale
Craig McEwen
Eric Bieniemy
Ronnie Harmon
Steve Hendrickson
Marion Butts
Anthony Blaylock
Martin Bayless
Cedric Mack
Gary Plummer
Courtney Hall
Billy Ray Smith
Junior Seau
Galand Thaxton
Henry Rolling
David Grayson
Greg Clark
Eric Floyd
Frank Cornish
Mark Rodenhauser
David Richards
Leo Goeas
Mike Zandofsky
Herry Swayne
Mark May
Joe Phillips
Broderick Thompson
Eric Moten
Shawn Jefferson
Mark Walczak
Nate Lewis
Rod Bernstine
Anthony Miller
Yancey Thigpen
Kitrick Taylor
Duane Young
Arthur Cox
Derrick Walker
Mike Wilcher
Leslie O’Neal
Burt Grossman
George Thornton
Randy Kirk
Mitchell Benson
George Hinkle
Skip McClendon
Dan Henning (head coach)
Ted Tollner (offensive coordinator)
Alex Spanos (owner)

[@harpercole5321]

The play at 9:35 could be worth a video itself. Tied 14-14, San Diego had the ball at their own 1 yard line with 1 second before halftime, and called for Butts to run left behind a single blocker. Result: safety, and the Rams led the rest of the way.

[@jamesage24]

Welcome to Dumb Decisions...

[@davidstephens5603]

What a beast Kevin Greene was! Butts was an absolute beast too and Greene took him to the ground by himself! You never saw Butts get brought down by one guy hardly ever

[@jondoe406]

Looks like the tight end double teamed the guy to the inside instead of blocking the man in front of him

[@allsystemsgo8678]

Yikes

[@stevenbauer4799]

Do a video on the one time Lions line coach who once drove thru a wendy's drive thru naked while drunk.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I am assuming he was an offensive line coach. No matter what players he had, he was offensive. And it sounds like had had some lines in there also.

[@stevenbauer4799]

@Matt Joseph haha. True story too.

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@lawrencetaylor4101 yep. Joe cullen. part of the marinelli/joe barry nepotism of coaches lions had back then.

[@denisceballos9745]

Didn’t seem to affect either one career -wise. Both of them continued coaching one team after another with the same mixed results for a long time.

[@nasetvideos]

Now that was an unreal story. I don't remember that one--Great job with laying out that context. One game firing--Wow!

[@TheSonicsean]

Me, a Bears fan hearing about 100+ yards of offense in 3 quarters after seeing Justin Fields get 1 passing yard in his entire first game "this is fine"

[@Rusty3659]

Dan Henning did exactly the same thing for the Chargers that he did for the Atlanta Falcons - NOTHING.

[@JeffWiersma]

*Boston College football has joined the chat*

[@richardadams4928]

Yeah, the Falcons were at least sporadically competitive until he absolutely wrecked them. Still salty about him picking DAVID ARCHER at QB over Bartkowski. Absurd....

[@harpercole5321]

Our habit of losing close games first showed up in the Henning era. 6 wins out of 22 one-score games over three seasons, I think it was.

[@allsystemsgo8678]

As a Chargers fan I completely agree. He was horrible.

[@richardadams4928]

@@allsystemsgo8678 Don't know why Spanos didn't learn from Rankin Smith's mistake. Then again, SMITH didn't learn from Smith's mistake, and rehired Marion Campbell, after he'd also failed with the Eagles. SMDH....

[@bennylevine387]

I also remember being at Jack Murphy many times watching a Ted Tollner-coached San Diego State and having them put me into some of the deepest comas I've ever been in watching a sporting event. I'd walk out of there feeling I left part of myself in that stadium and I was just watching.

[@levikatriel]

Official Jaguar Gator 9 has also made a video about a player; namely, Randell Hill, getting traded after 1 game.

[@davidstephens5603]

A lot of people don't realize how much talent the Chargers had on their roster in that era; Marion Butts, Ronnie Harmon, Junior Seau, Anthony Miller, Leslie O'niel, Gil Byrd, Courtney Hall, Lee Williams and a few others. Marion Butts would be a great video; a blocking back in college and a 7th round draft pick in 1989 who would've lead the league in rushing in 1990, had he not missed the last two games of the season with a foot injury

[@mrmoose6619]

...and to think, the next year San Diego actually turned around.

[@doloresaquino212]

As a bears fan I saw this incomptence last week no excuse for this to happen in 2021

[@luisreyes1963]

Did you have to remind me? 😭

[@keithball6480]

Strangest firing, was the Detroit Red Wings firing their coach Bill Gatsby two games into the season. Wings had won both games.

[@PeytonHenning]

Showed this to my grandpa (who is Dan Henning) and this is all true. He said directly “everything about that was true”

[@Theige369]

Hi cuz

[@diaz5292]

6:30 Few people remember that back in 1991, it was legal for defensive players to punch the quarterback after the play ends. In fact, the league openly encouraged it...lol

[@denisceballos9745]

Yeah, the referee just tells Donald Evans (66) to settle down after Evans whacks Friesz (17) who is on the ground after a sack.

[@Aceshooting]

I bet Urban Meyer is watching this video while assembling and taping moving boxes he just picked up from Home Depot.

[@matthewdaley746]

OT, but, he's the John McKay of his era, a legendary college coach that gets overlooked because an even better coach happens to be at Alabama.

[@tygrkhat4087]

@@matthewdaley746 I think Jaguar fans would love it if he could emulate McKay with the Bucs. Took an 0-14 expansion team to one game from the Super Bowl in 4 seasons.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@tygrkhat4087 I think at this point, they'd settle for him to have John McKay's humor, and, if a great college job comes up in the next four years, he's absolutely gone.

[@tygrkhat4087]

@@matthewdaley746 It may be less than four years.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@tygrkhat4087 I was being exceedingly charitable, Nick Saban only needed two.

[@justinjoseph6966]

My biggest memory of John Friesz was the 1997 season opener when Bill Parcells made his debut as Jets head coach at the Kingdome. Dennis Erickson had Warren Moon on his roster and in his infinite wisdom, actually started John Friesz over him. The Jets ended up winning in Bill’s debut 41-3 despite being 14 point underdogs heading into that game and Moon ended up taking over after Friesz suffered an injury to his throwing hand. That win is one of my favorite moments as a lifelong Jets fan. From that moment on, I never forgot the name, John Friesz! I actually might think that would be a great video idea for you in the near future!

[@aegisofhonor]

if only the Chargers fired their special teams coach after 1 game in 2010.

[@matthewdaley746]

Nate Kaeding kept them from being a dynasty, blood simple.

[@diaz5292]

He got fired for wearing that awful stripped shirt. "Get that eyesore outta here", Dan Henning was heard saying after the game, as he pranced off the field...lol

[@chrisuncleahmad]

1991 chargers were the best 4-12 team ever. They had ZERO luck in close games

[@NillyNilly546]

So strange seeing someone wear #17 that isn't Philip.

[@bennylevine387]

Anyone who remembers the Henning era could attest that him having such stringent coaching standards is preposterous.

[@chadwickwhite6107]

The San Diego Chargers would be BETTER OFF just SPIKING the football into the GROUND on EVERY SINGLE OFFENSIVE play!!!!!

[@c71score]

Tollner's Head Coach tenure at SC was slightly before my time, but as a 2nd generation Notre Dame fan I heard GREAT things about his work.

[@jeremyauman]

Please make a Steve DeBerg video (broken thumb playoffs. Best play fake QB, oldest starter, MENTOR TO 3 Hall of fame Qbs'S)

[@captainjack8831]

This happened in the XFL. The team in Los Angeles fired their DC after game 1, the league didn't even make it one full season.

[@RiseOfTheKumquat67]

I've never heard a USC fan *not* refer to him as "Terrible Ted Tollner"

[@Atomykpimp]

They obviously cleaned house on the offensive side of the ball. They got Stan Humphries and Natron Means and ended up in the Super Bowl a few years later. So kudos to them for bouncing back.

[@r.williamcomm7693]

Henning was the head coach when the Chargers got QB Jim McMahon from the Bears. Henning didn’t like McMahon’s approach in meetings, practice nor in games so it didn’t last long & neither did Henning despite being respected as an OC in the NFL after the Chargers fired him.

[@bobscott2429]

Dave Wannstedt sighting at 2:30 and 3:00. He was USC's defensive line coach from 1983-85.

[@allsystemsgo8678]

"Be careful what you wish for" As if it mattered. They had very little talent on the team, a terrible coach, a medicore gm, and cheap ownership.

[@flyabusa]

This takes me back, reliving those horrid Bubby Brister/Neil O'Donnell era. And before them there was Mark Malone. The Steelers had some real stinkers at QB in the 80s and 90s.

[@matthewdaley746]

They could have had Dan Marino, but, Terry Bradshaw lied to their faces about not being done, and, senile Art Rooney believed him, pathetic.

[@eugenedenbrook322]

@@matthewdaley746 Actually, I thought old Art wanted Dan, but Noll didn't. Of course, I may be "mis- remembering." Been some years, and I was pretty young

[@eugenedenbrook322]

Ol' "Go Home!" Malone. I had a football video with mic'd up segments; one was Dan Henning, after a Chargers touchdown, yelling, "There we go, Mark Malone! Who says this guy can't play QB in the NFL?!"

[@matthewdaley746]

@@eugenedenbrook322 That's what the Rooneys want people to believe, the truth is that was the culmination of a disastrous series of drafts, Post-1974. Chuck Noll should have gone against their wishes, and, dared them to fire him, but, he didn't, and, he didn't. The Steelers never really recovered from this, and, were truly a ship minus a rudder until 2004, truly a disaster.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@eugenedenbrook322 A whole truckload of people, said just that, and, all of them were right, when you really think about it.

[@1USACitizen192]

No one does well against the Pittsburgh defense.

[@NillyNilly546]

Henning had very thin patience clearly.

[@CTubeMan]

You mentioned how Ted Tollner succeeded John Robinson as USC head coach. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video explaining how Robinson went from being USC’s coach to being the Rams coach after turning down an opportunity to succeed Bill Walsh as 49ers coach.

[@matthewdaley746]

Hard to believe he joined the Rams the same year Bill Parcells joined the Giants, and, yet, he lasted one year longer.

[@DanStrayer]

@@matthewdaley746 What’s more, Robinson and Parcells had the same number of NFC title game appearances during their first NFL head coaching tenures (which many people tend to forget). But Parcells’ appearances went much, much better (which many people tend to remember).

[@matthewdaley746]

@@DanStrayer Yeah, one of John Robinson's appearances is actually on this very site.

[@DanStrayer]

@@matthewdaley746 I will definitely need to watch that. Also like Parcells, Robinson made it that far with two different starting QBs (Brock and Everett to Bill’s Simms and Hoss).

[@matthewdaley746]

@@DanStrayer To be fair, he was never better than the 49ers, and, the NFC East was always a struggle, every year.

[@morghenmurdochlundgren8640]

Tollners rating would have been better if he had the quarterback spike the ball on every down,his and the QBs

[@MrSharper802]

This is nothing. The Bills fired their OC - Turk Schonert one week before the 2009 season started.

[@Lawomenshoops]

Sometimes, the owner and/or the GM tell the head coach who his OC will be. I seem to remember that's why Tollner was hired- Bobby Beathard and/or spanosSUCK, told Henning to hire Tollner. Just like when Bud Carson was hired by the Clowns, he had no say in his OC. Art Modell told him Mark Trestman was the OC. Not a recipe for success!! The coaches should be able to hire who they want. John Friez was in his second year in the NFL in 1991. He played at Idaho, who back then played 1-AA football. So, it was a huge step up to the NFL. In his rookie year it was Friez vs Billy Joe Tolliver, who was in his second year in 1990, battling it out for the QB spot. So, it's not like they had a lot of quality offensive weapons to use. Also, the RB for the San Diego Chargers who wore 82, was Rod Bernstein, who was drafted as a TE, then converted to RB- and had a decent stretch as a RB!

[@chrisrifkin3670]

Kinda sounds like the Giants situation with Garrett as he was pretty much forced on Joe Judge ...it's not going to end well here

[@smoothALOE]

I guess the typical trend for HCs in college going to the pros is similar with coordinators, too.

[@Rockhound6165]

The Cardinals fired their offensive coordinator in 2018 after about 3 games.

[@dantankboy4155]

I love the videos... by seeing them, they should have fired the offensive line and QB! Not Ted "Ready Teddy" Tollner.

[@tonykaiser9574]

1991 chargers weren’t going anywhere that year don’t matter who they had in as offensive coordinator

[@boiledcabbageurinefarts7417]

And that wonderful draft pick the Chargers earned with that 4-12 record...traded to Washington in the previous years draft. So glad Eric Moten panned out;)

[@Lawomenshoops]

The start of a trend for Beathard, that rarely worked out for the San Diego Chargers!! I'm shocked he actually had two first round picks in a row- 90- Seau, and 91- Stanley Richards. The only time I cut him some slack was the 95 first rounder, he only dropped 10-12 spots since they were picking next to last after going to the SB, and picked up a 3rd and 4th round picks in 95. Most of those picks didn't work out. Moten was decent, never a Pro Bowler or All Pro, Terrell Fletcher a bust, Brian Stiff, I mean Still, a bust. Only Means- a few good years, and a DL turned into good players.

[@allsystemsgo8678]

@@Lawomenshoops I hated Bethard. He always thought he was so smart and constantly drafted unknown guys, traded back and it usually blew up in his face

[@dentonyoung4314]

I don't care who the OC/play caller was, with that crappy offense they had no chance. John Friesz as your starting QB?

[@stevenbauer4799]

tollner should have resigned immediately after seeing his qb's were bob gagliano a mouse davis run n shoot favorite from lions and john 'french' friez. Even worse for bolts was the season in later '90's when june jones favorite craig 'i'm not an nfl qb but i play one in prime time' whelihan starred in about half a dozen prime time games for bolts. chief ass't coach in waiting eric beieniemy from cu was on bolts that season.

[@wewin03]

John Friesz at QB had absolutely nothing to do with a bad offense.

[@game382]

Sounds like the coach is more at hand than anything

[@doloresaquino212]

Our problem starts with our coach

[@luisvaldes1568]

Mistake at 2:23. States Tollner became HC of Chargers in 1983. By the way Henning was a disaster, 1989-91.

[@philipnj7873]

You misheard it. He said “HC of the Trojans in 1983.” Which is correct, he was named the USC coach.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

Dan Henning received karma after the end of 1991

[@NFLjunk79]

Fired Marty after 14-2...

[@chrisrobinson8339]

Ravens fired their offensive coordinator in the middle of their season and won the Superbowl.

[@matthewdaley746]

Maybe, but, unfortunately, these Ravens just rely on Justin Tucker way too much, they, likely, will never win, skills will only get you, so, far, and, luck always runs out.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@KevinSorbo. Truer words were never spoken, and, when his luck runs out, like it did against the Bills, the Ravens are just finished.

[@diaz5292]

Some nut somewhere has all of those preseason games on VHS tape. Guaranteed...lol

[@Tigerloco70]

Chargers have to fire the spanos 😅

[@doloresaquino212]

I take that back our in competence was that much worse

[@Sephiroth766]

Why cant the Giants do this?

[@707Southpaw]

Cuz everyone is blood related in that organization.

[@matthewdaley746]

Their division is, so, weak, that they're never completely out of it.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@707Southpaw They beat the Patriots in the SB twice, no complaints.

[@Crunkboy415]

Ted Tollner would've kept his job if he had the QB spike the ball on every play 🤣