It was 25 years ago Wednesday that the Chargers reached their one and only Super Bowl by beating the favored Steelers, 17-13, in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.
Let the record show the Chargers put out a phantom fire that afternoon when they upset the Steelers, longtime bullies who’d won four Super Bowls in the 1970s.
Messing with the San Diegans the prior night, mischievous yinzers — a Pittsburgh term for native locals — behaved like a 10-alarm blaze was roaring at or near the Chargers team hotel.
The Saturday night ruse was meant to unsettle the visiting team.