Henning Says He’ll Stick With Tolliver : Chargers: Despite quarterback’s shaky start and public pressure, the Chargers’ head coach plans no changes.

Blind faith, or the blindfold, please, for Dan Henning.

As the trials and tribulations of Billy Joe Tolliver mount, so does the pressure on the Chargers’ head coach.

The Chargers are 8-15 overall under Henning’s direction, and a disappointing 2-5 this season after Sunday’s 24-9 loss to the Raiders.

But despite this year’s chilling start, Henning said he will continue to stake his future on Tolliver, who has floundered so far as the team’s starting quarterback.

Amid growing public sentiment to hand the ball to Mark Vlasic, Henning said Monday, “There’s no change contemplated at the quarterback position.”

The decision to stay with Tolliver can be attributed to Henning’s faith in the young quarterback, his lack of confidence in Vlasic, or another case of Henning stubbornness. To each their own, Henning said, “if we take the opinion we should change him, we should change everybody.

“Billy’s a part of it, but sometimes it’s protection, sometimes it’s catching the ball, sometimes it’s running the right routes,” Henning said. “So who do you change? Our judgment has to be down the road, five or six games or next year. Who are the best people to get better with?”

Tolliver, who ranks 13th among AFC quarterbacks, missed two possible scoring passes to Anthony Miller Sunday, and was booed as he walked off the field. He is the only AFC starting quarterback to complete fewer than 50% of his passes (49.4), and in his last four games, he has thrown three touchdown passes and has had five passes intercepted.

In Tolliver’s 11 career starts for the Chargers, the second-year quarterback has compiled a 4-7 record.

“If you have young quarterbacks, you have to make a declaration to get one ready to play or find out over a period of time if he’s capable of playing,” Henning said. “At this point in time we think Billy will improve and we will have a young quarterback with experience at that time when the whole team is better.”

Will Henning, however, still be here as head coach when that time comes?

“I know it’s tough on him (Henning),” Tolliver said. “The man calls the shots, he calls the shots like he believes them, and it’s our job to make them work. Hopefully, I can (take) some of that pressure off him starting this week.”

Vlasic opened the season as the starting quarterback, but was relieved in the fourth quarter by Tolliver. He has become a favorite of the fans, who have appreciated his spirited comeback from knee surgery.

Henning was asked at his weekly press briefing why Vlasic was not afforded the same degree of support as Tolliver?

“I think he was,” Henning said. “Your indication is that I don’t support him as well as I do Billy, and I think I do. So we have a matter of opinion here, don’t we?”

Quarterbacks coach Ted Tollner said after Sunday’s game that the team might be better served by considering a change in quarterbacks, but the suggestion apparently fell flat on Henning.

Asked if a change in quarterbacks might spark his team, Henning said, “I gave it some thought, yeah. But as I stated, we’re not contemplating a change this week.”

Henning, however, privately advised his coaching staff on Monday that the decision to stay with Tolliver has now become a week-to-week consideration. And rookie quarterback John Friesz may also begin to earn some additional practice time this week.

“You gotta keep plugging,” Tolliver said. “I’m trying to get better and play like a guy who has been in the league for a while.

“But I should be taking the heat for it. I get the good press when it’s going good, so I should be getting the bad when it’s going bad. Look around the league, the teams that are playing good, their quarterbacks are playing good.”

The agonizingly slow development of Tolliver, however, has done nothing to endear Henning to the fans of San Diego.

“Standing by my car to get in the game Sunday, the only thing yelled at me was, ‘hey, you guys got to play the other guy,”’ General Manager Bobby Beathard said. “That’s the issue and the heat goes to him. Dan knows that.”

Although it’s being assumed by some that Henning will be unable to survive a struggling Tolliver and a poor record, Beathard said Henning will be in no jeopardy of losing his job at season’s end.

“I think there is a level of comfort he has now that he didn’t have last year,” Beathard said. “I told him we’re going to make changes and we might get worse before we get better.”

But Henning has decided to not change quarterbacks . . .

“I understand it goes against the public outcry,” Beathard said, “but Dan and his people work closer with the quarterbacks than anybody. It remains to be seen how Billy does, but I certainly don’t think it’s right to go against the head coach’s feeling.

“If he feels that Billy has the chance to do that, that would override any feeling that I have right now. I’m not saying I disagree with him, but I think he deserves that chance to be right in this situation.”

While Henning hangs tough with Tolliver, it’s becoming obvious there is no longer an endless supply of patience.

“Sure, everybody is afraid of losing their job . . . if I go out and give everything I had and get benched, then I’m just not good enough at this stage,” Tolliver said. “But you gotta keep going, and I can I guarantee you this, I will have the last laugh.”