Chargers history and the number 100: 100 days until the 2022 NFL regular season begins

Today marks 100 days until the 2022 NFL regular season begins.

In honor of that fact, I thought I’d put together a little something on Chargers players throughout history who reached some kind of a “100” threshold. After all, the game of football loves the number 100, if you haven’t noticed. So without further ado, here are some notable achievements throughout team history regarding the number 100.

Antonio Gates catches his 100th touchdown on October 12, 2015

On a night that Charger fans would otherwise wish to forget, Gates corralled the 100th touchdown reception of his illustrious career on the opening drive of the team’s 24-20 loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football. At the time, he became just the ninth player in NFL history to record 100 or more touchdown receptions. He would go on to finish his career with 116.

LaDainian Tomlinson becomes the fastest running back to 100 touchdowns

On November 19, 2006, Tomlinson scored the 100th rushing touchdown of his career against the Broncos. The feat was accomplished four games faster than fellow Hall-of-Famers Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith. Tomlison would go on to finish his career with 13,684 rushing yards and 145 rushing scores en route to establishing himself as one of the best running backs of all time.

Philip Rivers, Dan Fouts, and John Hadl are the only Chargers quarterbacks with 100+ career passing touchdowns

Arguably the first star quarterback for the Chargers, Hadl played for the team from 1963 to 1972. He totaled 26,938 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while in San Diego. Fouts took over for Hadl the following year and proceeding to change the landscape of the NFL passing offense over the next 15 years. He finished with 43,040 yards and 254 total passing touchdowns before retiring. Lastly, Rivers won the starting job in 2004 and the rest is history. His time in San Diego and Los Angeles came to an end after 16 years of putting it all out on the line for his teammates. He ended his Chargers career with 59,721 passing yards and 297 touchdowns.

Next up, Justin Herbert. The third-year passer currently needs 31 touchdowns in 2022 to reach 100 for his career.

Kyzir White, Derwin James both record 100 tackles in 2021

Kyzir White and Derwin James became the first pair of Chargers teammates to each record 100 or more tackles in the same season sinde Rodney Harrison and the great Junior Seau did it in 2000. White finished with 144 while James posted 118. Both were career highs for either player.

Leslie O’Neal is the only player in Chargers history with 100 or more sacks in his career

It amazes me that O’Neal still remains outside of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is the all-time leader in sacks for one of the current 32 franchises in the league (105.5) as a position that has only proven to be more and more pivotal to the success of a team in today’s NFL. O’Neal is so far ahead of the pack that the next closest Charger on the list is Shaun Phillips with 69.5. Joey Bosa is the closest active player on the team and he’s currently sitting with 58.

Put O’Neal in the Hall of Fame, yesterday.