CHARGERS ’90 : OVERVIEW : Winning Team? <i> That</i> Would Be Entertainment

How bland can this get?

When’s the colorful stuff going to start up again?

Where the heck is Jim McMahon? In Philadelphia? You mean no sunglasses in the Charger locker room, no nose-blowing on the nearest shirt sleeve?

Dullsville.

And what happened to Joe Madden? Gone? His traveling special teams circus helped put a comical twist on a season full of losses. Even their most efficient days were funnier than “The Honeymooners.” Hands down.

All there has been in the laughs department is defensive end Burt Grossman, and even he decided to pull the plug on his active set of vocal chords this week and concentrate on football. About the strangest thing that happened at training camp was when Bobby Beathard, the Charger general manager, departed one afternoon with a surfboard under his arm.

So can we expect that this year’s version of the Chargers will entertain in a slightly more conventional fashion, by providing, maybe, a quality product on the field? Are there more victories to be found, perhaps? Dare we think about the playoffs?

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t compete to be in the playoffs,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “I think we’re certainly not a team that would be devoid of that ability.”

That isn’t to say there aren’t questions. It’s hard to tell if the Chargers of 1990 are the ones who stood jaw to jaw with the 49ers two weeks ago or the ones who were trampled by the Raiders last weekend.

In the 49er game, a 29-28 Charger victory, there was evidence this team has a sturdy backbone. On one play in the third quarter, the 49er bench cleared, and players rushed to the aid of Joe Montana, who was involved in an altercation with outside linebacker Leslie O’Neal. Seconds later, the Chargers’ bench also cleared.

After the dust settled, the Chargers stopped the 49er offense on a Joe Fuller interception and went on to victory.

“That was a game that really made me hyped,” running back Marion Butts said. “To see one guy in trouble and the other guys come to his rescue. That was real nice as a team.

“San Francisco charged our boys. If we had backed down, then we probably would have lost the game. That’s like anything you do, if you’re a coward or you back down from people, they’ll take advantage of that.”

A week later, the Raiders took advantage of the Chargers’ complacency and squashed them, 34-7, at the Coliseum. The offensive line was a sieve. So was the defense. Two days later, the Chargers unloaded their starting and backup left guards, Dennis McKnight and Larry Williams, and turned to youth and the future.

We will see an indication of how soon the future will arrive Sunday when the Chargers play their regular-season opener at Dallas. The Chargers finished 6-10, which wasn’t surprising. It was a season of uncertainty. Henning brought in a new system and new players, and the new players never completely got a handle on the new system.

There was also tension. Steve Ortmayer, the director of football operations, was well aware of the presence of Beathard, then an NFL analyst for NBC, a few miles north of San Diego. There was the ongoing soap opera with McMahon, the dearth of touchdowns. It was quite a season. A bad one.

“We had a lot of new faces,” Butts said. “This year we have a year behind us. It’s time for the Chargers to come out of the darkness and shine the light.”

A season of bright light or dark shadows will depend at least partly on the following:

THE LINE: DON’T TAKE OFFENSE

Who was the winner in the quarterback race, Mark Vlasic or Billy Joe Tolliver? Vlasic was named the starter, which means he will have to stand behind an offensive line that has four players who have never started a regular-season game at their current position.

In Monday’s shakeup, Courtney Hall, last year’s center, was moved to left guard. Henning said he is the best athlete on the offensive line, but it remains to be seen whether he can adjust to this position quickly. Center Frank Cornish is a rookie, left tackle Eric Floyd has never started a regular-season game, and right tackle Broderick Thompson played guard last season.

If the line folds, so does the offense. If the line holds, the Chargers might be in good shape.

QUARTERBACKS: PASS OR FAIL

Reliability at this position departed when Dan Fouts did. Vlasic and Tolliver have a total of seven regular-season NFL starts.

During the exhibition season, Vlasic demonstrated nice touch, but, by his own admission, he isn’t “Mr. Mobility.” That may be a problem. With the inexperienced line, quick feet should be a prerequisite.

Tolliver isn’t exactly fleet-footed either. His strong arm may make him more attractive as a starter against certain teams, and Henning says he won’t rule out the possibility of switching back and forth.

One concern. Rookie quarterback John Friesz is on injured reserve for four weeks with a sore shoulder. If anything happens to Tolliver and Vlasic, the Charger quarterback is punter John Kidd, who was a backup in college. Not any old college, either, but Northwestern, which wins at least one game every other season.

EARLY OR LATE?

Wide receiver Anthony Miller is beginning to approach the Jerry Rice level. Miller wrenched the ball from the hands of free safety Ronnie Lott on one reception against the 49ers, and he has demonstrated an ability to beat double-coverage and adjust to off-the-mark passes.

Offensive production will depend largely on how quickly third-year receiver Quinn Early develops. Last season, Miller caught 75 passes for 1,252 yards. Early caught 11 for 126.

During the exhibition season, Miller caught 23 passes. The rest of the Charger receivers caught 19. Teams will likely figure out ways to shut Miller down if somebody else doesn’t make his presence felt.

THE CIRCUS ACT IS GONE

Perhaps the most noticeable difference between this year’s team and last year’s is the play of the special teams.

In taking over for Madden, Larry Pasquale, an assistant for the New York Jets the previous 10 seasons, has brought cohesiveness to this year’s group. No longer are punts bouncing off helmets and players running around as if they’re practicing band formations.

The special teams even won an exhibition game. Wide receiver Nate Lewis returned a kickoff 87 yards for the winning touchdown against the Rams three weeks ago.

60 MINUTES

Good as the Charger defense was last season--it held opponents to a 14.9-point average in the final 14 games--it was prone to giving up big drives in the final minutes.

“We got into critical situations and we let ourselves down because we didn’t know how each other played,” said O’Neal, a Pro Bowl alternate last season. “This year, we’ve been together, so naturally you’re going to get better. We’ve just got to continue to work.”

The front seven borders on outstanding. Left end Lee Williams was a Pro Bowl starter last season. Right end Burt Grossman may soon be in the Pro Bowl. Nose tackle Joe Phillips, a two-year starter, has great strength and is an accomplished pass rusher.

If rookie Junior Seau develops and doesn’t get booted out of any more games, and linebackers Billy Ray Smith and Gary Plummer remain steady, this could be one of the league’s top defenses.

The biggest concern is depth. An injury at either cornerback would force the Chargers to start rookie Donald Frank or Fuller.

CHARGER ROSTER

NFL No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Exp. 7 Fuad Reveiz K 5-11 216 02/24/63 5 10 John Kidd P 6-3 208 08/22/61 7 11 Billy Joe Tolliver QB 6-1 218 02/07/66 2 13 Mark Vlasic QB 6-3 206 10/25/63 3 22 Gill Byrd CB 5-11 198 02/20/61 8 23 Anthony Shelton DB 6-1 195 9/14/67 R 24 Lester Lyles SS 6-3 220 12/27/62 6 25 Vencie Glenn FS 6-0 192 10/26/64 5 27 Donald Frank CB 6-0 200 10/24/65 R 29 Joe Fuller CB 5-11 180 09/25/64 1 30 Sam Seale CB 5-9 185 08/12/64 2 31 Craig McEwen HB 6-1 220 12/16/65 4 33 Ronnie Harmon RB 5-11 200 05/07/64 5 35 Marion Butts RB 6-1 248 08/01/66 2 44 Martin Bayless SS 6-2 212 10/11/62 7 46 Joe Caravello HB 6-3 262 06/06/63 4 47 Jerry Mays RB 5-7 176 12/08/67 R 50 Gary Plummer ILB 6-2 240 01/26/60 5 51 Cedric Figaro ILB 6-2 250 08/17/66 3 52 Jeff Mills OLB 6-3 1/2 241 11/07/65 R 53 Courtney Hall C 6-1 1/2 269 08/26/68 2 54 Billy Ray Smith OLB 6-3t 236 08/10/61 6 55 Junior Seau LB 6-3 243 01/19/69 R 57 Henry Rolling ILB 6-2 225 09/08/65 3 61 Eric Floyd T 6-5 300 10/28/65 1 63 Frank Cornish C-G 6-4 295 09/24/67 R 64 Mark Rodenhauser C 6-5 263 06/01/61 3 65 David Richards G-T 6-4 1/2 310 04/11/66 3 67 Leo Goeas T 6-4 285 08/15/66 R 69 Les Miller NT 6-7 293 03/1/65 4 70 Mike Zandofsky G 6-2 285 11/30/65 2 73 Tom Toth G 6-5 282 05/23/62 5 75 Joe Phillips NT 6-5 275 07/15/63 5 76 Broderick Thompson G-T 6-4 1/2 295 08/14/60 6 81 Nate Lewis WR 5-11 189 10/19/66 R 82 Rod Bernstine RB 6-3 238 02/08/65 4 83 Anthony Miller WR 5-11 185 04/15/65 3 84 Walter Wilson WR 5-10 185 10/6/66 R 87 Quinn Early WR 6-0 190 04/13/65 3 88 Arthur Cox TE 6-2 277 02/05/61 8 89 Derrick Walker TE 6-0 1/2 244 06/23/67 R 90 Richard Brown ILB 6-3 240 09/21/65 3 91 Leslie O’Neal OLB 6-4 259 05/07/64 4 92 Burt Grossman DE 6-6 270 04/10/67 2 97 George Hinkle DE 6-5 269 03/17/65 3 98 Gerald Robinson DE 6-3 262 05/04/63 3 99 Lee Williams DE 6-5 1/2 271 10/15/62 7

No. College 7 Tennessee 10 Northwestern 11 Texas Tech 13 Iowa 22 San Jose State 23 Tennessee State 24 Virginia 25 Indiana State 27 Winston-Salem State 29 Northern Iowa 30 Western State, Colo. 31 Utah 33 Iowa 35 Florida State 44 Bowling Green 46 Tulane 47 Georgia Tech 50 California 51 Notre Dame 52 Nebraska 53 Rice 54 Arkansas 55 USC 57 Nevada-Reno 61 Auburn 63 UCLA 64 Illinois State 65 UCLA 67 Hawaii 69 Ft. Hayes State, Kan. 70 Washington 73 Western Michigan 75 Southern Methodist 76 Kansas 81 Oregon Tech 82 Texas A&M; 83 Tennessee 84 East Carolina 87 Iowa 88 Texas Southern 89 Michigan 90 San Diego State 91 Oklahoma State 92 Pittsburgh 97 Arizona 98 Auburn 99 Bethune-Cookman