2010 San Diego Chargers season  The 2010 season was the San Diego Chargers' 41st in the National Football League and their 51st overall. After a loss to the New York Jets in the divisional round of the 2009-10 NFL Playoffs, the Chargers had high hopes of winning their fifth consecutive AFC West division title and contending for a Super Bowl championship. However, they started the season with a 2–3 record for the fourth consecutive year. After a Week 16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, they were eliminated from postseason contention, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The Chargers used an NFL-record tying 74 players during the season due to injuries. Still, they finished ranked No. 1 in the NFL both on offense and defense. However, their special teams allowed four blocked punts (and had another deflected), three kickoff return touchdowns, and one punt return touchdown. The "San Diego Union-Tribune" wrote, "[N]o team even came close to having all those special teams foibles in one season." Football Outsiders calculated that the Chargers had the worst special teams in the league in 2010, and the fifth-worst from 1993–2010. In 2019, SB Nation's "Dorktown" stated that the Chargers' offensive and defensive units made them one of the best teams on paper since the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. However, they concluded that San Diego was doomed by poor special teams play which largely contributed to their 2–5 start; indeed, in all five losses, special teams snafus accounted for the margin of defeat. They were 7–2 afterwards. The Chargers believed that they would have made the playoffs were it not for their special teams gaffes. With one additional win, they would have been 10–6 and won the AFC West in a tiebreaker over the Kansas City Chiefs. The 2010 season saw the Chargers see their first home blackouts since 2004, and was also the first season since 2000 that future Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson was not on the roster. On February 22, 2010, LaDainian Tomlinson requested his release after nine seasons with the team, and went to the New York Jets. After finishing the season with the best record among teams exiting the playoffs in the divisional round, the Chargers picked 28th in the draft. They traded their sixth round pick in a trade that sent defensive tackle Travis Johnson to the Chargers. The Chargers began their season at Arrowhead Stadium for a division rivalry match against the Kansas City Chiefs.