Chargers Lose Another Game, Another Quarterback in Philly

After six straight losses, the San Diego Chargers were hoping a change of quarterbacks might make a difference.

It did, but it wasn’t exactly what the Chargers had in mind.

Mark Herrmann replaced Dan Fouts, who was sidelined by a concussion inflicted last week.

Herrmann was working on a shutout when he, too, suffered a concussion on a sack by Philadelphia’s Andre Waters in the fourth quarter.

The No. 3 quarterback, Tom Flick, came in and must have been wondering when somebody was going to knock him senseless, as well.

Before it could happen, Flick surprised what was left of a Veterans Stadium crowd of 41,469. He got the Chargers a touchdown, but that was the extent of Air Coryell’s contribution in a 23-7 loss to the Eagles.

For the Chargers (1-7), life without Fouts was about as dreary as the cold rain that fell much of the afternoon.

There were 26,659 no-shows, and they probably didn’t regret their decision to stay home and thus miss what was essentially a defensive struggle, full of penalties and sloppy play.

The fans spent much of the afternoon booing Eagle quarterbacks--specifically Ron Jaworski and Matt Cavanaugh.

The only quarterback who seemed to satisfy them was Randall Cunningham, who scrambled nicely a couple of times and completed three of his four passes.

Jaworski, the starter, completed 12 of 23 throws for 98 yards. Cavanaugh was used only for two quarterback sneaks on third down.

“We didn’t want to hurt Jaws’ elbow quarterback sneaking,” Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan said.

Ryan said he wasn’t totally happy with Philadelphia’s 3-5 record.

“We’d like to be undefeated,” he said. “We played a couple of pretty good games in there. We could have beat the Bears and we could have beat Dallas, and we could have shut out this bunch, too.”

Could have, and probably would have if it hadn’t been for Flick.

The Chargers may have no choice but to start Flick next week against Kansas City. And that may not be an altogether bad move.

Herrmann completed only 11 of 29 passes for 122 yards before being injured late in the game.

He was diagnosed as suffering from a mild concussion, which wasn’t expected to require hospitalization, but may knock him out of next week’s game. The Chargers don’t know if Fouts will be well, either, but Coach Don Coryell said he thinks there’s a chance.

Flick’s numbers weren’t much better than Herrmann’s--5 completions out of 16 attempts, 85 yards, 1 touchdown.

“We really thought we had a chance after we scored the touchdown,” Flick said.

In theory, the Chargers DID have a chance, trailing 16-7 with half the fourth quarter left.

Until that stage, the Eagles’ offense hadn’t been much more active than San Diego’s. Philadelphia had been limited to three Paul McFadden field goals and a 10-yard scoring pass from Jaworski to Mike Quick.

Flick came off the bench and threw the first touchdown pass of his career, a 20-yarder to Charlie Joiner, to save the Chargers the embarrassment of a shutout.

After Flick brought them within nine points, the Chargers stopped the Eagles on the next series.

The Chargers got the ball again with 5:09 to play, but Air Coryell reverted to form, and a Flick pass fell incomplete on fourth and 15 from the San Diego 35.

The Eagles negotiated that short distance with Keith Byars, whose afternoon consisted of 10 rushes for 0 net yards, scoring on a two-yard run.

Coryell summed up: “Our defense kept us in the game until the end, but we just couldn’t move the ball. We stopped ourselves with penalties, we dropped the ball, we didn’t make the catches. We had high hopes for this year, but just haven’t done the job.

“This is a very difficult time for us. It’s probably one of the most difficult seasons for me. Things have been getting more and more difficult. We have to start turning things around.”