Chargers : Sloppy Session Doesn’t Do Much for Henning

The Chargers had what may have been the worst practice of training camp Tuesday morning. And they heard about it immediately afterward from Coach Dan Henning, who raised his voice for one of the first times this summer.

“It was a sloppy practice,” he told reporters afterward. “I don’t think they were into it. I didn’t think their minds were in it. We had some mental lapses.”

Henning was mainly upset with the offense, which managed just three points in the exhibition opener Sunday, a 20-3 loss to Dallas.

“The defense played well (in practice),” Henning said. “I hope they’re that good. But offensively we’ve got to catch up to them.”

It doesn’t figure to get any easier Saturday night in Chicago, where the Chargers play the Bears, the best defense in the NFL over the past five years. Four days later, they face the defending NFL champion 49ers in San Francisco.

“The offense always has to set the tone,” Henning said. “But they lost it a little bit out here. You can’t allow that to happen. They can’t allow that to happen. They’ve got to push through the tough stuff so that they’ll have it when you need it.”

Henning said he knows how he will distribute the playing time to his quarterbacks against the Bears, but he wouldn’t announce it Tuesday. And he wouldn’t say when he would announce it, if at all.

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready to tell you,” he said. “And it will be after I tell them (the quarterbacks). That hasn’t taken place at all.”

Defensive end/linebacker Leslie O’Neal “got a little tired” in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys, Henning said.

O’Neal missed all of the 1987 season and much of last year because of the knee injury he sustained late in 1986. He still practices part-time and may never be the player he was before the injury. But his new designation as the “LIZ” man this year enables him to rush the passer from a three-point stance or a stand-up position.

“Leslie is in the position that, I think, is the most difficult in professional football, endurance-wise,” Henning said. “And that’s a pass rusher--a guy that has to be in there down after down. And they’ve got to condition themselves every down--first to think about rushing the passer and then to play the run. And that takes a great deal of stamina and endurance, a great deal. Even a wide receiver doesn’t have to have that kind of stamina.”

With many of the Chargers nursing injuries, and the team headed for two road games in four days, Henning already has begun tapering down practices.

“Keoki would choke me if I didn’t,” Henning said, referring to trainer Keoki Kamau.

Henning also will give the Chargers days off following the Bears and 49ers games.

“That only makes logical sense,” he said.

The Monday and Tuesday after the game against the Bears, the Chargers will only practice once each day.

Charger Notes

The Chargers will practice at UC San Diego Friday morning before boarding a plane that is scheduled to land in Chicago at 10 p.m. They play the Bears Saturday at 4 p.m. PDT. Ch. 10 will broadcast the game live. The announcers will be former Charger quarterback Dan Fouts and his father, Bob Fouts. . . . Starting free safety Vencie Glenn has a bruised calf. Backup cornerback Elvis Patterson re-pulled a muscle in his leg during the morning practice. Rookie center Courtney Hall, who has been nursing an ankle injury most of the month, re-injured it.