Chargers Play for Next Year : Chargers: After defeat by Redskins, Tolliver’s performance virtually ends McMahon’s future as a starting quarterback with the team.

The Redskins (8-6) did what they had to do Sunday, beating the Chargers, 26-21, Sunday to remain alive in the NFC wild card chase.

“Alive and breathing,” said Washington’s Joe Gibbs following his 100th NFL victory as a head coach.

And the Chargers (4-10) did what they had to do. For the third time this year Coach Dan Henning, a former Gibbs’ assistant in Washington, handed the ball to rookie quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver and played for next year.

The results were encouraging for the Chargers as long as you didn’t ask Tolliver, the red head with the rifle arm who has virtually ended high-priced, ill-tempered Jim McMahon’s future as a starter with the Chargers.

Tolliver completed 24 passes in 39 attempts for 350 yards and two touchdowns. He threw no interceptions and didn’t get sacked once.

“I don’t care if I complete 40 of 45 passes for 650 yards and 10 touchdowns,” Tolliver said afterward. “If we lose the football game, it’s all for nothing.”

Aside from Tolliver’s performance, the Chargers played pretty much the way they have all year. They blew a lead (14-0) for the eighth time in their 10 losses. They failed to score when they could have won or tied on their last possession for the ninth time in 10 weeks. And their special teams were miserable.

Their defense allowed more than 20 points for the first time in almost three months. But when rookie Marion Butts bounced an off tackle play outside for a 10-yard touchdown run--his ninth of the year--the Chargers led, 21-16, with 8:04 to play.

Butts, whose mother died early in the week, led all rushers with 72 yards on 22 carries despite having missed most of the week’s practice while attending the funeral in Georgia.

But Redskin Joe Howard returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the Charger 39. Only a touchdown-saving tackle by cornerback Elvis Patterson prevented a score.

Before Patterson had a chance to catch his breath, Redskin quarterback Mark Rypien (23 of 39 for 302 yards and two touchdowns) toasted him for a 33-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Clark that beat an all-out Charger blitz on fourth-and-four.

Patterson played the entire second half because starter Sam Seale injured a hamstring. “It was a bad play on my part,” Patterson said of Clark’s score. “But I don’t know too many people in the league who could stop that play.”

“It was a timing thing,” Rypien said.

And it regained the lead for Washington at 23-21.

More bad timing arrived for the Chargers moments later when Tolliver and rookie center Courtney Hall missed signals in noisy, chilly (36 degrees) RFK Stadium and fumbled the snap.

“I had a hard time hearing and I snapped it early,” Hall said, trying to take the blame.

“Regardless of who takes the blame, it always comes down, in my opinion, to being the quarterback’s fault,” Tolliver said, trying to take the blame.

“A quarterback-center exchange should be a (hand) pressure thing,” Henning said, trying to blame both equally.

Charles Mann recovered and the last of four Chip Lohmiller field goals, a 28-yarder, gave the Redskins a five-point lead with less than four minutes remaining.

Which meant the Chargers needed a touchdown, not a field goal to win. They had not scored four touchdowns in any game this year. And they still haven’t.

“You’d think after 99 wins a guy would at least give a guy a break,” Henning said referring to Gibbs’ milestone victory. “Just one little old break.”

Gibbs’ achievement wasn’t the only noteworthy one. Washington’s Art Monk caught nine passes for 81 yards and moved past former Redskin Charley Taylor into the No. 3 spot on the NFL’s all-time receiving list behind Seattle’s Steve Largent and Charger assistant Charlie Joiner.

Monk has now caught 651 passes. Monk’s teammates, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, grabbed seven and four passes respectively.

Sanders’ 45-yard reception after beating Gill Byrd on a crossing pattern came with only 15 seconds left in the first half and began the Redskin comeback.

“He just outran me to the corner of the end zone,” Byrd said. “When you go that far across the field you can’t expect help from the safety. That was a crucial touchdown for them.”

The Chargers had jumped out to a 14-point lead by scoring on their first two possessions--a 25 yard Tolliver pass to wide receiver Anthony Miller and a four-yard pass, in which Tolliver scrambled from the pocket, to free agent rookie Wayne Walker.

It was Walker, his former college teammate at Texas Tech, Tolliver was looking for on fourth-and-three from the Washington six with 83 seconds remaining.

But when Tolliver’s short bullet pass was high, it enabled Washington cornerback Martin Mayhew to force the ball from Walker’s hands. “I was not happy with the location,” Tolliver said. “If I throw the same ball and put it in Wayne’s chest, it’s all over. I just rushed it, I guess.”

Miller finished with eight catches for 157 yards. It was the fifth time this year he has caught passes for more than 100 yards. Walker, starting in place of Jamie Holland, caught seven passes for 105 yards.

But despite netting 427 yards on offense, their highest total of the year, the Chargers lost their fourth straight and must finish the season with Kansas City and Denver.

“I don’t want to say we’re getting used to this, but that’s what it seems like,” said Burt Grossman, the Chargers’ usually candid rookie defensive end.

“Same old story line,” said Byrd.

“It doesn’t seem like it changes week to week,” Hall said. “They’ve all been the same.”

The Charger defense entered the game ranked fifth in NFL sacks but didn’t get to Rypien once. Grossman said part of the reason was because Washington resurrected the old “dash” series with a moving pocket that made Joe Theismann so effective here in the early ‘80s.

The goods news for the Chargers? They now rank third behind only Atlanta (3-11) and the Jets (4-10) in the race to see what team gets the top pick in next spring’s NFL draft.

Charger Notes

Call the much-publicized punting duel between Charger Hank Ilesic and ex-Charger Ralf Mojsijenko a draw. Ilesic punted six times for a 35.6 average with a longest of 48. Mojsiejenko punted four times for a 36.5 average with a longest of 44. . . . The Chargers’ last nine losses have been by five, three, four, three, three, seven, one, six and seven points. . . . Sunday’s loss in Washington was the third time this year the Charger defense hasn’t gotten a sack. It was the second time the Charger offense hasn’t allowed one. . . . The Chargers lost despite totaling more first downs than the Redskins (21-20); outgaining them 427-389 yards; having a better third down conversion percentage (53.3% to 16.7%); committing fewer penalties (five for 25 yards to nine for 60 yards) and controlling the ball more (31:48 to 28:12). . . . The Washington defense, which had limited its last two opponents to a combined total of 68 yards rushing, gave up 77 to the Chargers.