Coaches Have Similar Ideas
Three years ago, the Chiefs and Chargers crossed paths as they went on a search for a new head coach.
The Chargers passed on Marty Schottenheimer, the Chiefs immediately grabbed him, and the Chargers went on to hire Dan Henning.
In six full seasons as a NFL coach, Schottenheimer has never experienced a losing season; in six full seasons as a NFL coach, Henning has yet to know the feeling of a winning season.
Under Schottenheimer, the Chiefs elected to run the ball and turn the offense over to veteran quarterback Steve DeBerg, whose best days were behind him.
Under Henning the Chargers chose to run the ball, tried and failed to make it with veteran quarterback Jim McMahon, tried and failed with Billy Joe Tolliver, and then settled on John Friesz, whose best days are yet to come.
Both teams loaded up talent on defense, placed added emphasis on special teams, then went their separate ways.
Schottenheimer’s Chiefs enter San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium today with a 1990 playoff appearance and 21-14-1 record since his hiring. Schottenheimer’s Chiefs are 2-2 this season and have won eight of their past 11 regular-season games.
Henning’s Chargers have gone 12-24, including an 0-4 start this season, and after compiling seven consecutive losses, they possess the NFL’s longest current losing streak.
“If you look at the team’s philosophies, we’re the same,” Charger guard David Richards said. “It’s like, ‘We’re going to be fascists with the end zone; no one’s gonna get in there. And we’re just gonna pound it out on offense, pound out the clock . . .’ and may the best men win.”
There’s the rub. The Chargers believe they have the best players, and yet they cannot win. They have six first-round draft picks on defense, and they rank 28th in the league. They average a league-high 5.6 yards a carry on the ground, and yet they cannot win.
They have lost nine of their past 10 regular-season games. They went 1-3 in exhibition play. Since the midway mark of 1989, Henning’s Chargers have gone 10-18, while Schottenheimer’s Chiefs have finished 18-9-1.
Last year the Chargers took a 5-5 record into Kansas City to take on the 5-4 Chiefs. The Chiefs won 27-10, finished the season with six victories in their final seven games and advanced to the playoffs. The Chargers never recovered.
To right themselves, they now must upend Chiefs’ running back Christian Okoye.
“Smash-mouth football,” Charger linebacker Junior Seau said. “Okoye’s a big lineman running the ball. It’s going to be a good game. When you hit and hit and hit and wonder if the guy wants to hit again, that’s fun.”
Okoye hits back with 260 pounds. He has a dozen 100-yard games in his career, and two of them have come at the Chargers’ expense. He’s rushed 66 times for 324 yards this season for an average gain of 4.9 yards a carry.
“He’s just a guy who gets on a track; he’s a lot like Marion Butts,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “He doesn’t have the greatest vision in the world, and it actually works to his advantage because they have some big hogs up front, and all he has to do is ram it up in there and he’s going to get three yards.
“If they just keep pounding the ball and pounding the ball, he’s going to break one.”
So he’s that good?
“I don’t want to sound like Plummer and just say this guy’s great and the strongest man in the world,” defensive lineman Burt Grossman said. “I don’t want to do that, but then again I don’t want to say something else because I don’t want to get in trouble.
“I just want to follow the herd until a new set of rustlers come in.”
It’s probably not a good time to mention it, but in addition to Okoye, the Chiefs have DeBerg at quarterback, and he’s the guy who taught Denver quarterback John Elway how to get defenders to jump offsides.
“I guess that means me and Junior got problems,” said Grossman, who, like Seau, was pulled offsides last week in Denver.
But DeBerg is 3-6 as a starter against the Chargers, and has been intercepted 16 times, while throwing for 11 touchdowns.
“But what did he do against us last year?” Plummer said.
Last year DeBerg threw for five touchdowns with no interceptions in leading the Chiefs to a two-game sweep of the Chargers. He has completed 58% of his passes this season, throwing for four touchdowns with three interceptions.
“They’re doing some things differently with DeBerg,” Charger defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. “They looked like they went into the first two games thinking, ‘We’re pretty good, let’s put a little trick-’em stuff in there.’ Then it looked like they came back to reality, and said, ‘Wait a minute, let’s go back to the things we’re good at.’ ”
The Chiefs are at their best when they can run Okoye and get single outside coverage on wide receiver Stephone Paige. Paige, who has 50 catches for 987 yards with 10 touchdowns against the Chargers, has missed Kansas City’s last two games with a sore knee. He practiced this week, however, and is expected to play against the Chargers.
The Chiefs lost run-stuffing linebacker Percy Snow for the season in a training camp accident, and have been without premier cornerback Albert Lewis the past three games with a knee injury. Lewis, who had three interceptions in their season-opener, returned to practice this week.
“I don’t like the fact Percy’s hurt, but I’m happy he’s not in there,” Charger running back Rod Bernstine said. “That guy can hit.”
Bernstine leads the Chargers’ attack with 304 yards on 57 rushes, and will again be backed up by Butts, who has piled up 147 yards on 27 rushes.
“They’ve got people there that can make things happen,” Schottenheimer said. “Bernstine has made a living against the teams that I’ve coached. Butts is a tremendous back, and then Ronnie Harmon is averaging 6.6 yards a rush.
“This is the best 2-2 team I’ve ever seen, and they’re 0-4. I mean, they’re really a good football team and their offense is absolutely dynamic.”
And this could have been his team.