Grossman: ‘We’re Not Very Good’ : Chargers: Defensive end acknowledges drop in his productivity, offers a reason.

Burt Grossman, who was late summer’s “Big Mouth,” turned into autumn’s “Big Chill.”

But now that the Chargers’ 6-8 season engulfs him in unfilled expectations and upheaval, he answers the call.

“What’s wrong with the Chargers?” Grossman said. “That’s simple: We’re just not good enough. I mean what’s the big mystery? We’re not very good.”

Early in the season, when Grossman’s penchant for colorful commentary earned him cover-boy treatment in Sports Illustrated, all was well in “The World According to Burt.” Ah, but the world turns.

In the past few months, the Chargers have disappointed, and Grossman has all but disappeared. He was the team leader in sacks, but he said this week his season went south when he was bounced from right to left defensive end on the whim of teammate Leslie O’Neal.

It was O’Neal who last week supplanted Grossman as the player most likely to pop off when O’Neal took on the club’s promotions department and teammate Billy Ray Smith.

And as Grossman looks ahead, he predicted the team will try to trade either O’Neal, Lee Williams or himself.

“Who do I think is the odd man out?” Grossman said. “I thought it was me. It could have been Lee, but now that he’s gone on a talking binge, it’s obviously going to be Leslie.

“We’re all defensive ends, and there are only two spots. Why overstock one position when you can get something else for another weaker position? I think they have to get rid of somebody.”

General Manager Bobby Beathard said no one is going anywhere.

Grossman, however, said he already has been moved. He said when it became apparent to O’Neal earlier this season that Grossman had the lead on him in tackles and sacks, O’Neal demanded to be moved into Grossman’s position on the right side.

“You just get used to those things,” said Grossman, who had 2 1/2 more sacks than O’Neal before swapping positions. “Leslie gets first draw. That’s no secret. O’Neal wanted to play the right side, and one day I was told to switch.

“That’s all right, I don’t have any animosity toward Leslie. I didn’t say anything. I don’t complain like Leslie does over those things. I don’t challenge the club like he does.”

O’Neal said he asked to be moved on running downs because the opposition was running away from him and Williams. He said the team would be better served with him on the right side at all times.

“I started on the left side because Grossman couldn’t play that side,” O’Neal said. “All it did was take me out of my game . . . and we weren’t winning. Then I switched and we started winning.

“He can’t complain because they gave him Lee’s job when he first came in, in the first place. He shouldn’t be ticked that he has to move someplace else. If he is a real man, he’d go and make some plays at that other position. And you can quote me on that one.”

Grossman has no doubt about that. He watched his loquacious teammate take on all notebooks last week.

“I know what it’s like to say something and then have people come after you,” Grossman said. “I was watching Leslie in the locker room last week, and he was reading a book. It was something like, ‘Who cares what people think about you anyway?’

“Everybody in the locker room could hate him and give him dirty looks and he wouldn’t care . . . It’s hard to keep Leslie down. It’s even hard to get Leslie down.”

Last week O’Neal suggested the club had shown favoritism in promoting certain players. He said some of those efforts might have been racially motivated. He criticized Smith without directly naming him, and to Coach Dan Henning’s dismay, he announced the season was lost.

“Look now,” Grossman said. “A week later, the season is over. O’Neal’s a prophet.

“O’Neal’s amazing,” he said. “Coach Henning was on him (in a team meeting) and it was like Henning was talking to somebody on a different team. It didn’t faze him. It’s been a week now, and he’s been ripped, and he hasn’t taken back one word.”

Although threatened by Henning with suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, O’Neal held his ground and repeated his remarks a day later. Even a defeat in Denver after a week of distraction left O’Neal unaffected.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that O’Neal isn’t the favorite son around here,” Grossman said. “On the other hand, O’Neal plays on Sundays. You may not like O’Neal or agree with what O’Neal says, but you have to put O’Neal on the field because he’s a premier player.”

Grossman flashes premier-player statistics, but to date he has been known only for his role of team clown. But at the same time, he has been careful in delivery. He put a regular-season stop to a newspaper column called “The World According to Burt,” so it wouldn’t become a distraction. And despite his big-mouth reputation, he has not bad-mouthed the opposition this season.

He went almost a month without comment earlier, and offered no objection when O’Neal wanted to shift positions. Grossman has not been as effective in the second half of the season as he was in the first seven games, but he has 19 sacks in his last 23 games.

“I’ve done all right, but everybody talks about O’Neal. That’s the way he wants it,” Grossman said. “If they take king-of-the-hill status away from Leslie, he won’t play well. And if you let Leslie be king of the hill, then you’re gonna have a hell of a player.

“Say what you want about O’Neal, but he’s something. If he wouldn’t have hurt his knee, he’d be the top defensive player in the game. Everybody says he’s 100% back, but if you watch him on film, he’s not 100%. He’s still a top-echelon player, but he won’t go down in history as one of the top players. And he would have.”

Tough Grossman won’t quibble with O’Neal’s skills, but he does take exception to O’Neal’s suggestion that the club’s promotional efforts have been racially motivated.

“The three guys going to the Pro Bowl from this team are black; they’re not white,” Grossman said. “That racial stuff was kind of far-fetched. He was talking about one guy, Billy Ray Smith, and that one guy happened to be white.

“B.R. didn’t retaliate, and that’s good, because it would have split the team. Maybe he understands Leslie, too.”

O’Neal has been the dominant defender for the Chargers this season. He was selected to play in the Pro Bowl this week after compiling 67 tackles and 12 1/2 sacks.

Grossman, who failed to earn even alternate honorable mention, has had two fewer tackles than O’Neal, and 2 1/2 fewer sacks.

“I guess it’s not my time yet,” he said. “I didn’t think I was that far behind O’Neal. But look how long it took for Williams to get recognized. Maybe it’s my job to labor in obscurity.”

In his first two years in the league, Grossman has posted 20 sacks. In comparison, Minnesota defensive end Chris Doleman had 3 1/2 sacks in his first two years in the league. Houston’s Ray Childress had 9 1/2, Philadelphia’s Jerome Brown 9 and Buffalo’s Bruce Smith 21 1/2.

“I get the publicity, but it’s for my personality,” he said. “Maybe I should hire B.R. as my P.R. guy.”

Smith has had his own problems. Despite O’Neal’s charges that he has received preferential public relations treatment, he has not gone to the Pro Bowl in his eight years in San Diego.

By no coincidence, the Chargers have not advanced to the playoffs in eight years.

“That’s the whole ballgame,” Grossman said. “Everybody says we have the biggest offensive line, the best running back, the best wide receiver, the best defensive line, so what’s the problem?

“It’s a weird team. I remember last year we lost just about every close game and then when it’s all over, we win the last two games against probably the two best teams in the division. So what’s the answer? Maybe we need a psychiatrist.”