Chargers Blow Off Visions of Draft Day

The Chargers have lost four consecutive football games. They have won only four of 14 all year long. And they have no incentive to win.

That last part, of course, is blasphemy. And it’s not really true.

But a Charger victory over the Chiefs today at Arrowhead Stadium will only damage their chances of picking high in the first round of next spring’s NFL draft.

Presently, the Chargers trail only Atlanta (3-11) and the Jets (4-10) in the race to gain the first pick in the first round--a player such as Alabama junior inside linebacker Keith McCants, who probably will file for the draft a year early after the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1, even though he is now saying he won’t.

Suggest to any Charger player or front office employee that the Chargers will help themselves with a loss, and they will tell you it is utter hogwash. Players are trained to play as well as they can, win if possible.

To be sure, the last thing on rookie quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver’s mind when he throws the first pass of his fourth NFL start today will be Keith McCants.

Maybe Tolliver will be thinking about the temperature. The wind-chill factor at game time will be near zero. Maybe Tolliver will be thinking about a Kansas City pass defense that ranks second in the league and limited Packer Sterling Sharpe, the NFL’s leading receiver, to one reception for five yards last Sunday in a 21-3 victory at Green Bay that raised the Chiefs’ record to 7-6-1.

Maybe Tolliver will be thinking about last Sunday’s 26-21 loss in Washington, during which he completed 24 of 39 passes for 350 yards and two touchdowns. It was the most productive day ever for a Charger rookie quarterback. And it was the third-most yards passing for a rookie quarterback in NFL history. Only Cowboy Troy Aikman (379 earlier this year) and Tampa Bay’s Vinny Testaverde (369 in 1987) have done better.

Chances are Tolliver will be thinking about making the right reads, the right decisions and about winning--something that is more important right now to the Chiefs, a team the Chargers defeated, 21-6, 12 weeks ago.

That 15-point margin of victory was the biggest of the year for the Chargers. The margin of defeat was the worst of the year for Kansas City, which has gone 5-2-1 since losing four of its first six games.

“The Chargers beat us solidly in the first game,” said Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer. One reason was that the Chargers rushed for 200 yards.

In that Charger victory Sept. 24, the defense intercepted five passes by Chief quarterback Steve DeBerg and prompted Schottenheimer to bench him in favor of the ancient Ron Jaworski.

DeBerg, 1-5 in career starts against the Chargers, subsequently regained his job and is playing with renewed confidence. In the past three weeks, DeBerg has completed 45 of 69 passes for 666 yards and five touchdowns. Opponents have intercepted just one of his passes during that period.

But he hasn’t forgotten the Charger defense that before last week had limited opponents to 20 points or fewer on 11 consecutive Sundays.

“They weren’t rattling me,” DeBerg said this week. “They were just knocking the hell out of me. It was our worst game of the year. Maybe they just match up well against us.”

And maybe the Chargers had more to play for at that point. “It’s hard to keep yourself mentally up when the games don’t mean anything,” DeBerg said when asked to talk about late-season games for teams dead in the playoff water.

For the Chiefs, this game means everything. They can’t catch Denver, which has clinched the AFC West. But if they beat the Chargers and the Dolphins next week in Miami, they will gain a wild-card playoff berth if either the Browns or the Raiders lose one of their remaining two games.

Linebacker Gary Plummer, the Chargers’ leading tackler, doesn’t think it is an accident that the Chargers have won five of six against DeBerg. And Plummer agrees that the Chargers match-up well against the Chief offense.

“I think we match up well against any offense in the league,” Plummer said. “It used to be we felt uncomfortable against certain offenses. I think we’ve pretty much gotten over that.”

And it shows. The Chargers rank a respectable 10th in the league in defense, eighth against the pass, and have allowed just 16 touchdowns in their past 12 games. Although they will miss the services of underrated cornerback Sam Seale, who was placed in injured reserve Saturday because of a hamstring problem, they have won their past four games against Kansas City.

For its part, Kansas City, led by rookie linebacker Derrick Thomas (10 sacks), ranks second in NFL defense. Thomas needs just three more sacks to break the NFL’s rookie sack record set by Charger Leslie O’Neal in 1986.

O’Neal is tied for second in the AFC sack race with 10.5. Charger defensive end Lee Williams (12) leads the conference in that category.

But before O’Neal and Williams can concentrate on embarrassing DeBerg again, they will probably have to prove they can stop Kansas City running back Christian Okoye, the NFL’s leading rusher. Okoye is 6-1, 260 pounds and was born in Enugu, Nigeria. His nickname is the “Nigerian Nightmare.”

The Chargers last eight losses have been by a total of 32 points. If they lose their last two games, first-year Coach Dan Henning’s 4-12 record will be the worst for any rookie Charger coach ever.

“Unlike Denver,” Schottenheimer says, “the rest of the teams in the AFC West are sawing wood.”

Extending Schottenheimer’s metaphor, the Chargers, particularly on special teams, are still playing as if they’re lost in the Petrified Forest.

Charger Notes

Besides moving Sam Seale to injured reserve, the Chargers released former Washington Redskins cornerback Johnny Thomas. They were replaced on the roster by developmental squad player Elliott Smith and free agent Michael Brooks, both defensive backs. Elvis Patterson will start today in place of Seale . . . Kansas City’s defense hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher or a 300-yard passer this year. . . . The Chiefs are making tentative plans to practice in Vero Beach, Fla., next week if they beat the Chargers. Kansas City plays in Miami next Sunday. . . . Kansas City quarterback Steve DeBerg on the benching of Charger quarterback Jim McMahon: “I have been through that situation more than once. You have to prepare yourself to be ready when the next chance comes around.” . . . The Chiefs have won three in a row. “But as I told the squad,” Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer said, “we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”