Charger Fans Watch Interest Rate Near 0

Anybody out there holding Chargers season tickets who feels a little bit like he invested his life savings in Great American?

Those tickets feeling a little empty in your hands?

Your best bet might be to try and pull a fast one on a San Diego State fan. Try trading two of yours for one of his. It might work, but I wouldn’t wait very long. Chargers stock doesn’t look like it will get any higher than it is right now, and that’s pretty depressed . . . and depressing.

You see, the Atlanta Falcons came to town Sunday. Don’t mix them up with that other Atlanta team. These guys were America’s guests. You invite these guys to dinner and then devour them. They had lost 19 consecutive road games. They were sort of the Washington Generals of football.

This was the Chargers’ chance to pad their win column, which had been running on empty.

Still is.

Atlanta won, 13-10.

Ugly? Yes. This one was a weed. In fact, the Chargers’ season is in danger of being over-run with weeds.

I’m not sure if the boos were for the Chargers, or just fans taking turn making noise to try to keep their neighbors from falling asleep. You needed coffee to get through this one. You couldn’t rely on the cannon to keep you awake, because it only goes off when the Chargers score. In the old days, they used to have to bring the ammunition in a semi. Now it comes on a moped.

No one can call CBS stupid. It showed the game in Atlanta and Yuma. Poor Yuma.

You knew the Chargers were not getting any kind of a break when they looked at the schedule and realized they were playing five of their first seven games on the road. On Sunday, it sounded as if maybe the fans were thinking they deserve a break, such as sending this team on the road and keeping it there.

These were patient fans, to be sure. They didn’t start booing until more than six minutes had elapsed in the first period. This was with Atlanta ahead, 7-0, and the home side having generated all of 10 yards on its first two possessions.

The incredible thing about these Chargers is that they simply cannot move the ball through the air. Given the history of this team, it’s a little bit like training infantry at Miramar. The best of years have come when someone can throw the ball to someone else who can catch it. They had trouble getting helium-filled balloons off the ground Sunday, for heaven’s sake.

The Chargers got some nice running from Rod Bernstine and Marion Butts and even a surprising 27-yard run from Shawn Jefferson Sunday, but the running backs could not get it done by themselves and the passing attack could not pick them up. You just don’t get 184 rushing yards and 129 passing yards in a National Football League game and get the job done.

Atlanta did not have a whole lot more in its offensive repertoire, but it did have enough to get into position for reasonable length field goals. Norm Johnson got to kick them from 28 and 36 yards. Poor John Carney, the Chargers’ kicker, made a 39-yarder but missed from 53, 47 and 47. He may be gray before the offense can get him much closer.

Indeed, it all came down to Carney at the end. He had missed two field goals all of last year, but he would miss from 47 yards for the second time in the game and it was over.

For some reason, the Chargers seemed to be thinking that a 47-yard field goal was somewhat of a gimme. They approached the last few plays of their last possession like the field was mined inside the Atlanta 28. They did not seem interested in advancing any further, so as to give Carney a more sensible shot.

Parked at the Atlanta 32 with more than a minute to play, they ran Ronnie Harmon up the middle, of all places, for no gain and then got four yards on a pass across the middle, of all places. Only 32 seconds remained when they called their second time out.

They never called that third time out, perhaps thinking they could bank it and use it in Denver next week. Harmon caught a pass in bounds and stayed in bounds and then John Friesz threw incomplete.

All of this was very conservative play calling and very inefficient use of the clock, leaving no choice but a long field-goal attempt from Carney so send it in to overtime.

Mercifully, perhaps, he missed, though they undoubtedly would have felt more comfortable winning ugly than losing ugly.

What’s really ugly now is looking ahead. You look at what the Chargers have ahead of them on the schedule and tell me where you think they might find a win. For example, they go next to Denver, where they have scored a total of 23 points over their last four journeys.

If you think the Chargers will find a win in Denver, you must be wearing the new Dan Henning signature line rose-colored glasses.

It doesn’t look much more promising beyond Denver, what with Kansas City, the Raiders and the Rams upcoming. Maybe the Chargers might have some luck Oct.20 with Cleveland, if they send the Indians.

At this point, I don’t see why the Chargers should be so determined to avoid another 6-10 season. They should be praying for such a season.