they lost all six of their remaining games while scoring only five offensive touchdowns, and missed the playoffs. Fouts played only briefly in the first of these defeats due to a calf injury, and missed the finale with a slightly torn rotator cuff. His 254th and final touchdown pass came in Week 14, a 15-yarder to James in the final quarter of a 20–16 loss to Pittsburgh, while posting his 51st and final 300-yard game, a record at the time and almost double the next highest. The following week, he played his final game, a 20–7 home defeat to the Indianapolis Colts. Fouts completed 22 of 37 passes for 257 yards, no touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He scored the only Chargers touchdown of the game himself, on a 1-yard run. Statistically, Fouts had a similar campaign to the previous year. He was 5–5 as a starter, throwing 10 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, while his passer rating dropped slightly to 70.0. He was sacked significantly more frequently, with 24 sacks occurring on 6.2% of pass attempts, his highest percentage since 1977. Fouts announced his retirement on March 24, 1988, at his home in Rancho Santa Fe. He cited the wear and tear on his body as the main reason. He was 36 years old at the time, and second only to Fran Tarkenton in terms of NFL career passing yards, trailing by about 4,000 yards despite attempting 863 fewer passes. Fouts ranked fourth in career passing touchdowns with 254. Reflecting on his career, he said, "We had so much confidence in what we were doing and we had a lot of fun." Legacy and playing style Fouts threw for 43,040 yards and 254 touchdowns while starting 171 games over fifteen seasons in San Diego. He rushed for 476 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Chargers retired his No. 14 jersey during a ceremony at Jack Murphy Stadium on November 27, 1988, during halftime of a game against San Francisco. At the time, he was the only Charger to have his number retired. At the time of his retirement, Fouts was credited with 42 team records, as well as seven league records. San Diego found Fouts difficult to replace, as they made 14 quarterback changes in barely five seasons before settling on Stan Humphries as a long-term starter. Several of Fouts' club records lasted well into the 21st century: Philip Rivers broke his