Saunders Will Take Fall, but What Was Spanos Expecting?

Six weeks ago, the road ahead for the Chargers looked as interminable and bleak as a drive across Texas.

This was a team with a miserable present and mediocre future. Its saving grace was the expectation that it would continue its trip down the gory road to the worst record in the National Football League and a chance to pick No. 1 in the 1989 draft.

The coach, Al Saunders, was looking like a fellow who would be out of work early enough to get a job posing for GQ’s Christmas catalogue.

It was then that Alex Spanos, the owner, assured that Saunders was securely employed . . . until the end of the season. This was a vote of confidence with a lid on it.

Asked how many of the final six games he expected the Chargers might win, Spanos said: “All six of them.”

Huh? At the time, a six-game losing streak had dragged the Chargers down to 2-8. Spanos could construct a 34-story apartment building in 6 weeks before this football team would go 6-0 down the stretch.

Realizing, perhaps, how unrealistic such a statement was, Spanos quickly amended himself: “The important thing is to see improvement.”

If improvement were really what he wanted, he should be feeling fulfilled. Going into today’s season-finale against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chargers have won three of their past five games. Remarkably, should they win today, they could finish a mere two games out of first place in the AFC West.

So how does Al Saunders’ future look now?

Ahem.

Bleak.

Hark back to Alex Spanos’ initial reaction 6 weeks ago.

“All six of them,” he said.

What does this guy think he bought into? Fantasy football? Or the NFL?

Maybe Spanos’ really expected that this team could finish the season with six consecutive victories. If that was what it was going to take to save Saunders’ job, the coach could have put his house up for sale 6 weeks ago.

Indeed, it has been reported that it would take a miracle to save Saunders’ job. It would seem a miracle of equal magnitude would bring us 6 inches of snow on Christmas morning.

What we’re talking is a done deal and a done coach.

It is interesting that Al Saunders will be the fall guy when there is really no reason for anyone to have to take the fall.

The record, be it 5-11 or 6-10, is better than anyone possibly could have asked. I figured this as a 3-13 football team, one I really did not think would win a game until it faced Atlanta in Week 11.

How many football teams could, in the space of one off-season, lose a Hall of Fame quarterback and Pro Bowl-caliber players at tight end, linebacker and offensive tackle and not do a Greg Louganis into the depths of the standings? And this team was woefully undermanned before suffering such irreplaceable losses.

And one of those players, tackle Jim Lachey, was lost because of ineptitude at the organization’s highest level. It was Spanos who issued the mandate that the recalcitrant Lachey, who had asked to be traded, would be traded. This left Steve Ortmayer, the director of football operations, no leverage and resulted in a laughably one-sided deal with the Raiders.

Compounding the problem was the fact that the Chargers suffered such an assortment of injuries that they lost another veteran player, Eric Sievers, when they were trying to sneak him through waivers and off the injured reserve list to shore up the beleaguered varsity.

Saunders’ greatest sin, undoubtedly, was the incredibly stupid statement he made before the second game with those villainous Raiders. It had to do with the caliber of players on his roster compared with the caliber of players on the Raider roster.

“Who would you choose to go to war with if you had to feed your family?” he asked.

Unfortunately, he made it clear that the Raiders would be the guys who would keep his cupboard the most comfortably stocked.

But Saunders’ players did not quit on him in the aftermath of this gaffe. In fact, they have played their best football since. If Saunders wounded their pride or egos, he must have done something or said something to restore their loyalty.

It also has been reported that Saunders did not enjoy the warmest of relationships with Ortmayer, forgetting, perhaps, to send a Valentine and bring an occasional apple. In truth, Ortmayer and Saunders do different jobs, one acquiring players and the other coaching them. They do not need to mesh like a couple of stunting defensive linemen, or spend their off hours together on family picnics.

In terms of the public, there is no outcry for Saunders’ ouster. What’s more, Spanos need not heed the whims of moneyed boosters, as did San Diego State in the firing of Denny Stolz.

This is simply a case of an impatient owner who does not yet understand the time and continuity it takes to win in professional football. Spanos ordained Al Saunders to replace Don Coryell, and now he will be telling us he shot himself in the foot.

What the fans will get, then, is another year of transition, another period of adjustment to a new system.

A program seemingly headed in the right direction is about to be shifted once again into neutral.