The 1988 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 19th season in the National Football League, its 29th overall and the second and final full season under head coach Al Saunders. This was the first season after the retirement of Dan Fouts, who had been the Chargers' starting quarterback for the majority of games over the past 15 seasons. The new-look passing attack struggled in his absence, ranking 26th out of 28 teams. San Diego team failed to improve on their 8–7 record in 1987 and finished 6-10: following a 2-2 start, they lost six straight games to drop out of the playoff race.