NY Giants vs San Diego Chargers: All-Time Series History and Results

New York Giants vs. San Diego Chargers: Head-to-Head History, All Results, and the Games Worth Remembering

The Chargers lead this series 8-6. That’s the short answer. Fourteen games since 1971, all regular season — these two franchises have never met in the playoffs — and the team that used to play in San Diego has the edge. If you searched “San Diego Chargers,” you already know what you’re looking for: the full history, not just the last few years. That history starts more than 50 years ago at Yankee Stadium and runs through a September 2025 afternoon at MetLife where a rookie quarterback finally snapped a five-game losing streak.

The Full Results Table

Every game between these franchises, sorted newest to oldest. The Chargers played in San Diego from the league’s AFL days through the 2016 season, then relocated to Los Angeles. Same franchise, different city. Both names appear below depending on when the game was played.

A few things stand out looking at that table. The Giants went 4-1 in the series through their first five meetings — then won just twice in the next nine. The Chargers ran off five straight wins between 2005 and 2021. And the biggest blowout in the series wasn’t the 2005 45-23 game everyone remembers: it was October 19, 1980, when San Diego won 44-7 at Giants Stadium. That’s a 37-point margin. It still stands as the largest Chargers win in this matchup.

The 1970s and 1980s: Giants Stadium, Dan Fouts, and Bill Parcells Winning His Way

The series opened on November 7, 1971 at Yankee Stadium — the Giants were still playing there while Giants Stadium was under construction. Fran Tarkenton was the Giants’ quarterback. San Diego had no answer for him that day, and New York won 35-17. Four years later, at what was now the brand-new Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, the Giants won again, 35-24 in November 1975.

Then came 1980. San Diego’s Air Coryell offense — named for head coach Don Coryell — was operating at a level most defenses couldn’t handle. Dan Fouts had thrown for 4,082 yards the previous season and was midway through what would become a 4,715-yard 1980 campaign. The Giants that year were still a few seasons away from being good. San Diego won 44-7 and it wasn’t particularly close.

The 1983 rematch was a different kind of game. Fouts came to Giants Stadium on October 2 and threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns despite being knocked around twice with shoulder injuries. Kellen Winslow caught a 16-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds left in the first half. The Chargers won 41-34 in what looked on paper like a shootout — and was. The Giants scored 34 points and lost.

By 1986, though, Bill Parcells had built something real in New Jersey. The Giants had Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, Carl Banks, and an offensive line that opened lanes for Joe Morris. San Diego visited Giants Stadium on September 14, 1986, and New York won 20-7. After the game, in a now-famous scene, Harry Carson poured a Gatorade cooler over Parcells’ head — a tradition he’d started the year before. The Giants went on to win Super Bowl XXI that season. The Chargers, for their part, were in a down period after the Air Coryell years ended.

New York won again in 1989, 20-13 at Giants Stadium, with Lawrence Taylor rushing San Diego’s quarterback all afternoon.

The Quiet 1990s: Two Games, One Big Swing Each Way

Twelve years passed between the 1983 game and the next meeting. The series had that quality throughout its history — long gaps, then a cluster of games. When they finally played again on December 23, 1995, San Diego won 27-17 at Giants Stadium. The Chargers had gone to Super Bowl XXIX the previous January and were trying to stay relevant. The Giants were not having a good year.

The 1998 game in San Diego is worth remembering for a specific moment. The Giants won 34-16 at Qualcomm Stadium, but what people recalled afterward was Michael Strahan sacking Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf in the second quarter and then walking over to the San Diego bench doing an impression of linebacker Junior Seau. Seau, watching from the sideline, apparently had enough of a sense of humor about it. Leaf, meanwhile, had four interceptions and lost. Strahan had one sack. The Giants’ Danny Kanell wasn’t spectacular — 17 of 33 for 208 yards — but he didn’t need to be. San Diego that year was breaking down, and Ryan Leaf’s arrival as the second overall pick in the ’98 draft was turning into one of the more infamous quarterback stories in NFL history.

LaDainian Tomlinson, Drew Brees, and a 45-23 Afternoon That Started Five Years of Pain

September 25, 2005. Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego. LaDainian Tomlinson ran 21 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns. Drew Brees completed 19 of 22 passes — that’s an 86.4 completion percentage — for 191 yards and two more scores. The Chargers won 45-23, and it wasn’t the scoreline that stung most; it was how effortless it looked.

Eli Manning threw for 352 yards. He was in his second NFL season and genuinely looked good. The Giants gained 424 total yards. None of it mattered. San Diego gained 485 yards and scored on what felt like every possession that counted. Tiki Barber had 60 yards on 15 carries. LaDainian Tomlinson had 192 yards on 21 carries. That gap tells the story.

This game started the five-game Chargers winning streak that wouldn’t end until 2025. Four years later, in November 2009 at Giants Stadium, San Diego won again — 21-20, a one-point edge that felt cruel. The Giants had Eli Manning. The Chargers still had Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, and enough to get out of New Jersey with a narrow win. Austin Ekeler had a rushing touchdown. The Giants fell to 7-2 that season, a loss they could afford but didn’t enjoy.

Philip Rivers in His Prime: The 2013 San Diego Finale

December 8, 2013 at Qualcomm Stadium turned out to be the last regular season game these franchises would play in San Diego — though no one knew that at the time. The Chargers won 37-14. Philip Rivers found rookie Keenan Allen twice for touchdowns and threw for three scores total. Hakeem Nicks had five catches for 135 yards for New York, and Victor Cruz added five receptions, but the Giants were in a rough season and couldn’t keep up.

It was also, quietly, a meaningful game for San Diego. The Chargers finished 9-7 that year and made the playoffs as a wild card, eventually upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals before losing to the Denver Broncos. The win over New York was part of a late-season run that barely got them in. Rivers was 27 of 39 for 343 yards. His passer rating that day was 118.0.

The Los Angeles Years: Herbert, Dart, and the Streak Finally Ending

The Chargers left San Diego after the 2016 season and relocated to Los Angeles. Three games have been played since. The Giants haven’t been dominant in any of them — until the most recent.

October 8, 2017. MetLife Stadium. Philip Rivers, now technically a Los Angeles Charger, threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns against a Giants team that was 0-5 heading into the game. New York actually led at halftime. They lost 27-22. Odell Beckham Jr. had five catches for 97 yards and a touchdown — a genuinely good game — but the Chargers got stops when they needed them.

December 12, 2021 at SoFi Stadium. Justin Herbert threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Glennon, starting at quarterback for New York after Daniel Jones went down with a neck injury, threw for 191 yards and two scores but also threw an interception at a bad moment. The Chargers won 37-21. Austin Ekeler had 12 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown. Devontae Booker had four catches for 28 yards. That was the gap right there: one team had a 23-year-old Herbert in his second season, and the other had Glennon.

Then came September 28, 2025. The Giants had lost three of their first four games. Jaxson Dart — a rookie out of Ole Miss, taken in the first round of the 2025 draft — was starting. Justin Herbert was still in Los Angeles, still one of the better quarterbacks in the AFC, and came into MetLife as a slight favorite. Herbert threw for 203 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Dart went 13 of 20 for 111 yards and a touchdown. Cameron Skattebo ran 25 times for 79 yards. Omarion Hampton had 128 yards on 12 carries for the Chargers, but two Herbert turnovers were too much to overcome. New York won 21-18.

That win ended the five-game skid. The last time the Giants had beaten this franchise before 2025 was September 27, 1998 — the Ryan Leaf game, the Michael Strahan impression, 27 years earlier.

Players Who Defined This Matchup

Across 14 games and 54 years, a handful of individuals showed up in ways worth noting specifically.

LaDainian Tomlinson played the Giants once and ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns. That’s the single best rushing performance in series history by a wide margin. Drew Brees completed 86.4 percent of his passes in that same 2005 game. Dan Fouts threw two touchdown passes in 1983 while playing hurt. None of those performances ended in losses for the Chargers.

On the Giants’ side, Eli Manning’s best series game came in the loss — 352 yards in 2005, which remains the most passing yards any Giant has thrown for against this opponent. Odell Beckham Jr. had 97 receiving yards in 2017. Hakeem Nicks had 135 in 2013, also a loss. Michael Strahan had the memorable sack and the sideline theater in 1998. Lawrence Taylor made things difficult for San Diego quarterbacks in both 1986 and 1989.

Philip Rivers played the Giants four times — in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021, though the last two were technically as a Los Angeles Charger. His record against New York: 4-0. He never lost to the Giants.

Home and Away: Where the Games Were Played

Seven of the 14 games were played at Giants Stadium or MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. The Giants went 4-3 at home. Four games were played in San Diego — at Jack Murphy Stadium (renamed Qualcomm in 1997) — and New York went 1-3 there. One game was at Yankee Stadium in 1971 (a Giants win) and one at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood (a Chargers win).

The Giants actually play better in this series at home, but not dramatically. The Chargers won at Giants Stadium in 1980, 1983, 1995, and 2009. That’s four wins in East Rutherford. The San Diego road trips were reliably difficult for New York — the noise, the warm weather, the West Coast travel — and the record reflects it.

How Often Do These Teams Play?

The Giants are NFC East. The Chargers are AFC West. Under the NFL’s scheduling rotation, these divisions meet in the regular season once every four years. That means fans watching for a rematch of the 2025 game are likely looking at the 2028 or 2029 season before these teams share a field again — unless they somehow meet in the Super Bowl, which hasn’t happened in this series’ 54-year history and shows no signs of happening anytime soon.

Fourteen games in 54 years works out to roughly one every four seasons. There have been 12-year gaps (1971 to 1983 if you skip ahead) and clusters where they played twice in a four-year window. The next meeting depends entirely on when the scheduling cycle aligns. What’s certain is that when it does, the Chargers will hold an 8-6 all-time advantage — and the Giants will arrive having ended a five-year losing streak the last time out.