Winless Chargers Search for Answers : Chiefs Worried They’ll Become the First Victim
Steve Ortmayer, the Charger director of football operations, was asked last week if he had anything to say about his team’s 0-2 start.
“Not particularly,” Ortmayer said. “Not that I want to talk about.”
Positively chatty compared to what Ortmayer will say if the Chargers lose to Kansas City (1-1) at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium today.
The last time the Chargers lost their first three games was 1975. They finished 2-12 that year. The last time Charger quarterback Jim McMahon lost three consecutive regular-season starts was never.
“I’m not happy about playing the Chargers at 0-2,” said first-year Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer. “The thing about our business is that when people get backed into a corner, they tend to reach for new heights. And frankly, I’m concerned about the Chargers.”
The Chargers reached dizzying heights last week against the Oilers, who ran and shot their way to a 34-27 victory. Dizzying, as in lost balance.
The week before, the Charger defense allowed 40 points against the Raiders and lost by 26. That’s the same Raider team Kansas City beat, 24-19, last Sunday.
The Chiefs feature a 35-year-old quarterback named Steve DeBerg, whom former 49er Coach Bill Walsh once described as being “just good enough to get you beat.”
Walsh’s remark was not meant as a compliment. But Charger Coach Dan Henning insists there’s more to DeBerg than met Walsh’s discerning eye. When DeBerg was playing for Tampa Bay, Henning tried to bring him to Atlanta, where he was coaching at the time. DeBerg also has played for San Francisco and Denver. His backup, former Eagle Ron Jaworski, is 38. Between them they have 27 years of NFL experience.
“There are very few things between them they haven’t seen,” Schottenheimer says. “Maybe nothing.”
Kansas City has allowed fewer yards than every team but Cleveland and Minnesota. And the Chiefs’ best player might be their youngest--rookie Derrick Thomas, the fourth player selected in last spring’s NFL draft.
Thomas, a younger version of Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor, at 6-3 and 234 pounds single-handedly stopped the Raiders in the fourth period last week, sacking quarterback Jay Schroeder on their last two plays.
Thomas will take on running backs, tight ends and offensive linemen. It doesn’t seem to matter. Typically, he lines up on the right outside. But, like Taylor, an offense can never be sure from where he will come. Henning says he hopes to control Thomas’ starting point by motion or formation. But he says there are no guarantees.
If Kansas City sends Thomas from the left side, he could be matched against James FitzPatrick. FitzPatrick will probably start in place of regular right tackle Brett Miller, who had a surgical screw removed from his knee Friday afternoon.
FitzPatrick, a first-round draft choice in 1986, hasn’t started since 1987 and hasn’t played a down in the Chargers’ two losses.
Nervous?
“I’ve never played in a game where I wasn’t nervous,” FitzPatrick says. “If some guy’s lined up across from you and he’s trying to tear the quarterback’s head off, you better be nervous and have some sense of urgency about what you’re doing.”
But urgency is hard to define in the stalled negotiations between the Chargers and running back Gary Anderson. Anderson was the Charger most valuable player in 1988 and averaged 174 yards rushing in two victories over the Chiefs last year.
Henning still hasn’t settled on a replacement for Anderson. His leading rusher last week was former tight end Rod Bernstine, with 24 yards. His three running backs--Victor Floyd, Marion Butts and Tim Spencer--combined for 24 yards on 13 carries. Rookie Butts, at least, is tied for the NFL lead with four touchdowns.
Henning has settled, for now, on a punter. He is Hank Ilesic, who punted in the Canadian Football League this year. Ilesic replaces Lewis Colbert, who ranked last in the AFC with a woeful 27.9 net average.
For its part, the Chief rushing game, ranked 22d in the league last year, has revived itself. Led by 260-pound fullback Christian Okoye, the Chiefs rushed for 152 yards against the Raiders.
“I think it’s important to get a lot of guys to the ball against a big back like Okoye,” says Jim Collins, the Charger right inside linebacker.
The Charger defense, exploited last week by Houston’s four-wide receiver offense, might have less trouble with the Chiefs’ attack. Kansas City’s basic long-yardage package calls for three wide receivers, a tight end and a running back. “Though they may line up in similar formations to what Houston did,” says Charger outside linebacker Billy Ray Smith.
The Charger defense failed to sack Houston quarterback Warren Moon. That prompted Charger owner Alex Spanos to criticize the “three-man prevent” defense employed by defensive coordinator Ron Lynn. Lynn said Spanos was probably right.
Small wonder Ortmayer has little to say right now.
Charger notes
It has been more than three weeks since rookie quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver broke his left collarbone against Phoenix in the final exhibition game. Tolliver, eligible to come off injured reserve after the Oct. 15 game against Seattle, said he hopes to start throwing by the middle of next week. “I’d like to have started this past week,” Tolliver said. But Charger officials have limited his exercise to riding a stationary bicycle. . . . Charger Coach Dan Henning says the onside kick call that went against his team late last Sunday wasn’t the only bad decision made by officials. According to Henning, his team benefited from a separate horrible call. “When they (Houston) got that punt blocked, that should have been a safety,” he said. “That’s ridiculous, that call. It shouldn’t have been out on the one-yard line. It wasn’t even close.” But the officials gave the ball to the Chargers on the Oiler one after Elvis Patterson blocked a Greg Montgomery punt. And Charger rookie Marion Butts scored one play later.