The All-Time, All-Star Chargers: A Team With Serious Cred

The task to pick one team that stands above all others and label it favorite or best is monumental and often unfair to the suitors that get the snub.

So, in shifting the perspective a bit, here is a composite view of the San Diego Chargers -- a franchise, all-star best.

Roaming the sideline as head coach is Sid Gillman, the team leader in victories with 87 and still the only to deliver a championship. That was in 1963. Gillman was an offensive innovator and a football "genius" before that tag became popular.

Dan Fouts is the consensus choice under center. The offense is fun now, but was simply electric with Fouts at quarterback.

A two-time All-Pro and six times named to the Pro Bowl, Fouts threw for 43,040 career yards and 254 touchdown passes but accounted for 13,599 yards passing and 87 scoring strikes from 1979-81 as the Chargers won three straight AFC West titles and appeared in a pair of AFC Conference championships.

Fouts' lone blemish is failing to reach the Super Bowl, but that didn't keep him out of Pro Football's Hall of Fame.

LaDainian Tomlinson is in the backfield, no surprise there.  A career rushing record is not likely; Emmitt Smith had 18,355 yards and LT will enter the 2009 season with 11,760 but rushing scores is within reach: 164-126.

Chuck Muncie, Natrone Means, Keith Lincoln and Marion Butts head the list of additional candidates at running back but Paul Lowe will join LT.

No back in franchise history other than Tomlinson has topped Lowe's five seasons as the Chargers' leading rusher, though Butts also had five. But aside from LT, Lowe is the lone Chargers' back to have multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He had two and that's when they played 14 games.

Lance Alworth is a no-brainer at flanker. San Diego's original No. 19, for those who can only think of Tony Gwynn, had seven straight 1,000-yard seasons (remember 14 games) and pulled down 40 scores from 1964-66. Alworth was also the first AFL player inducted into Pro Football's Hall of Fame.

On the other side it's John Jefferson.

It might be smart to go with a possession receiver like Charlie Joiner (anyone remember Gary Garrison) but Fouts to JJ is too good to pass up. His career was short but no one was as good at the simple art of catching a football as Jefferson was during his three short years with the Chargers.

Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow starts over Antonio Gates at tight end. The man basically invented the modern version of his position that is now commonplace.

At right tackle is Ron Mix, another Hall of Famer, eight-time All-AFL selection and one-time All-Pro. Walt Sweeney is next to Mix at the right guard position. Also at tackle is Russ Washington, who spent his first two seasons on the defensive line before shifting to offense and appearing in five Pro Bowls.

His contemporary, Doug Wilkerson, is the starter at left guard. Wilkerson enjoyed three Pro Bowl selections and was named to one All-Pro team in 15 seasons in San Diego. Don Macek, another 15-year veteran with the Chargers gets the call at center over Courtney Hall.

Calling the signals on the defensive side of the ball is Junior Seau, who would likely play middle linebacker in a 4-3 alignment but can also slide to the outside. Shawne Merriman, though not long tenured with the franchise, is a lock as an outside force to combine with either Leslie O'Neal or Earl Faison to create a truly feared pass rush.

Frank Buncom gets the call as the third linebacker of the bunch. A three-time, second-team All-AFL performer, Buncom could play either the middle or the outside and was good enough to attract the attention of legendary head coach Paul Brown who selected him in the Bengals' expansion draft. Buncom died in his sleep at age 29 after playing in Cincinnati for one season.

Faison and O'Neal provide pressure from the outside of the defensive line with Louie Kelcher and Gary Johnson plugging the middle. Faison was an early coup for the AFL as the Chargers drafted him in the first round in 1961 and the 6-foot-5 end from Indiana made first-team All-AFL four times.

O'Neal spent the first nine of a 13-year pro career in San Diego, was sent to six Pro Bowls and finished eighth on the career sack list, tied with Lawrence Taylor with 132.5.

Johnson and Kelcher, key pieces to the success of the Fouts-era Chargers, were drafted in the first and second rounds respectively. Johnson appeared in four Pro Bowls, twice making All-Pro while Kelcher played in three Pro Bowls and was All-Pro in 1978.

Leslie "Speedy" Duncan would start in the defensive backfield but not on name alone. Duncan played in three AFL All-Star Games, one Pro Bowl and is the franchise leader in punts returned for touchdowns with four.

Gill Byrd is the cornerback opposite Duncan with Rodney Harrison at strong safety and Duncan contemporary Kenny Graham at free safety.

The kickers present a tough call, but it's John Carney edging Rolf Benirschke at place kicker and Mike Scifres handling the punting chores over Darren Bennett.

Benirschke was solid in his 10-year career with the Chargers, but Carney gets the edge by missing only five PATs during his 11 seasons in San Diego while Benirschke missed 24. Carney was also good on 81.5 percent of his field goal attempts while Benirschke successfully converted 70.2 percent.

Bennett went to a pair of Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro once while Scifres has yet to be so honored, but Scifres' career punting average is higher. His value was never more apparent than the playoff game against the Colts when all six of his punts dropped inside the 20 and he is still just 28. Bennett was 30 when he joined the Chargers.

Darren Sproles would return kickoffs with Duncan handling punts.

Some great players didn't make the list, but no doubt it's a team that would be up to the challenge of an all-time tournament.