Chargers Put a Roadblock on the Chiefs : Defense Intercepts Five; Bernstine Scores Twice
When the Kansas City Chiefs arrived at their San Diego hotel Saturday, 15 of their rooms were not ready. This was not a surprise.
The Chiefs do not travel well. The only thing they have in common with the road is accidents. Take a set of 3-week-old quintuplets away from home, and they will be more comfortable than the Chiefs in a strange town.
The Chargers know this to be happily true. Before Sunday, their defense had not taken the ball away once, and they had not won a game. Against the Chiefs, they intercepted five Steve DeBerg passes, rushed for 200 yards and improved to 1-2 with a 21-6 victory.
“When you sit at home and draw it up, this is the way you’d like it to take place,” said Dan Henning, the first-year Charger coach. “We took the ball away on defense, controlled it on offense, kicked the ball out of trouble when we had to and went away with a win. That’s exactly how it ought to be.”
For the Chiefs (1-2), it was exactly the way it has been for more than two years. They have lost eight consecutive games away from Arrowhead Stadium and 16 of their past 18 on the road. They are 3-24 in their past 27 AFC West road games.
Don’t look for either of these teams in the playoffs. But don’t look for Henning in the unemployment office just yet, either.
An embattled Henning finally witnessed the kind of defense he was told he had inherited when he took this job last February. And his running game, led by H-back Rod Bernstine, ran over and around a defense that entered the game ranked third in the league.
Bernstine, who spent the entire off-season recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Jim McMahon in the third period.
Late in the fourth, he raced 32 yards up the middle on a third-and-eight draw play for the score that put the Chargers out of reach. Before the play, Bernstine was discouraged when a Chief linebacker yelled the word “draw” as a warning.
It didn’t matter. Bernstine, shielded initially by 6-foot-7, 307-pound left tackle Joel Patten, broke several tackles en route to the end zone.
“I grabbed the back of Joel’s pants and pushed him right into one defender,” said Bernstine, who played fullback at Texas A&M; before converting to tight end.
Said Patten: “If anything helped on that block, it was my sheer size. They probably couldn’t see Rod behind me.”
Patten said he was especially pleased with Kansas City’s inability to stop the play even though they knew it was coming. Larry Beightol, the offensive line coach, had addressed that very subject before kickoff.
“He said that if we had to resort to trickery, we were reeling, going backwards,” Patten said.
“What we did today,” he added, “has been our potential all year.”
And they did it without starting left tackle Brett Miller, who underwent minor knee surgery Friday. James FitzPatrick replaced Miller and played well.
Bernstine led all Charger rushers with 73 yards in five carries. But rookie Marion Butts added 62 yards in 15 rushes, and Tim Spencer gained 57 in 13 tries, including a nine-yard touchdown in the first period set up by free safety Vencie Glenn’s interception. Glenn’s interception came after defensive back Elvis Patterson tipped the ball. It was the first of the year for the Chargers.
Spencer’s score was his first since 1986. “I almost forgot how to get into the end zone,” he said.
Spencer also was an integral part of the Chargers’ beleaguered special teams units that had their best game of the year. Former CFL punter Hank Ilesic, signed earlier this week, averaged 44.8 for five kicks, including a 60-yarder. This despite being made by the officials to alter his kicking shoe moments before the game.
Even the Charger kickoff coverage and kickoff return units, last in the league after two games, outplayed the Chiefs.
Before the game, Henning instructed the public address announcer to introduce the special teams unit that blocked a Houston punt last week. Usually the announcer introduces either the starting offense or defense.
“We are trying to get these people (special teams) to step up, be recognized and have some pride,” Henning said.
Earlier in the week, Glenn predicted that one Charger take-away would lead to a bunch more. He was right. Cornerback Gill Byrd added two interceptions. Strong safety Martin Bayless and nickel back Lester Lyles got one apiece. All of which helped offset a career-high 112 yards rushing by Christian Okoye, Kansas City’s 260-pound fullback.
“He (DeBerg) was watching the side where he was going to throw to,” Glenn said. “It seemed like he was telegraphing his passes.”
DeBerg said the Charger defensive alignment, which often included linebackers in a three-point stance, was more responsible. “It was basically a seven-man front,” DeBerg said.
And it included Cedric Figaro at inside linebacker in place of Jim Collins. Figaro weighs 17 pounds more than Collins. And, Henning said, “We wanted that extra heft against this team. Collins is more into reads. The two of them give is a good combination.”
Last week, the Chargers fumbled the ball away twice, and McMahon threw three interceptions for a minus-five turnover/take-away differential. Against the Chiefs, they were plus five. Kansas City’s only points came on Nick Lowery field goals of 23 and 31 yards in the first half.
The Charger defense allowed fewer than 300 yards for the first time this year. It added three sacks, including the first by rookie Burt Grossman, the team’s No. 1 draft choice.
McMahon completed 11 of 18 for 96 yards and one touchdown. More important, he threw no interceptions and was not sacked. “Two losses,” he said, “don’t necessarily knock us out of the playoffs.”
Perhaps defensive end Leslie O’Neal, who led the Chargers with 1 1/2 sacks, put it best when he said, “We played more like an experienced team today.”
For their part, the Chiefs couldn’t wait to get home.
Charger Notes
Before Sunday’s game Charger running back Gary Anderson told NBC’s Bob Costas, “If I can’t play with the Chargers, I’d like to play with someone else.” Anderson, an unsigned free agent, was the Chargers’ leading rusher and most valuable player last year. Moments after his remarks, Bobby Beathard, the former Washington general manager, told Costas: “The demands are ridiculous. Gary Anderson is simply not a million-dollar back.” Ralph Cindrich, Anderson’s agent, said earlier this week Anderson isn’t asking for that much. . . . Charger rookie Marion Butts, who entered the game tied for the NFL lead in touchdowns with four, carried three times for minus two yards in the first half. On his first two carries of the second half he broke off two 14-yard gains. . . . The Charger single-game record for interceptions is six. They have done that five different times. They intercepted five Sunday. The last time they did that was Sept. 20, 1981, at Kansas City. Kansas City quarterback Steve DeBerg, playing for Tampa Bay, threw seven interceptions against the 49ers on Sept. 7, 1986. . . . Gill Byrd’s 20 career interceptions rank him eighth on the all-time Charger list. . . . Linebacker Billy Ray Smith led the Charger defense in tackles (seven) for the first time since last Nov. 6. . . . Chiefs’ linebacker Derrick Thomas, who had five tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and one forced fumble last week against the Raiders, had three tackles and no sacks against the Chargers. . . . The Kansas City defense has allowed just nine receptions by opposing wide receivers in three games. Anthony Miller (two catches for 55 yards) was the only Charger wideout to catch a ball. . . . “Jim McMahon didn’t do anything that impressed me,” said Kansas City free safety Deron Cherry. Surely, the feeling was mutual. The fact that McMahon has never lost three consecutive starts in this, his eighth season, is impressive by anybody’s standards. . . . Sunday’s attendance was 40,128, a whopping increase of 115 people from last week’s home opener. The Chargers play in Phoenix and Denver before returning home again Oct. 15 to play Seattle.
SHOE BUSINESS
After a raging pregame controversy over one of his shoes, new Charger punter Hank Ilesic has big day in his NFL debut. Page 15A.