PRO FOOTBALL / WEEK 12 : Chargers Look for Five Straight Wins, Beginning With Oilers

After completing the most difficult portion of their schedule by splitting a month of Sundays with the Raiders and the Denver Broncos, the Chargers venture into the final stage of the season with hopes of sweeping their last five games and sneaking into the playoffs.

There aren’t a lot of reasons for believing this up-and-down team can put together five consecutive victories, but that’s the goal of Coach Don Coryell and his players.

The schedule is favorable, beginning with today’s game against the Houston Oilers and continuing with home games against Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia before winding up with a game at Kansas City.

There’s a catch, of course. If the Chargers are going to come close to their avowed goal, they’ll have to summon the same pep they showed against their blood rivals from the AFC West.

Coryell knows that’s going to be tricky.

“We have something to play hard for,” he said, “but it is tough mentally to prepare for a team (like Houston) after the last four weeks. We have to rise above a letdown. We have to fight through any letdown. The Oilers aren’t going to give us anything. We have to go take it.”

The Oilers took nothing but a licking from Pittsburgh last Sunday, losing, 30-7, and losing their starting quarterback, Warren Moon, in the process.

Moon, suffering from a hip pointer, was replaced by Oliver Luck, who, by his own admission, played poorly as the Oilers managed only 80 yards passing.

The Oilers, much like the Chargers, are in need of a strong finish in order to guarantee the future of their coach, Hugh Campbell. Before the season, Houston General Manager Ladd Herzeg suggested that Campbell needed an 8-8 record if he hoped to return in 1986.

Coryell was given much the same ultimatum by owner Alex Spanos. There was some uncertainty earlier this week when a columnist for a national newspaper quoted Spanos as saying Coryell would be back next year. Spanos later denied having made that statement.

Although the heat on Coryell appears to have lessened a bit, the general impression is that the Chargers still need a strong finish to ensure the continuation of his reign.

Coryell, who refused to discuss the matter, seems fairly certain the Chargers will put behind them the haunting memory of last week’s 30-24 overtime loss at Denver.

“We have the type of players who will bounce back,” he said.

The loss dropped the Chargers three games behind the division-leading Broncos and into fourth place behind the Raiders and Seattle.

The Chargers had an easy time in their last meeting with Houston, controlling the ball for nearly 41 minutes and winning, 31-14, in the third game of the 1984 season.

It doesn’t take much imagination to envision the San Diego offense performing more efficiently than in last week’s game at Denver, a team with a defense described by Dan Fouts as the best-coached he has ever seen.

Fouts, who has thrown for more than 300 yards in five of the seven games he has started, has formed a winning coalition with Lionel James, whose 64 catches have given him a share of the league lead with San Francisco’s Roger Craig.

Fouts may be tempted to employ the running game more than usual, since the Oilers are very weak in that area. They gave up 248 yards on the ground to Pittsburgh last week, so look for James, Gary Anderson, Tim Spencer and Buford McGee to run early and often.

The San Diego defense, which has enjoyed moments of near dominance, is still suspect in the closing minutes of a tight game. Should the Oilers, with Luck or possibly Moon, manage to stay close, the Charger defense might provide another unsettling finish.

But after two consecutive overtime games, it’s unlikely that today’s game will be quite so dramatic in the final moments.

The Oilers, as Campbell admitted, have been struggling on offense, even with a healthy Moon. “We have an excellent young line and the potential to move the ball,” Campbell said this week.

“We would obviously prefer to have Warren as our starter today, but he had as bad a hip pointer as I’ve ever seen, with pain as widespread as any I’ve encountered in this sort of injury. Oliver is not our No. 1 quarterback, but he is intelligent and very popular with his teammates, and he has the ability to lead the team.”