PRO FOOTBALL ’86 : COACHES, PLAYERS, TEAMS AND TRENDS TO WATCH THIS SEASON : Chargers’ Fouts Never Lets Up in His Quest for a Perfect Game : Sweating All the Details

There have been 13 perfect games in the history of major league baseball.

There have been none in pro football--yet.

But Dan Fouts is shooting for No. 1 in a category that doesn’t officially exist.

The Charger quarterback believes perfection is possible. His goal is to complete every pass and score on every series.

“Those things are attainable,” he said. “Not likely, but certainly possible. Scoring on every drive, winning every game, those are the things that motivate me. And in my mind those are realistic goals.”

Perfection means sweating the small details.

Center Don Macek--who is Fouts’ closest friend on the team--learned in one of his first games that the quarterback has little tolerance for error, but isn’t afraid to acknowledge one of his own.

“We were playing the Raiders,” Macek said. “They were in a blitz, and somebody missed an assignment to pick up Ted Hendricks. I saw him coming and tried to make an adjustment, even though he wasn’t my responsibility. I couldn’t stop him, and Dan got sacked. He got on me pretty good about it.

“When we got back to the sidelines, Dan went over to speak to Bill Walsh, who was then an assistant coach. Walsh told him who was at fault for the blown assignment, and Dan came over and apologized to me for screaming. I’ve found that he’s always been big enough to admit if he screwed up. He’s always been tough, but also fair and honest.”

Fouts probably is a perfectionist by nature, but it’s also a quality he has polished over the years, according to assistant head coach Al Saunders.

“It’s almost a transcendent thing,” Saunders said. “Nothing fazes him. He will not allow adverse circumstances to alter what he wants to do on a football field. He may throw a bad ball, then come right back with the same throw and just outright defy the defense to stop it.”

Charger kicker Rolf Benirschke said he never will forget the quarterback’s rage at halftime of the classic playoff game against the Miami Dolphins five years ago. The Chargers, who won, 41-38, in overtime, had built a 24-0 lead only to allow the Dolphins back within seven points by halftime.

“Dan came into the locker room and threw his helmet down and started screaming,” Benirschke said. “He was just furious. I mean, he was really livid. The rest of us were sitting there shell-shocked, and we might not have come out of it had it not been for Dan. Kellen Winslow had an incredible game that night, and it’s mainly his performance that people remember, but I don’t think we could have won if hadn’t been for Dan. It was just his overwhelming desire to win that lifted everybody.”

Every head coach must find someone who can be a screamer, a tough guy, an enforcer. That role may be filled by the head coach himself, an assistant or even by a player. On the Chargers, the role generally is filled by Fouts.

“Dan may have mellowed a bit over the years--but not much,” Benirschke said. “He still lets go in the locker room. And nobody questions that because of his position. He is the unchallenged leader.”

It goes back to his association with Johnny Unitas, who was at the end of his career when Fouts broke in with the Chargers in 1973. Fouts, who considers Unitas the greatest quarterback in history, has the same rough-hewn, unchallenged control of a huddle.

“I really liked what I saw in him,” Fouts said. “I never consciously copied the hightop shoes or the flattop, but I did want to be something similar (in temperament). Basically, I guess it was just in my personality. It’s nothing I’ve fabricated.

“I don’t think I’ve changed that much over the years. The younger players kid me about how they used to watch me on TV. It’s kind of funny, in a way. I’m the same I’ve been, whether that’s a good guy or . . . “

Down-to-earth is a more fitting description, said Ed White, recently retired as an offensive guard and now a member of the coaching staff. White thinks Fouts has the outlook of an offensive lineman, which would explain why his closer companions among the Chargers tend to be blockers.

“An offensive lineman doesn’t need to be in the limelight to be fulfilled, and neither does Dan,” White said. “What’s so extraordinary about Dan is that he’s such a tough son of a gun. There are a lot of good quarterbacks, but none as tough-minded as he is. The last thing anybody could say about Dan is that he’s a prima donna. And if you want to know if people block harder for him because of that, you’re damn right they do.”

Fouts may identify with offensive linemen, but that doesn’t protect them from his temper. Benirschke recalled a day several years ago when Fouts tore into tackle Billy Shields for missing a block.

“Dan was really mad about getting sacked,” Benirschke said, “and he was letting Billy have it as they were coming off the field. Billy was getting pretty worked up himself, and they had to be held apart, or they might have started duking it out.

“A few minutes later, Dan went over and apologized, and Billy said he understood. After that, you could see the look of resolve on his face to try to keep those guys off his quarterback.”

Other quarterbacks should be so harsh and so fussy if that’s what it takes to achieve results. Fouts, ever the perfectionist, said he can’t watch film of opposing offenses without noticing how they neglect the little points he is so finicky about.

“A lot of other teams have tried to copy us,” he said. “I get a kick out of watching ‘em. Rarely do they have the success we do because we’re just so precise in our use of angles and utilizing every inch of the field. If a pass route is supposed to be eight yards, it’s got to be precisely eight yards. If my drop is supposed to be five yards, it’s got to be five yards. Other teams can’t quite do it like we do.

“Our practices are always very businesslike, I think you could say. Every player knows what is expected. It’s very demanding. You get the job done or you ride the pine.”

Going back to his days in Pop Warner football, Fouts has always had a single-mindedness and a low tolerance for error, according to his brother, Bob, with whom he now is a partner in a San Diego lending business.

“I think it’s just part of his personal ethic to want to be the best,” Bob Fouts said. “All of us in the family are very competitive, but Dan has that quality a little more than the rest of us. We expect the best of ourselves and expect people around us to give their best, too.”

Don Coryell doesn’t hold back in his assessment of Fouts. “I think he’ll probably go down as the greatest quarterback ever,” Coryell said. “I’d bet on it. There are some young quarterbacks now who might get more votes for the Pro Bowl, but none of them have yet shown the consistency Dan has.”

Offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese said Fouts is the best and the most influential of the 1980s quarterbacks.

“Dan has had the effect of speeding up the passing game in pro football,” Zampese said. “You don’t see quarterbacks holding the ball as long as they did just a few years ago. Even the Raiders, who’ve always been a team that went for deep drops and long throws, have changed somewhat.

“Because of Dan, defenses also have changed in the way they attack a quarterback. With the five-step drop and the quick release (popularized by Fouts), defenses have had to adjust. They’ve done it by blitzing more and attacking blocking schemes even in what used to be running situations, like first and 10. It’s not unusual now to see five or sometimes six defensive backs on first down.”

In the ever-shifting game of strategy, the Chargers’ goal is to make a defense less aggressive by creating a moment’s doubt. The Chargers’ multiple formations are designed to create hesitation and confusion, giving Fouts all the edge he needs.

Entering his 14th season, Fouts has surpassed all but two quarterbacks in the key statistical areas. Fouts is No. 3 in career passing yardage (37,492), trailing Fran Tarkenton (47,003) and Unitas (40,239). He trails only Tarkenton in career completions, 3,686 to 2,839.

Among active quarterbacks, Fouts has thrown for more yards and touchdowns than anyone. He has also attempted and completed more passes than any of his contemporaries.

Because of his attainments and his keen mind, Fouts has an active role in the design of strategy. He is called upon for opinions on pass routes and other adjustments in Air Coryell.

“His visual perception of what we’re doing is vital,” Saunders said. “We want to be sure of what he is seeing so we can be sure of what he expects on any given play. That’s integral to our offense. We have rules for our receivers--never fool the quarterback and always be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. You can see how it’s all tied in together.”

At 35, Fouts said he still looks forward to practice each day.

“It’s stimulating and exciting for me,” he said. “It keeps me young to see Gary Anderson making a fabulous catch or to watch tacklers bouncing off of Tim Spencer.

“Our offense is just phenomenal. I think we have the most unselfish group of athletes in any team sport. They have to realize there’s only one ball. They better perform when they get their hands on it. Knowing that, it raises everyone to a higher level and keeps me on the edge.”

Fouts said his chief motivation is reaching the Super Bowl, the one thing he hasn’t accomplished in football.

Before he gets there, he almost certainly will surpass Unitas on the career passing list. It probably will happen late this season.

Fouts was there the day in September 1973 when Unitas reached 40,000 career yards. He was on the sidelines and remembers the game being stopped while Unitas was presented the historic football.

Unitas grabbed the ball, then took a couple of steps toward the sidelines. Fouts was hoping Unitas would throw the ball to him, but instead it went to the equipment man, Sid Brooks. Any disappointment he may have felt disappeared a week later, however, when Unitas was benched at halftime of a losing game and Fouts took over. He has been the starter ever since.