Chargers Blasted by Past : Pro football: Ex-Charger coach will be on opposite sideline today as an assistant for playoffs-bound Chiefs.

One or two more victories for the Chiefs, and wide receivers coach Al Saunders will be on his way to the playoffs for the second time in three years.

Talk about lightning bolts: Al Saunders in the playoffs .

Oh, the football gods have not been kind to the Chargers (3-10). The Chargers not only lose with regularity, but they are forever reminded of days best forgotten.

Last week Steve Ortmayer’s special teams lifted the playoff-bound Raiders to victory over the Chargers. Billy Joe Tolliver is on the way to the playoffs with Atlanta, Jim McMahon was on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week and the Chargers will face the well-manicured Saunders--with the “I told you so” grin--today in Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs (8-5), who lured Coach Marty Schottenheimer from an interview with the Chargers three years ago, are one victory away from guaranteeing their fourth winning season in the past six years.

The Chargers, meanwhile, are three weeks away from dismissing Dan Henning, who replaced Al Saunders as head coach, and three losses away from recording their worst finish since going 2-12 in 1975.

All together now: “Wait until next year.”

Time, however, is running out for good-guy players such as Gill Byrd, who is becoming the Ernie Banks of football. Byrd has been with the Chargers for nine years, and for nine years the Chargers have failed to make the playoffs.

“It gets tougher and tougher every year and harder to accept,” Byrd said. “I’m going home. That’s frustrating. After nine years this team has not reaped the fruits of its labor.”

The Chiefs have lost three of their past five games, but are nine-point favorites to send the Chargers to their third consecutive defeat.

“I think it’s gut-check month,” Schottenheimer said. “I said five or six weeks ago that this thing will go down to the end. This division is very closely matched.”

Schottenheimer’s a funny guy. It might be gut-check month for the Chiefs, but for the Chargers, it’s December, and that’s not funny. In eight of the past nine seasons, the Chargers have started December with a losing record and no realistic chance to make the playoffs.

The lone exception: You remember, Al Saunders. Saunders’ Chargers had to win only one game in December in 1987 to make the playoffs, but they lost in Houston, dropped home games to Pittsburgh and Indianapolis and then got buried in the snow in Denver.

“It’s not a good feeling playing in December and not having a chance at the playoffs,” Byrd said. “A big part of this game is wanting to have a chance at the pot of gold, which starts with the playoffs, and we haven’t had that chance. And it gets tough.”

It gets tougher each December when the Chargers have to leave San Diego. Since 1982, they have compiled a 1-10 record away from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in the month of December. Their lone victory came at Arrowhead two years ago--it knocked the Chiefs out of the playoffs--and how many times do you think that was mentioned this week in the Kansas City locker room?

“We spoiled what they were trying to do,” Charger linebacker Leslie O’Neal said, “and more than likely they haven’t forgotten. There’s a certain revenge factor there, and they know we have a team that’s capable of beating them. They won’t be caught by surprise.”

The Chiefs have every reason to be highly motivated for today’s game. In addition to that defeat two years ago and the opportunity to make it to postseason play this season, the Chiefs will be playing their final home game.

The Chiefs travel to San Francisco next week and then will finish in Los Angeles against the Raiders. They cannot afford to let this victory get away.

“They will be fired up,” said Charger safety Martin Bayless, “but the team that gets on top first will dictate what happens the rest of the way.

“You have to make (quarterback) Steve DeBerg pass the ball. If we can stop the run and get them to do that, they will be playing into our hands.”

DeBerg might have to throw the ball because running back Christian Okoye (knee) is expected to miss the game. Okoye’s backup, Harvey Williams, has recovered from a sore ankle, but still is bothered by a sore hamstring. The Chargers expect Barry Word, who has carried the ball 94 times for 351 yards, to get the bulk of work on the ground.

Stop Word and/or Williams, and DeBerg will be put to the test. DeBerg has thrown 14 touchdowns passes with 11 interceptions, but two weeks ago he was jerked from the game in favor of former Charger quarterback Mark Vlasic.

“DeBerg has made some bad decisions in a couple of games where it looked as if he felt he had to win the game for them,” Charger defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. “When he hasn’t done that, like last week in Seattle, they’ve had a helluva game.”

The Chiefs rank eighth in the NFL on offense and 10th on defense, but statistics do not tell the story. The Chiefs’ strength rests on defense, although cornerback Albert Lewis continues to be plagued by a sore knee.

Linebacker Derrick Thomas leads the AFC with 13 1/2 sacks; the Chiefs lead all teams in the league with 98 sacks over the past two seasons.

“He has the capability of controlling a game because he’s so good,” Charger quarterback John Friesz said.

Friesz, recovered from an ankle sprain he suffered against the Jets two weeks ago, will continue to hand the ball to Marion Butts and Rod Bernstine. Bernstine ran 26 times for 112 yards and a touchdown in the Chargers’ 14-13 loss to the Chiefs earlier this season.

“We’re not trying to knock anyone out of the playoffs,” Friesz said. “We’re just trying to get wins. If that knocks people out, fine, but we’re fighting for ourselves right now. I just want to get wins.”

The Chargers finished last season with five losses in their final six games. They can match that late-season fall with three more defeats down the stretch. They dropped four of their final six in 1989.

The last time the Chargers finished the season on a winning note was 1988, when they won four of their final six. A day after closing the season with victories over Pittsburgh and Kansas City, the Chargers fired Saunders.

Al Saunders is on his way to the playoffs . The Chargers are making plans to return to square one.

“Your motivation now is that you don’t want to be one of those changes being made,” Byrd said. “You’re either a part of the problem or part of the solution when you’re 3-10. You don’t want to be one of those guys, that when they get in their meetings, they say, he’s part of the problem and we got to get rid of him. You’re playing to make them keep you.”