Mega-Backs Enjoy Another Big Game : Chargers: Rod Bernstine gains 112 yards, and Marion Butts gets 45, but Kansas City stops them at a critical time.
Even as the Chargers fans in the end zone Sunday chanted, “Henning must go,” they paused in mid-jeer to applaud Rod Bernstine and Marion Butts as the runing backs came off the field at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
Though the Chargers fell to 0-5 after Sunday’s 14-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chargers’ big backs again were the dominant offensive players, pulling off big play after big play--but still failing to help punch the ball into the end zone regularly.
With Bernstine and Butts in the lead, the Chargers nearly doubled the Chiefs’ rushing yardage, and helped the Chargers outgain the visitors, 311-182. Bernstine rushed for 112 yards--Kansas City’s entire rushing output was 86--and Butts added 45 yards on 10 carries, plus a sensational 46-yard run on a pass reception when he reversed field. Bernstine’s total was the first 100-yard rushing game against Kansas City since Sept. 17, 1990.
The Chiefs were generous in praise of the duo. Linebacker Dino Hackett said Bernstine “is just a great running back. He makes so much happen. I hit him a couple times today, (where) any other running back in the NFL would have gone down. He wouldn’t. And Butts is the same way.”
Chiefs quarterback Steve DeBerg noted the Charger team “is very much like ours--they really play smash ball.”
But smash reviews and the statistical edge weren’t much solace for the Chargers, who were driving for the potential winning score late in the fourth quarter when Bernstine was stopped on a fourth-and-one plunge.
Bernstine said any personal satisfaction “is totally wiped out by the loss. One hundred yards doesn’t mean anything if you’re losing.”
Butts said, “We moved the ball up and down the field, we played ‘em well. But we could have did this, we could have done that. Victory’s what’s important. All we need is one victory, we’ll go from there.”
Chargers Coach Dan Henning didn’t care to discuss his running backs’ statistics, either. “It’s difficult to concern yourself--in this situation when you’re going through a frustrating period--with anything to be pleased at,” he said.
With his big game Sunday, which was two yards short of his career high, Bernstine has gained 416 yards this season, averaging five yards a carry. In Henning’s one-back set, Bernstine came out running hard and ended up with 26 carries.
“It was a case of the line doing a good job and me doing some hard running,” Bernstine said.
“The running game is one of those things where you hope to get it 25 or 30 times a game. You know that’s not gonna happen (every week) but I was making things happen today, and when you’ve got something working, why change?”
About the only time it didn’t work Sunday was on the fourth-and-one call with the ball at the Kansas City 37-yard line and 2 minutes 39 seconds left. Bernstine was stopped by defensive end Leonard Griffin, and the ball was spotted just short of a first down.
“The coaches had confidence I could get one or two yards,” Bernstine said. “I thought I got it but they marked it short. What it amounts to is, I didn’t make the play. I saw daylight, and I didn’t hit it.”
Butts’ big play came early in the fourth quarter, with the Chargers facing a first-and-20 situation at their 45. John Friesz hit Butts with a pass in the right flat, and lineman Dan Saleaumua hit Butts for an apparent no-gain. But Butts kept his feet, cut left around the line, found a hole and took off for the left sideline. He was finally caught at the nine. But once again the Chargers couldn’t punch it in, settling for a John Carney field goal.
While Bernstine and Butts and the offensive line have given the Chargers one of the top running games, lineman Courtney Hall said it doesn’t mean much until they start winning.
“It doesn’t take a dominating offensive line if you’ve got those two big backs,” Hall said. “I don’t think anything is established when you’re 0-5.”