was an
American Football Quarterback in the
National Football League (NFL).
Chris Chandler was born on
October 12 ,
1965 in
Everett, Washington . In high school, he was active in basketball, football, track and golf. His high school football quarterbacking stats were 49 TDs, and 2,000 yards passing.
In college, Chandler played for the
University Of Washington from 1984 to 1987. He finished third in the school's history in total offense with 4,442 yards and 32 touchdown passes, and ended his college career as the Offensive Player of the Game at the 1988
Senior Bowl . He graduated with an economics degree.
Chandler played in the NFL for 17 seasons, from 1988-2004. He played for eight teams, a record shared with
Mark Royals and Karl Wilson (although Chandler is the only player to have started for eight different teams). He threw for 28,480 yards, and had a career passer rating of 79.3. At the time of his retirement, he was ranked 30th in all-time pass completions, with 2328. He was continually bothered by injuries, which earned him the unflattering
Moniker of "Crystal Chandelier" amongst his detractors.
He was taken in the third round of the draft by the
Indianapolis Colts . The Colts deemed Chandler expendable due to his poor play, and the fact that they selected
Jeff George with the first overall choice in the 1990 draft. Chandler joined
Tampa Bay in 1990, but struggled, and left after the 1991 season; as a Buccanneer, he had an 0-6 record as a starter, and never had a season
Passer Rating greater than 47.6.
From
1992 -
1994 he played reasonably well as a starter and backup for the
Phoenix Cardinals and the
Los Angeles Rams . After joining the
Houston Oilers in 1995, he would earn the starting job. However, late in 1996,
Jeff Fisher decided that
Steve McNair was ready to start, and Chandler was traded to the
Atlanta Falcons for a fourth-round draft choice.
Chandler's best seasons were with Atlanta; coached by
Dan Reeves . Chandler was a
Pro Bowl quarterback in
1997 and
1998 . The 1998 season saw Chandler lead the Falcons to their only
Super Bowl appearance, but he lost to John Elway and the
Denver Broncos (then coached by
Mike Shanahan ).
Following the 2000 season, Chandler's record as a starting Atlanta quarterback was 28-25, which prompted the Falcons to consider recruiting a new quarterback. Atlanta held the fifth overall pick in the 2001 draft, and traded it along with
Tim Dwight to the
San Diego Chargers in exchange for the first overall pick. With that, the Falcons selected quarterback
Michael Vick . Nonetheless, Chandler would start most of the
2001 season, but would be replaced by Vick in 2002 as the starting quarterback. Chandler left the Falcons ranked third in team history with 13,268 passing yards, but never achieved back-to-back winning seasons, which has plagued the Falcons throughout their history.
In 2002, Chandler was picked up by the
Chicago Bears , and spent two seasons there before rejoining the
Rams , which had moved to St. Louis. In his first start as a Ram in 2004, he threw six interceptions, a team record. The following week, his poor play led to coach
Mike Martz saying "It is tragic that, that position
played by Chandler holds this team hostage." [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/recaps/2004/12/19/1292_recap.html]
As a result, Chandler was the first Ram to be released in the off-season, saving St. Louis $665,000 in
Cap space.
He is the son-in-law of former San Francisco 49er quarterback,
John Brodie .
