Chargers Continue Downhill Slide : Offense Pathetic in 31-14 Debacle to Unbeaten Broncos

Before the kickoff, stadium vendors were hawking $3 posters of “Top Gun” Dan Fouts posing in front of a jet.

By the end of Sunday’s game, there probably would have been few takers even if the posters were free.

For the fifth straight week, Fouts and the San Diego offense went “pffft,” enabling the Denver Broncos to win easily, 31-14, and improve their record to 6-0.

The Broncos, the only unbeaten team in the American Football Conference, played ball control with an efficient mix of running and passing that maintained possession for almost 39 minutes.

With quarterback John Elway passing for 242 yards and the running game adding 156 yards, the Broncos dealt San Diego a fifth-straight loss and opened a two-game lead on Seattle in the AFC West.

The Chargers, dipping to 1-5, scored on their first series, then played erratically until adding a nearly meaningless touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The loss left the Chargers demoralized and almost surely ended any playoff hopes.

Until Buford McGee crossed the goal line with 1:29 to play, the Chargers had not scored a second-half touchdown since the season opener.

“I hope we broke the ice with that one,” Fouts said.

The Charger quarterback, who entered the game ranked 24th among the league’s quarterbacks, was contending with various theories as to what caused his, and the team’s slump. Among them: a tired arm, conservative play calling, excessive turnovers, a shortage of big plays by receivers.

This time, the Chargers were determined “to shoot all our guns,” according to Coach Don Coryell. They did so on their first series as Fouts fired a 40-yard pass to Wes Chandler and then dumped a short scoring pass to Gary Anderson.

“Our idea was not to hold back on anything,” assistant head coach Al Saunders said. “We tried to be as aggressive as we could be.”

The results were hard to distinguish from recent weeks. Even though Fouts completed 26 of 40 passes for 352 yards, he threw two interceptions to Denver defensive back Tony Lilly and was victimized by sloppy catching by his own receivers.

Most notable was a bungled catch by Anderson on what likely would have been a second-quarter touchdown.

“I was in full stride,” Anderson said. “I just mistimedit. I was just thinking of getting six points and I missed the ball. That doesn’t usually happen to me.”

Although numerous Chargers admitted to being discouraged, none questioned the commitment to remain with Fouts at quarterback.

“We’ll live and die with him,” tight end Kellen Winslow said. “Most teams would go to another quarterback in the same situation, but we’ll ride Dan until we can’t ride him any longer.”

No. 2 quarterback Mark Herrmann, who would take over if anything happened to Fouts, said he thought there might be a chance he’d get to play, but he never was told to get ready.

Herrmann, who once played for the Indianapolis Colts, said the atmosphere here is quite different. “It’s not as desperate here because we have the talent,” he said. “In a way, though, that makes it more frustrating.”

The Chargers remain collectively unable to explain what has brought on hard times, but they are united in the attempt to shrug off a total collapse.

“I don’t see this team folding, not a chance,” linebacker Billy Ray Smith said. “Based on our play today, you’d have to say we’re a bad team. On paper, we’re a good football team, but we’re just not executing.

“I’ve been around football all my life, as long as I can remember, and I know we have people here who can play. We’re just breaking down in critical areas.”

As bad as things have gotten for the Chargers, the opposite holds for the Broncos.

“Our team has a lot of confidence,” Coach Dan Reeves said. “They feel they can move the ball against anyone, and they are doing it.

“We kept the ball a long time, and that was a key factor. It’s really important to do that against a team that can strike as quickly as they can. We were scared to death coming in.”

The Broncos, following the script that has grown familiar to San Diego fans in the past month, put away the Chargers in the second half with three touchdowns, two of them the fruit of long, time-consuming drives.

The Chargers were powerless to take the ball away, and unable to do anything when they had it.

Air Coryell’s acute second-half problems over the past month are illustrated by these statistics: of 30 possessions, 16 have ended in turnovers, with 9 punts, 2 field goals, 2 series that died and 1 touchdown.

The Charger defense, forced into a posture of needing to be perfect, has not met the test.

“I got the feeling today we were sitting around waiting for something bad to happen,” defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said.

“Our attitude and our expectations have been dented. We’ve suffered (as a result).”

The Chargers appeared to be in the game, trailing, 10-7, at halftime.

Sammy Winder scored on a one-yard run and Rich Karlis kicked a 21-yard field goal for the Bronco lead.

But, as Charger safety Gill Byrd said, something happens to the San Diego defense at halftime.

“We don’t seem to come out with the same intensity,” Byrd said. “Maybe we’re not mentally prepared (for the third and fourth quarters). We seem to be backing up on our intensity, wondering if we can play with a team.” This time it was slow death for San Diego as Denver disdained the big play in the second half.

Content to gain five to 10 yards per play, the Broncos opted for ball control, keeping the Charger offense on the sidelines.

Denver pieced together two long, patient drives, one eating up 89 yards in 12 plays, the other consuming 82 yards in 15.

The Broncos widened their lead to 10 points on a three-yard scoring catch by Gerald Willhite that capped the longer drive.

On their next series, the Broncos took 10 minutes 35 seconds and expanded their lead to 24-7. Willhite again scored, this time on a one-yard run.

Just to add a little spice, the Broncos proved they could score quickly as Mike Harden returned a punt 41 yards for a 31-7 lead.

The Chargers grimly vowed not to give up with 10 games remaining.

“It’s really getting discouraging, but I have to try to block out the losses and just play as hard as I can,” rookie defensive lineman Leslie O’Neal said.

Another rookie, defensive back Donald Brown, said he thinks improvement has to come.

“It’s going to be uphill, but it can’t get any worse,” he said. “We can’t live in the past. We’ve got to strive for tomorrow.”

That is not a simple psychological task.

“It’s getting pretty hard (not to give up),” safety Jeff Dale said. “It’s tough to keep coming back and saying the same things week after week.

“But I don’t think anybody here is quitting. We have enough strong personalities that ain’t going to let that happen. I really can’t understand what’s going on. I’m searching deep in my mind.”

Fouts seems unable to explain away disaster and unwilling to accept it.

“I’m not real happy about things, but we have the talent and desire to play well,” he said. “I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s from my heart. That’s just the way I play this game.

“When you’re 1-5, you’ve got to play hard and prepare hard for the next opponent (in this case, Kansas City). We can’t afford to get down on ourselves. That’s a real cancer, one that could destroy a young team.”