Charger Defense Lets 49ers Frolic in Blunder Land : Pro football: Defensive coach is angry, embarrassed by mistakes in 34-14 defeat in San Francisco.

The Chargers have taken defeat hard lately.

Two weeks ago, they shipped their quarterback to Atlanta. Last week, they asked their offensive coordinator to clean out his desk.

This week?

Be advised, Anthony Shelton, this would not be a good time to buy a house in San Diego.

The San Francisco 49ers (1-1) pounced on Shelton’s miscues for a pair of touchdowns and went on to record a 34-14 victory in Candlestick Park in front of 60,753. The Chargers have now opened the season 0-2 for the fourth consecutive year.

“Obviously, we made mistakes that screwed the doggone thing up,” said Ron Lynn, Charger defensive coordinator. “We cannot afford to live with those things. We’re dying with them right now. The mistakes will be rectified.

“They will either be cleaned up or the guy making the mistakes will be out of the lineup. It’s gone too far now to continue to let those things happen. It’s my job to get them rectified, and they will be.”

Shelton will be the fall guy in this latest fiasco, but the Charger defense failed to muster a pass rush on 49er quarterback Steve Young, allowing him to riddle the secondary with 26 completed passes in 36 attempts for 348 yards.

Another patented defensive collapse in the final minute of the first half allowed Young to throw a one-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor for a 17-14 halftime lead.

“That’s just not very good pass defense,” Coach Dan Henning said. “The defense didn’t play very well. They’re struggling right now.”

Pittsburgh’s only touchdowns in last week’s 26-20 victory came as a direct result of blown coverage by the Chargers. Afterward Henning suggested Lynn’s defensive scheme might be too complicated.

Shelton offered further evidence against the 49ers. Shelton, an 11th-round pick of the 49ers before being released last season, was making his second NFL start at strong safety for the Chargers. And he was out of place--twice.

After wide receiver Jerry Rice left Shelton behind for a pair of touchdowns, he was dismissed and replaced by Martin Bayless.

“I didn’t want to fire him,” Lynn said. “I wanted to maybe kill somebody, but not fire him.”

Shelton missed a defensive call and failed to find Rice in the second quarter. Steve Young had no such difficulty and went to Rice for a 32-yard touchdown.

Shelton was absent without proper excuse again in the third quarter when Rice caught a short pass on third and one and ran 70 yards for a touchdown.

“Just a miscommunication,” Shelton said. “That’s all. I wasn’t confused at all. It was just a lack of communication.”

The Chargers took a 7-0 lead on John Friesz’s one-yard touchdown pass to H-back Craig McEwen in the first quarter, and they responded to a three-point deficit with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Friesz to Anthony Miller in the second quarter.

They had the 49ers concerned.

“I thought San Diego played well, particularly in the first half,” Coach George Seifert said. “They have a lot of power in their attack, but our defense played well. We also have two outstanding weapons in Jerry Rice and John Taylor, and we did a good job of getting the ball in their hands today.”

Seifert failed to commend Shelton for his assistance.

“Assignment-wise there aren’t very many guys fouling up for us,” Lynn said. “That’s the crime of this thing. There are 10 guys on a bunch of plays that are playing their butts off and doing everything they can do, and we get a couple of mental screw ups that result in big plays.”

The 49ers trailed the Chargers 14-10 with 1:55 to play in the second quarter, but behind Young they went 81 yards in nine plays. Rice didn’t get credit for the touchdown catch, but he took the coverage with him and allowed John Taylor to be wide open for Young’s one-yard scoring throw.

After the 49ers took a 17-14 halftime lead, they accepted the ball on the opening kickoff of the third quarter, and one minute and 49 seconds later they were on the scoreboard again.

“We were up 14-10,” Henning said, “and then almost the next time we got the ball, we were down 24-14. And then we got into a situation where we were coming from behind.”

Like the Billy Joe Tolliver days of old, the Chargers are not prepared to play from behind. Friesz, now 0-3 as a starter, threw three interceptions after being forced to put the ball in the air.

Friesz completed 14 of 33 for 179 yards, including a 50-yard strike to Anthony Miller to set up his nine-yard touchdown to Miller. Friesz, who was bothered by sore ribs in practice this past week, had to give way to Bob Gagliano for one play after he was slow to get up from a hit.

“I wasn’t thinking I needed to make a big play as I went on, but as it turned out, that’s what I did,” Friesz said. “I forced a couple of balls in there that had to be too perfect, and they resulted in interceptions.”

Henning took over the play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Ted Tollner this week, and he had his team effectively hugging the ground in the first half. The Charger rushers averaged 5.8 yards a carry in the game, but the Charger defense failed to keep the 49ers within striking distance and the running game had to be scrapped.

“I think we have the potential to be good, but I think we’re all getting tired of everybody talking about the potential we have to be good,” cornerback Sam Seale said. “Everyone is getting tired about the number of mental mistakes, too. I think if we don’t stop making mental mistakes, Sam Seale included, then we need to get rid of those who are making them.”

Throw out the mental mistakes and the 49ers are forced to work up a sweat. They faltered in their initial confrontations with the Charger defense. Their first drive ended with Mike Cofer’s wide left field-goal attempt from 37 yards, and their second drive concluded with Cofer kicking successfully from 34 yards.

“People say take away a play here or there and it would be different,” defensive lineman Leslie O’Neal said. “That’s part of it; it’s a 60-minute game. Look at the really good teams, you have guys that make mistakes. But they overcome it.”

The Chargers stopped the 49ers from scoring early and in impressive fashion. A goal-line stand early in the second quarter forced the 49ers to run out of downs at the Charger one-yard line, and on their next attempt to score, they were forced to punt.

“I thought it was a terrifically called game,” cornerback Gill Byrd said. “Coach Lynn had a great game plan going in, and it showed in the first half. But then we started making mistakes.

“If they just outright beat us, OK, then they beat us. I could swallow that. But when you give up 14 points and over 100 yards in passing on just blown coverages, that’s hard to swallow. It’s like just handing it to them--here, take it. And they took it.”

The Chargers will play their first game at home Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons (0-2), and although the season is only two weeks old, it’s come to this:

“It’s a must win for us,” linebacker Junior Seau said.

* Fantasy Fanatics: Football fans have swamped the Charger offices with calls regarding the status of Marion Butts. C13B

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