The NFL lost one of its greatest innovators yesterday when former St. Louis Cardinal and San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell passed away.

I can't offer much in the way of perspective when it comes to his place in the game that you can't find done better elsewhere, but I didn't want his passing to go unmentioned on this blog, simply because his offenses in San Diego were one of the things that made me fall in love with pro football beyond just obsessing over the Packers.

I had a nice back and forth with Jason Wilde about this on Twitter last night. Those San Diego teams were just an absolute joy to watch, with the still-way-too-under-appreciated Dan Fouts pulling the trigger on "Air Coryell", as the Charger offense came to be known, throwing to the likes of Kellen Winslow and Charlie Joiner.

And, of course, John Jefferson.

I can't tell you how excited I was when I heard that Jefferson had been traded from the Chargers to the Packers back in 1980. On a team that already featured James Lofton, I couldn't wait to see what the two could do together. Sure "J.J.", as he was affectionately known, never really got the recognition he deserved while playing in Lofton's shadow but he's always been one of my favorite Packer players. Just a thrill to watch whenever he took the field.

But there was something about those Chargers teams that mesmerized me. They were almost always on after the Packers, playing the late afternoon game on NBC, called by Dick Endberg and Merlin Olsen. In my memory they were always playing the Broncos, it was always a great game and I was always enthralled at how Coryell's team threw the ball almost effortlessly down the field.

The great injustice, of course, is that Coryell never made it into the Hall of Fame while he was alive - which is absurd. The man's influence is deeply imprinted in the pass-first NFL we all enjoy today. Yet he's punished because his teams never made it to a Super Bowl.

Ridiculous.

Here's hoping the selectors rectify the situation. It would be just a small tribute to a man who played a big part in making the game we love very much what it is today.