RetroSimba

After Don Coryell left the NFL Cardinals, he appeared in St. Louis one time as an opposing head coach. It was an experience he could have done without.

On Nov. 20, 1983, Coryell brought the San Diego Chargers to Busch Stadium to play the Cardinals.

This was no tender homecoming. Too much weird mojo, and too many factors Coryell couldn’t control, not the least of which was an injured quarterback.

Air Coryell

In five seasons with Coryell as their head coach, the Cardinals were 42-27-1 and reached the playoffs twice. “We weren’t the best football team when Don was here,” his quarterback, Jim Hart, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “but we were the most exciting. We did the unexpected.”

Coryell departed following the 1977 season after a falling out with club owner Bill Bidwill. Subsequently, the Cardinals had four consecutive losing seasons before going 5-4 in strike-shortened 1982.

The Chargers had winning records in Coryell’s first five seasons as their head coach, leading the NFL in passing each of those years. In the words of Sports Illustrated, Coryell masterminded “revolutionary game plans, new formations every week and unrelenting air attacks,” building a resume that earned him election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Chargers challenges

A torn muscle in the right shoulder of Dan Fouts, the quarterback who put the air in Air Coryell, changed the course of the Chargers’ season in October 1983. His replacement, Ed Luther, was in his fourth season with the Chargers but never had started a NFL game.

After Luther took over, the Chargers lost three of his four starts before heading to St. Louis. Fouts remained unavailable, and the Chargers also were without another injured player, James Brooks, a multiple threat as a rusher, receiver and kick returner.

The Chargers still had running back Chuck Muncie, receivers Wes Chandler and Charlie Joiner, and tight end Kellen Winslow, a St. Louis native who was raised in East St. Louis, Ill., and attended the University of Missouri.

With that talent, coached by Coryell, the Chargers were formidable. “He instills pride in all of us,” Muncie told The Sporting News. “We don’t ever think about not winning. He won’t let us.”

Friends and enemies

Jim Hanifan was head coach of the 1983 Cardinals. He and Coryell first met in 1956 at Fort Ord in California. Coryell coached the football team on the Army post and Hanifan was a player.

They became friends and colleagues. Hanifan was an assistant coach for Coryell with San Diego State in 1972 and in all five seasons Coryell was in St. Louis. He also was Coryell’s assistant with the 1979 Chargers before becoming Cardinals head coach in 1980.

Coryell had no desire to coach against him. “Jim Hanifan and I are buddies,” Coryell told the Post-Dispatch. “I’d rather play against somebody I hate.”

On the eve of his return to St. Louis, Coryell said to the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t like this game at all. I am coaching against Jim Hanifan, a good friend, and this is where I started coaching in the pros. I have a lot of emotional ties in St. Louis. Heck, I even love that emblem they have with the little ornery bird on the helmet. He sort of has that mean look in his eye, and I think he’s kind of cute. I would just much rather be playing somebody else.”

Hanifan told the Times, “As a coach you try to go into a ballgame like always. When you know the guy across the field is a dear friend, it does make it difficult. I imagine it will be a weird feeling with him coming back to St. Louis and looking at him across the field.”

Told that Coryell said, “I have nothing but warm, wonderful feelings of St. Louis,” Bidwill replied to the Post-Dispatch, “I guess he doesn’t remember the snowstorms.”

Hostile territory

Most of the 40,644 spectators booed the mention of Coryell’s name in pregame introductions, the Times reported. Then the Chargers imploded. They committed six turnovers, four in the second quarter, and the relentless Cardinals cruised to a 37-0 lead. “A nightmare,” Luther told The Sporting News.

Ahead, 10-0, Hanifan called for an onside kick and the Cardinals recovered, surprising the Chargers and sending them reeling. “It was a great call,” Coryell told the Los Angeles Times.

The Cardinals sacked Luther six times and intercepted three of his passes. David Galloway and Curtis Greer had two sacks each. Bubba Baker had an interception and recovered a fumble.

Cardinals quarterback Neil Lomax threw for two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns. Ottis Anderson rushed for 113 yards and a score.

The final was 44-14. “San Diego is still a fine team,” Hanifan told the Times, “but it is not the same without Fouts.” Game stats and Video

Coryell “looked as if he were in shock, although it might be argued that is his usual appearance,” Post-Dispatch columnist Kevin Horrigan wrote.

Denver Broncos head coach Dan Reeves told The Sporting News, “Don Coryell must be dying inside. He’s such a competitive person.”

In remarks to the Post-Dispatch, Coryell congratulated the Cardinals, then added, “We should have made a better game of it.”

The Los Angeles Times called the rout “the club’s low point under Coryell.”

The loss dropped the Chargers’ record to 4-8. They finished 6-10, Coryell’s first losing season since his first year with St. Louis in 1973.

The Cardinals improved to 5-6-1 and jump-started their season. They won three of their last four, finishing 8-7-1, their most wins since Coryell’s 1976 team had 10.