Dan Fouts, Hank Bauer and Kellen Winslow tell the story of the 1981 San Diego Chargers
Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor Tom Selleck narrates
How did "Air Coryell," among the greatest passing offenses in NFL history never win a Super Bowl? Which player still has frost bite from the Freezer Bowl? These questions and many more are answered during the premiere episode of the NFL Films' produced America's Game: The Missing Rings - 1981 San Diego Chargers debuting Thursday, Sept. 18 at 10 p.m. ET exclusively on NFL Network.
On the other side of the celebrations of Super Bowl winners are the teams that got close but did not win the final game and earn the ultimate prize, a Super Bowl ring. The San Diego Chargers' 1981 season culminated with a loss in "The Freezer Bowl," the 1981 AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals, held on one of the coldest days of the 20th Century.
The story of the 1981 Chargers is told by running back Hank Bauer, quarterback Dan Fouts and tight end Kellen Winslow, who provide an intimate portrait of success without achieving the Lombardi Trophy. The Missing Rings - 1981 Chargers is narrated by Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor Tom Selleck.
The Missing Rings, the latest installment of the Emmy Award-winning America's Game series tells the stories behind the story of Super Bowl champions. Each episode is a 60-minute documentary (available in high definition) featuring key members of the team telling their behind-the-scenes accounts. With classic NFL Films action combined with news clips and photos, highlights from team radio broadcasts, footage from inside team meeting rooms, sideline audio and other exclusive features, America's Game provides an epic and intimate portrait of extraordinary teams, in one groundbreaking series.
Below are excerpts from America's Game: The Missing Rings - 1981 San Diego Chargers:
Not winning the Super Bowl:
"You play to win. You play to get to the Super Bowl. If you don't get there it doesn't mean you're a failure." -- Dan Fouts.
"We'll be judged for our failures, but also by our entertainment value. People remember us. People remember the San Diego Chargers as a team they enjoyed watching." -- Fouts.
"All I care about are the fans and if they liked it. Some will be critical. Some will say 'oh they never won the big one.' We tried and we had fun trying. We did leave our mark. We will not be forgotten." -- Fouts.
"We had the greatest offense in the history of the National Football League. We changed the way people played defense. They had to change the philosophy of defense because of us." -- Hank Bauer.
"He had a bad shoulder, cramps, hurting, locking up, but he still went in and played. He (Winslow) had one of the greatest individual performances in the history of sports." -- Bauer on Winslow's performance.
"To this day, that is the most incredible single play I've ever been a part of. It was an overthrown incomplete pass and yet it was the touchdown to tie one of the greatest games ever." -- Fouts on James Brooks' catch to tie the game.
"It's called emergency do-or-die. It doesn't matter if you're a starter. If you have the biggest contract on the team it still doesn't matter. In that moment, my job was to jump. At the time I thought I was soaring and hanging up there like Michael Jordan, waiting for the ball to come up so I could swat it down and drift slowly to the ground. When I look at it on film, you probably could have slid a credit card under me. I wasn't high up at all." -- Kellen Winslow on blocking the field goal to send the game into overtime.
The "Freezer Bowl":
"We woke up on Sunday to the coldest day in the history of the 20th Century. 59 degrees below zero, wind chill. 30-40 miles per hour winds. There was hot steam coming off the Ohio River - it looked like a Jacuzzi." -- Bauer.
Dan Fouts:
"Dan Fouts is the smartest, toughest quarterback I have ever seen." -- Bauer.
"We played harder so to not disappoint Dan. He expected perfection from everyone and when you didn't do those things he'd tell you." -- Winslow.
Kellen Winslow:
"Kellen Winslow loves being a star and we loved him being a star because when he was, we were going to do just fine." -- Fouts.
Hank Bauer:
"He would take the ball and drive head first into anything and often times that 'anything' was the end zone." -- Fouts.
"You have to have an overachiever on the team because it makes those with natural talent ask, 'why aren't I working harder?' He's the guy that pushes everyone else." -- Winslow.
Quick quotes ...
"They never pick up the fat guys. We are going to have to get up ourselves." -- Fouts quoting defensive tackle Louie Kelcher and offensive guard Ed White upon seeing Winslow being carried off the field following the win over Miami.
"I had frost bite on my big toe because of that game and I still feel it in my right thumb when it's cold." -- Winslow on the Freezer Bowl.
"You were nobody if you didn't have a Chargers tee shirt in the days of disco, big hair and everything. We were the first big thing." -- Bauer.
"It's not easy being 23-24 years old and completely bald at a time where guys didn't shave their heads. He was just folliclly challenged." -- Fouts on Bauer.
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