Chargers Following the Leader : Football: They have won just two of Jim McMahon’s five starts at quarterback, but he has brought leadership and maturity to the team’s key position.
It has been almost two months now since Jim McMahon became a Charger. Time enough for his new coaches and teammates, many of whom were awed by his arrival, to peek between their fingers and assess the impact of his crash landing into their consciousnesses.
The Chargers have won two of McMahon’s five starts. If they hadn’t self-destructed against the Broncos Sunday, they would be 3-2. McMahon contributed to their 16-10 demise at Mile High Stadium by throwing an interception on the Chargers’ last possession. After the game, he blamed himself for making a “bad read.”
But it was only his fourth interception in 123 attempts this year. That’s a percentage of 3.3, below his career level of 3.7. Which means he is doing what the Chargers want him to do. “Keeping the car on the road,” is the way Steve Ortmayer, the team’s director of football operations, likes to put it.
If McMahon starts the next five games, it will mark the first time in eight NFL seasons he has started 10 in a row in one year. It is the Chargers’ fervent hope he will be able to do that, too.
In seven seasons with Chicago, McMahon’s quarterback rating was 80.4. With the Chargers, it is 76.6. Not bad for a guy still learning a new offense and new teammates. It would be even higher, says Ted Tollner, the quarterbacks coach, if McMahon’s reads were quicker and his throws more accurate. But Tollner, the former USC head coach, is certain that improvement will come.
“Jim’s not making as many big plays right now as he would like to make,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “But we’re all struggling with that right now.”
Says Tollner: “I know Jim is capable of playing better both mentally and physically. If I use that as criteria, Jim’s not where we want him yet. I think he’d be the first to admit that.”
There is little reason to doubt Tollner. To anybody who watched McMahon play seven seasons with the Bears, the question was never, “How well will McMahon adjust to San Diego?”
It was always: ‘How well will San Diego adjust to McMahon?’ The early returns are beginning to filter in.
“Just like everybody else, the players here had this PR image of Jim McMahon,” says James FitzPatrick, a Charger offensive lineman. “And to some extent, Jim McMahon really is that way. He is crazy. But the thing I’m amazed at is he’s a real professional. He’s not going to throw a bad pick (interception). He’s not going to throw the ball up for grabs. That’s crucial for us at this stage.”
“He gives us maturity,” FitzPatrick adds. “And that’s not his image.”
When Denver’s David Treadwell kicked a 27-yard field goal seven minutes 19 seconds into the final period Sunday, the Broncos pulled to within one point. The Chargers got the ball back at their own 27.
McMahon’s message in the huddle, according to guard David Richards, was this: “Seven more points, and we put them away. Seven more points, and we win.”
Unfortunately for the Chargers, a Joel Patten holding penalty nullified a 19-yard McMahon completion to Jamie Holland. Three plays later, Patten committed an illegal procedure penalty. Two players later, the Chargers had to punt. Earlier in the period, Charger running back Tim Spencer lost a fumble, leading to Treadwell’s 27-yarder.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” Richards said.
But it wasn’t McMahon’s fault. “He’s been in that situation before,” Richards says. “He has the sense of urgency and the knowledge what to do. It’s almost like we’re a defense at that point--keeping their offense off the field.”
Last year, the Charger offense had more of a sense of emergency than urgency. “We were lacking leadership,” FitzPatrick says. “There was no solid base at the control center.”
McMahon’s critics in Chicago said the Bears’ defense took the pressure off McMahon. He was out of control, they said. When the Bears beat New England, 46-10, in Super Bowl XX, a panel of experts voted the most valuable player award to defensive end Richard Dent even though McMahon had rushed for two touchdowns. It was a slight that irritated both McMahon and Chicago Coach Mike Ditka.
“Off the field, McMahon wears those sunglasses, and he goes crazing around,” FitzPatrick says. “But on the field, he’s very businesslike.”
McMahon even carries a briefcase to the locker room. But upon closer inspection you will find the main purpose of it is for the conveyance of the sandwiches his wife, Nancy, makes for his lunch.
Reporters who approach McMahon in the locker room, more often than not, are greeted by a belch or a grunt. Occasionally, he even verbalizes his hostility. Sometimes he tells them, in explicit language, that he has to go to the bathroom. Sometimes he actually answers their questions.
At best, he is unpredictable. At worst, he is rude, crude and lewd. But the personality strain that makes him that way is first cousin to the arrogance and fearlessness that engenders so much respect from his teammates.
Kicker Chris Bahr says McMahon would have made a perfect Raider. Not a Los Angeles Raider. Not a Mike Shanahan Raider. But an Oakland Raider.
“When it was time to work, they worked,” says Bahr, himself a Raider from 1980-88. “And when it was time to play, they played. There were two rules: One, play on Sunday. Two, stay out of jail. And the second one wasn’t that important.”
In Chicago, some of his coaches and teammates didn’t think McMahon studied enough film during the week. McMahon’s said he didn’t get that much out of film sessions. He said the views he got on the field and the perspectives provided by film--shot from atop press boxes--were too different to do much good.
“My comfort zone is, ‘does the quarterback understand what the opponent will do that week?’ ” Tollner says. “Some quarterbacks will take film home every night. And some will take home just a little bit. Jim is at the latter end of the scale.”
But Tollner says there is enough mandatory film study during the day that he doesn’t worry about McMahon’s grasp of the next defense the Chargers will face. “And I’m comfortable with that,” Tollner says. “Sometimes quarterbacks can use film as a crutch.”
McMahon would rather trust his instincts. But in a new offense, those instincts aren’t yet as sharp as McMahon would like them to be. That’s why Tollner says McMahon needs to better the quickness of his reads. The throwing accuracy problem, Tollner says, probably comes from the fact that McMahon missed the last seven games of 1988 with a knee injury. When he came back this summer, McMahon had to share practice time with Bear quarterbacks Mike Tomczak and Jim Harbaugh.
It wasn’t until the Aug. 18 trade that McMahon, never a classic passing stylist, began getting the amount of practice repetitions needed to start honing his mechanics. Tollner says that improvement is still sorting itself out.
In the meantime, the discovery process between McMahon and his teammates continues. “The newspapers showed he was a very arrogant individual, and he didn’t give anybody respect,” says rookie running back Marion Butts. “But once I met him, he was down to earth. I’m glad we have him.
Butts, utility back Dana Brinson and defensive end Burt Grossman are the Chargers’ three rookie Killer Bs--Butts, Brinson and Burt. And, until quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver’s left shoulder heals, they are the personality of the Chargers’ rookie class. Rookie center Courtney Hall is a starter but quieter than the other three.
“Jim McMahon hasn’t changed any from the way I perceived him reading about him,” Grossman says. “If you don’t really know him, that (the image) is pretty much the way he turns out. . . . or worse, actually. Which is better for his character.”
Grossman and McMahon have a bet this week, the terms of which Grossman will not divulge. It has to do with Sunday’s game against the Seahawks. If Grossman wins, he says McMahon will owe him a gold watch. If McMahon wins, Grossman says he will lose nothing.
Hard to believe there’s not a catch in the wager built in by McMahon to protect himself. But the point is, McMahon’s sphere of influence is already extending beyond his own unit.
“Jim has some rapport with the defense, too” Henning says. “Because that’s the way he operates.”
Says Marion Butts, “Jim McMahon is cool.”
Charger Notes
As expected, Charger owner Alex Spanos met Thursday with Steve Ortmayer, the team’s director of football operations, to discuss their options with drug-troubled linebacker Chip Banks. Ortmayer reported no news out of the meeting other than the fact that Spanos’ position on Banks has not changed. Spanos has said publicly Banks will never play for the Chargers again. “There is no ‘latest’ on Banks,” Ortmayer said. . . . Ortmayer also said the team’s position on unsigned running back Gary Anderson has not changed. “I’m not trading Gary Anderson,” Ortmayer said. The trade deadline is next Tuesday at 1 p.m. local time. . . . Charger H-back Rod Bernstine remains in Bryan, Tex. for his stepfather’s funeral. Henning isn’t sure when Bernstine will return to San Diego. But in one sense, it doesn’t matter. Bernstine strained ligaments in his knee last Sunday and wasn’t expected to play against the Seahawks this week anyway. . . . Charger Coach Dan Henning said he “spoke at length” with injured cornerback Sam Seale (shoulder). He said he expects Seale to start.