Tollner First Victim of Charger Season : Pro football: Henning fires offensive coordinator, will assume his duties in wake of loss to Steelers.

The season has just begun for the Chargers, and already there is panic in the air.

Coach Dan Henning took play-calling duties from Ted Tollner, the Chargers’ assistant head coach/offensive coordinator, in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 26-20 defeat in Pittsburgh.

On Tuesday, Henning dismissed Tollner.

“I’m stunned,” Tollner said. “I knew he was frustrated and disappointed with the offensive production, but this came from nowhere.”

Tollner’s firing came a day after Henning’s criticism of defensive coordinator Ron Lynn, and a week following the trade of starting quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver to Atlanta.

The Chargers, 0-1 and coming off a 1-3 exhibition season, are 13 1/2-point underdogs to the 49ers for Sunday’s game in San Francisco.

“Don’t you think drastic times call for bold moves?” Henning said. “Everybody has been focusing on the quarterbacks, but since the Oiler (exhibition) game, we’ve sucked. I’m doing what I think is right; that’s where I’m going to be evaluated. That’s the bottom line.”

When Henning took control of the Chargers’ offense Sunday, it was going nowhere. The Chargers gained 109 yards on 38 plays through three quarters of play and had scored three points.

Under Henning’s direction in the fourth quarter, the offense rolled up 172 yards in 30 plays and scored 17 points.

“It’s very regretful,” Henning said, his voice cracking at times. “This guy has backed me, he’s worked hard and he’s a good person. I gave him an opportunity and it didn’t work out. I’m disappointed for him; I’m disappointed for us.”

Henning will call all plays from the sideline, and will assemble the weekly game plan.

“I had given that responsibility to Ted this year,” Henning said, “but the bottom line is I’m not happy with it, and I’m making this change.”

Henning has been a target of frustrated fans almost from the day he arrived with his 22-41-1 record as a head coach. Tollner’s firing will undoubtedly provide more fodder for criticism.

“You have to do what you believe in,” Henning said. “The business doesn’t have a great deal of heart . . . But I have a great deal of feeling for Ted Tollner.”

There may not be a more accommodating, sincere and friendly coach in professional football than Ted Tollner. Given the limitations of the Chargers’ offensive line, the quarterback situation, and the lack of depth at wide receiver, it will be difficult for folks around the league to find fault with Tollner.

“Ted was very hurt,” General Manager Bobby Beathard said. “He certainly doesn’t want to be looked on as a failure, and he’s certainly not. God, I think that’s the last thing we would think about Ted. I think Ted is a very good coach, and I don’t think he’ll have any problems catching on.”

Tollner has two years remaining on his contract with the Chargers, but he said, “that doesn’t appeal to me. I’m a football coach, and I want to be working.”

News of Tollner’s dismissal took the Charger support staff and players by surprise. In looking for an explanation, there was speculation from within that Tollner might have been too soft in working with his offensive assistant coaches.

Some insiders suggested the Chargers were straying from their hard-nose approach to running the ball, and were no longer trying to defeat teams physically. Some said there were disagreements on how to employ certain personnel.

“Only Dan knows why he made this decision,” Tollner said. “He’s doing what he thinks is best for him to win, and I’m surprised that I’m not involved in it.”

Henning met with Tollner on Monday and told him he was going to become more directly involved in guiding the offense, while at the same time reducing Tollner’s role.

“Whatever role Dan wanted me to fill, I’d do it; he’s the boss,” Tollner said. “He asked me if I could deal with taking a lesser role, and I said, ‘Yes.’ ”

On Tuesday Tollner reported to work at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. He was viewing videotape of the 49ers at work.

“Dan came in and told me he had changed his mind; he said it was best to terminate things,” Tollner said. “It was a very short conversation. All I can tell you is what happened; I’m still trying to analyze it myself.”

Henning and Tollner appeared to work well together, and Tollner said, “Yeah, I thought so. We weren’t close buddies, but we had professional respect. I thought, yeah, we got along, but the end result doesn’t indicate that. That’s why I’m stunned.”

Henning said he changed his mind between Monday and Tuesday, and fired Tollner because, “it would not have been a comfortable situation for Ted or for me. I thought reducing his role was just as bad as dismissing him. I thought about it. I tried to find an easy way because he’s such a good guy, but I couldn’t find one.”

Henning advised Beathard of his move, and Beathard relayed the information to team owner Alex Spanos.

Beathard refused comment on whether he agreed with Henning’s decision to dismiss Tollner, but he said Henning had his support.

“I told Dan I’d back him on whatever decisions he made to make us a better football team,” Beathard said. “It was real tough on Dan because we all know what kind of guy Ted is. I told Ted I was backing Dan, and he understood.

“I’m not naive enough to think this change resolves all of our problems. We still have a lot of things to do to become a better football team.”

Henning hired Tollner in 1989 as his assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach. Tollner did most of the play calling from the press box his first two years, but Henning oversaw pre-game preparation of the offensive game plan.

After last season, however, Tollner was offered a chance to coach with the Cowboys, and along with it, more play-calling freedom. Beathard, however, refused to give the Cowboys permission to negotiate with Tollner because Tollner remained under contract to the Chargers through 1992.

Henning increased Tollner’s duties this past off season, appointed him offensive coordinator and turned over game-plan preparation to Tollner.

“As an offensive staff we set this week’s game plan (for Pittsburgh); Dan really wasn’t involved,” Tollner said. “That’s really the only regular-season game (in the past three years) that he hasn’t been directly involved in on a day-to-day basis. And I don’t think he was comfortable with that.”

The Chargers attempted to throw the ball 45 times against the Steelers, who were No. 1 against the pass in 1990. They ran the ball 23 times, and that’s not the traditional run-pass ratio for a Henning offense.

“I let him implement his ideas,” Henning said. “When I gave him the responsibility, I allowed him to take the staff, the offensive team and implement those ideas. But we were just not having the kind of success with it that I was hoping we would have.”

Henning refused to detail his differences with Tollner, because, he said, they were too technical. He said, although he will be calling the plays in place of Tollner, the offense will appear the same to most.

Henning understands his own job security is in jeopardy this year, but he said Tollner’s departure was not a byproduct of those concerns.

“I don’t believe that,” Henning said. “I believe it it was a reaction to the pressure I have supposedly been under, it would have been done two games ago. I sincerely wanted it to work out the way we had restructured it.”

* NO ANSWERS HERE: Former Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver can’t understand why Tollner was fired. C5