his(river's that is) best teams were in the 2003-2008 range- right when the patriots colts and steelers were at their "best" at the same time and any of those 3 teams could have won, chargers didn't.
2004 sb- patriots
2005 sb- patriots
2006 sb -steelers
2007 sb - colts
2008 sb - patriots(lost)
2009 sb - steelers
those 6 years the chargers made the playoffs all but 2 seasons 2003 & 2005 (2004/2006 superbowls ) the issue was the Patriots made the playoffs all but the 2008 season(patriots lost the tiebreakers to dolphins&ravens (brady out all year due to injury)-still had an 11-5 record), the steelers making the playoffs all but 2003 and 2006, the colts making the playoffs every year in that span.