Having failed to get the City of San Diego or the County of San Diego to build a new stadium to replace what had usually been known as Jack Murphy Stadium, team owner Alex Spanos reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to share the new SoFi Stadium once it opened for the 2020 season.
But finding an interim home proved difficult. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum already had the Rams and the University of Southern California, and wasn't willing to give the Chargers at least 10 home dates (2 preseason, 8 regular-season, possibly including Playoffs) for the next 3 seasons. Angel Stadium in Anaheim had been renovated, and was no longer suitable for football. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where UCLA plays home games, didn't have enough luxury boxes for Spanos' taste.
In spite of its small size, making it the smallest NFL stadium since the Rams left League Park in Cleveland after the 1945 season, and despite being 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, DHSP had those luxury boxes. So Spanos made a deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, the stadium's usual occupant, and agreed to play there for 3 seasons, sacrificing 3 years of any attendance of 26,000 or higher so that he could make considerably more money than he was making in San Diego.
For the 3rd straight week, the sellout crowd at the Chargers' temporary home stadium had a healthy contingent of fans supporting the visiting team. The Philly faithful roared for the Eagles and booed the Bolts, although both fan bases, hating the Dallas Cowboys, joined together before the game to chant, "Dallas sucks!"
The Eagles led 10-0 after the 1st quarter, 16-10 at the half, and 19-10 after 3 quarters. Early in the 4th quarter, Austin Ekeler ran the ball in from 35 yards for a touchdown, closing the Chargers to within 19-17. Wendell Smallwood ran the ball in from 3 yards, and it was 26-17 Philadelphia. Philip Rivers tried to bring the Chargers back, and with 6:44 to play, he threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry, to make it 26-24. But the Eagles held the ball for the rest of the game, and the Chargers got no chance for a game-winning score.
The Chargers fell to 0-4. They had begun the season by losing away to the Denver Broncos, then lost at "home" to the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Eagles. They won the next week, beating the New York Giants at the Meadowlands, 27-22.
On October 22, they beat the Broncos at home, 21-0. On November 19, they beat the Buffalo Bills at home, 54-24, in spite of well-traveled Bills fans having "taken over the stadium" as much as Miami, Kansas City, Philly and Denver fans had done. On December 3, they beat the Cleveland Browns, 19-10, despite all the "barking" from the traveling "Dawg Pound." On December 10, they beat the Washington Redskins, 30-13, although most of the fans seemed to be singing, "Hail to the Redskins." And on New Year's Eve, against the Oakland Raiders -- who had played at the Coliseum from 1982 to 1994, and still had a strong fanbase in Southern California, and whose fans traveled well at any rate -- they won, 30-10, in front of their largest "home" crowd of the season, 25,430.
The Chargers finished 9-7. Average home attendance: 25,336. If they'd had just won just 1 of those 1st 3 "home games," they would have made the Playoffs. In 2018, they went 12-4,a nd did make the Playoffs. In 2019, their last season in Carson, they crashed to 5-11.
The Eagles started off the 2017 season 10-1, before starting quarterback Carson Wentz got hurt. Nick Foles stepped in, led them to a 13-3 record, and took them to win Super Bowl LII, their 1st NFL Championship in 57 years. The Chargers, AFL Champions in 1963 and AFC Champions in 1994, still haven't won a Super Bowl.
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October 1, 2017 was a Sunday. Also on this day, the largest mass shooting in American history took place on the Las Vegas Strip: 471 people shot, 60 of whom died, all of whom had been attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. I have a separate entry for this event.
The day was a Sunday, before the start of the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League seasons The NHL's new expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, hung a banner in memory of the victims in their new arena, the T-Mobile Center.
It was the last day of Major League Baseball's regular season, and there was a full slate of games:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the new Yankee Stadium. Jordan Montgomery was the starting pitcher for the Yankees, but it was Domingo German in relief who turned out to be the losing pitcher. The only Yankee run came on a home run to Matt Holliday.
* The New York Mets got clobbered by the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-0 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
* The Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals, 11-8 at Nationals Park in Washington.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 8-5 at Marlins Park in Miami.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals, 14-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-2 at Angel Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at what's now named Oracle Park in San Francisco.
And, being a Sunday, there was a full slate of National Football League games:
* The New York Giants lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 25-23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
* The New York Jets beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-20 at MetLife Stadium in the New York suburb of East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Miami Dolphins, 20-0 at Wembley Stadium in London.
* The Carolina Panthers beat the New England Patriots, 33-30 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Take that, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 26-9 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Cleveland Browns, 31-7 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
* The Houston Texans beat the Tennessee Titans, the team that used to be the Houston Oilers, 57-14 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston. And the Titans weren't a bad team, either: They went 9-7, and not only ended up making the Playoffs, but winning a Playoff game, beating the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 14-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 35-30 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-10 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver.
* The Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers, 18-15 in overtime at what's now named State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* And the Seattle Seahawks beat the Indianapolis Colts, 46-18 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
The next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Washington Redskins, 29-20 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers had a bye.
Also on October 1, 2017, Arsenal beat Brighton & Hove Albion, 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.
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