Bernstine Wants to Take His Lumps : Chargers: He has to prove he can stay in one piece.

The biggest play Charger running back Rod Bernstine made in a scrimmage the other day had nothing to do with running, catching or blocking. It was all about showing just how tough he really is. In the violent world of professional football, this is pretty important stuff.

He was knocked woozy by a Ram defender after catching a pass and slumped to the ground. But he quickly righted himself and left the field. One play later, he was back in the game.

“He was groggy,” Coach Dan Henning said. “There would have been no questions if he had taken himself out, because he was staggered. But he jumped back in, not only jumped back in, but did some things that make you believe he is trying to disprove popular perception.”

That perception is one Henning himself helped promote last August during training camp at UC San Diego when he questioned Bernstine’s determination to come back from knee surgery eight months earlier.

“Bernstine comes back when Bernstine wants to come back,” Henning said then, biting off each word. “As long as Bernstine feels like he’s not ready to go, then he won’t be coming back.”

Bernstine did return in time for the first game, but four weeks later, he sprained the same knee at Denver and missed the rest of the season. Again there came questions about his durability.

Bernstine says he remembered that as he struggled to reorient himself against the Rams.

“As I was turning around, a guy hit me right in the ear drum,” Bernstine said. “It threw off my sense of balance. I really didn’t know where I was at. The coach didn’t want me to go back in, but I did. I was eager to show I could take a hit and keep playing.”

Hard to imagine that anyone would question the toughness of a 25-year-old professional athlete who stands 6-feet-3, weighs 238 pounds and averaged a first down every time he touched the ball last season. But it happened, and it hurt.

“If a guy is hurt on and off for two years, he gets a knock like that,” Bernstine said. “I really don’t think anyone around here feels I’m not a strong person who doesn’t want to get on the field. But sometimes you have to say things to get a guy motivated.”

The Chargers tried that again after Bernstine sprained his knee last season. At first, the team said he would be out only for a week or two. Bernstine’s strong start added to the optimism.

But when he continued to complain of pain, arthroscopic surgery was ordered. Bernstine said a pin that had been placed in his knee during the first surgery had begun to come loose and had to be removed. Until then, Bernstine said, his complaints of pain were met with healthy skepticism.

“Pain doesn’t bother me, but how can you go out and play when you can’t run?” Bernstine said. “I couldn’t even run straight without a big, major limp. To go out and perform on the field would have just been stupid. I would have just hurt it worse.”

Despite some of his earlier, less-sympathetic comments, Henning said he does understand Bernstine’s plight and realizes now that Bernstine’s complaints may have been more genuine then he originally was given credit for.

“After Denver, there was a period of time when the doctors felt he had to give it a shot,” Henning said. “He didn’t feel like he was ready yet, and maybe as it turned out, he might have been righter than they were.”

Since he joined the Chargers in 1987 as a first-round draft pick out of Texas A&M;, Bernstine has been a topic of debate. Even his selection was controversial.

At the time, the Chargers were stocked with three experienced tight ends, including Kellen Winslow. Al Saunders did not want to take a tight end, but he was overruled by Steve Ortmayer, director of football operations.

Bernstine’s first summer with the Chargers began with usual first-rounder contract squabble--a 17-day holdout. That was followed by a hamstring injury that kept him on injured reserve for the first five games and was the beginning of his injury problems. He spent the rest of his first season playing behind Winslow and finished with 10 catches for 76 yards and one touchdown.

When Winslow retired before the 1988 season, Bernstine took over as the starting tight end. All went well until the 14th week when, in a game at Cincinnati, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. Surgery was followed by months of rehabilitation.

He reported to training camp last July but was unable to pass his physical. As Bernstine stood and watched the first month of camp, the questions about his toughness began to circulate. He was not cleared to practice until 2 1/2 weeks before the start of the season. But once it began, Bernstine made the wait worthwhile.

Switched to H-back and used frequently as a running back, Bernstine became the team’s most productive two-dimensional offensive threat. In five games, he caught 21 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 137 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, a 9.1-yard average.

But that all came to end when he sprained his knee against the Broncos.

Bernstine said it was not until a month or so ago that he began to feel he was at full strength again. After his productive running last season, he has been switched to full-time running back. That means more cuts and moves to test his knee.

“(The knee) is definitely in the back of my mind,” Bernstine said. “(In the scrimmage) and during the week of practice, I took a couple of good hits. But the leg feels fine.”

Little could be better news to the Chargers, or to Bernstine. His four-year contract expires at the end of the season, and he knows this is the time to prove he can be a productive and durable player.

“Staying healthy is the key for me,” Bernstine said. “When I am healthy, I can perform probably with the best of them. But to keep me on the field has been the big problem.”