NFL Game of the Week

By Keith Antigiovanni

The Tennessee Titans (0-1) go west to face the San Diego Chargers (1-0) this Sunday in an intra-conference match-up. The Titans lost on opening day to the AFC rival New England Patriots 34-13 in Nashville while the Chargers beat AFC West rival the Oakland Raiders 22-14 on the road.

The Titans are coming off a 9-7 season in 2011 in which they missed the postseason on a tie-breaker while the Chargers are coming off an 8-8 season and also missed the playoffs.

Historically both franchises are charter American Football League (AFL) clubs from 1960 and were the participants of the first two AFL Championship games in 1960 and 1961. The Houston Oilers won the 1960 AFL title 24-16 over the Los Angeles Chargers and then won the 1961 AFL title 10-3 over the San Diego Chargers after the Southern California franchise moved 100 miles southeast following the 1960 season.

Houston qualified for a third straight AFL title game in 1962 but were defeated by the Dallas Texans 20-17 followed by the Chargers in 1963 who won their first and only AFL championship over the Boston Patriots 51-10 at Balboa Stadium.

This is not considered a “glamour” game because neither is a “big market” team but an important early-season game for both teams. The Chargers are usually slow starters under Norv Turner and need to get off a strong start to save Turner’s job while the Titans need a win to avoid going 0-2 .