McMahon Says He’ll Still Be Same Person : He’ll Start Wednesday Against 49ers

New team, new city, new uniform, new coaches, new teammates, new plays.

Same Jim McMahon.

No. 9 arrived from Chicago late Saturday night after playing four downs against his former teammates in the third quarter of the Chargers’ 24-7 victory over the Bears.

At the start of his press conference Sunday, McMahon scanned the roomful of reporters, flashed a smile and said with a hint of sarcasm: “My new-found friends.”

McMahon has only been here one full day and Charger Coach Dan Henning already has named him the starting quarterback for Wednesday’s game against the 49ers in San Francisco.

McMahon says he was greeted warmly by the Chargers and likes the warm weather. It’s probably safe to say he won’t miss Decembers at Soldier Field any more than he’ll miss Mike Ditka.

McMahon learned of the trade early Friday. His wife, Nancy, answered the phone at 6 a.m. It was someone from a San Diego radio station wanting a comment about the trade. Figuring it was probably another rumor, McMahon told her to hang up. A few minutes later, his attorney called and told him he was a Charger, which allowed him to leave a team that he said he hadn’t felt comfortable with for a year and a half.

Now, everything around him is strange. He left Sunday’s press conference and was asked where he was going. He said: “I’m going back to my room, if I can find it.”

If Friday’s trade has suddenly made McMahon’s football career new and different, it hasn’t changed his personality.

“I don’t think I do anything out of the ordinary,” he said. “You people have a lot of imagination. I have fun at my job. (People) say, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be having fun in training camp.’

“Training camp is boring. It’s boring to me and it’s boring to most people that are involved in it. How many times can you go over a certain step when you turn around and hand the ball off? I can see it for rookies, but for guys that have been in the system a long time, it’s really ridiculous. So we try to have some fun, and I think that kind of upsets people.”

There won’t be much time for fun in training camp this year. McMahon spent four hours Sunday watching films and going over plays with Ted Tollner, Charger quarterback coach. He kept his sense of humor about it, too. Coming out of the meeting, he saw Henning driving his golf cart. McMahon had skipped an invitation to play golf so he could meet with Tollner. He said to Henning: “I could be making the turn right now.”

Henning doesn’t expect to have personality conflicts with McMahon.

“I’m going to deal with him straight up and I expect him to deal with me straight up,” Henning said. “Sometimes he says what other people would like to say. In that respect, he’s a lot like Mike Ditka. I like Mike Ditka. I like Jim McMahon.”

Henning said McMahon will be his starter for the first regular-season game Sept. 10 if he is able to overcome the difficulties of joining a new team midway through training camp. “Jim has the experience in the league,” Henning said. “But he’s going to have to fight to be prepared.”

Said McMahon: “I don’t consider myself to be a savior. I consider myself to be a good football player. I only know one way to (play) and that’s all out on every play.”

So he isn’t planning to slide underneath any tackles. That’s never been his style.

“When you’re running the football, you’re going to get hit regardless,” he said. “I’d rather be on my feet when I get hit.”

Charger Notes

Charger Coach Dan Henning said Jim McMahon’s injury problems have been greatly distorted and that he has been determined to be physically fit after his first physical examination with the Chargers. McMahon had minor surgery for a right knee sprain at the conclusion of last season and had reconstructive shoulder surgery in 1986. “I don’t have any concerns,” McMahon said. “I can throw the ball just as well as I did probably before. I might have lost a little bit of zip, but I can throw it probably just as far.”