Picking a Quarterback Won’t Be a Snap : Chargers: While Humphries shakes off the rust and learns the system, Gagliano turns in another solid performance.

The Chargers are in a quandary: They want Stan Humphries to work as their starting quarterback, but they are down to their final exhibition game and Bob Gagliano won’t go away.

A club official said, “We didn’t bring Humphries in here to develop, we brought him here to produce.”

Gagliano, however, has studied Coach Bobby Ross’ offense since March. The Chargers conducted almost 50 off-season practices and Gagliano was there. He received playing time in training camp because John Friesz held out for more money, and since Friesz’s season-ending knee injury, Gagliano’s play has been above reproach.

It’s still not good enough for the Chargers.

“Right now,” Ross said, “Gagliano is still the guy that you would start, yeah, but I mean there’s another game to go.”

Even Gagliano’s performance, coupled with Humphries’ lack of playing time in Washington and lack of practice time in San Diego, is not good enough for the Chargers.

“Gagliano has had two pretty good football games, but we’ll still go through the next ballgame and I think Stan played pretty well,” Ross said without drawing a breath. “You can’t make the comparison (because of their) time in the program.

“Bob’s been in there since the middle of March. Stan’s been in there four days. Relatively speaking, Stan played well. But Bob played very well.”

A similar problem confronted this team a year ago.

General Manager Bobby Beathard did not want Billy Joe Tolliver to open the season as starting quarterback, but until John Friesz completed 17 of 19 passes against the Raiders’ reserves in the final half of exhibition play, he was stuck.

Once Friesz received his promotion, Tolliver was traded.

The Chargers brought Humphries to San Diego because they were convinced Gagliano could not do the job. Before Friesz’s injury, the team had made it known that Gagliano was the No. 4 quarterback on a team that would carry only three.

Gagliano, however, held his ground. And now he has completed 20 of 32 passes for 261 yards in three exhibitions with a touchdown pass to Derrick Walker and a 20-yard scoring run.

On five of the seven series that he has directed the Chargers’ offense, they have scored. A sixth opportunity to score went awry when Nate Lewis dropped a touchdown pass and John Carney missed a 38-yard field-goal attempt.

“I don’t think any decisions were made ahead of time when they got Humphries,” Gagliano said. “I think it was just a good business move.

“I’m not looking at it like, hey, they are just waiting for me to fall down so I don’t make it tough on them. All I’m trying to do is my best.”

In Humphries’ lone showing to date, he is five for 12 passes for 52 yards with an interception.

“I think he’s done a heck of a job coming in as quick as he has,” Gagliano said. “He is familiar with what we’re doing, but he’s not familiar with all the people around him and that’s a big thing. And he hasn’t played in a while.”

Ross said Gagliano will start against the Rams in Thursday’s exhibition finale in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, then Humphries will come on.

“I don’t think Bobby is going to make up his mind (on a regular-season starter) until after Thursday,” Beathard said.

If he made up his mind today, wouldn’t Ross have to hand the ball to Gagliano?

“Right, right,” Beathard said. “If we were opening this week I think everybody back there (in coaching) would feel comfortable going in with Bob. But . . .”

But just remember last year--there is this one last audition.

The Chargers also have decided that John Carney is the choice over Carlos Huerta to kick the ball this season, but there’s one little problem: Carney hasn’t put the ball through the uprights yet.

Although Carney is 0 for 2 on field-goal attempts and Huerta is two for two, Ross said, “Carney would still be in front ever-so-slightly.”

Ross said the team has not decided what to do yet in regards to Tuesday’s cut to 60 players. At first he said he would study both kickers this week.

However, he said later that maybe the right thing to do was to release a kicker and let the remaining kicker prepare himself for the regular season.

The Chargers want to release Huerta, because he doesn’t have the leg Carney has on kickoffs.

“I studied the charts and Carney did a fairly decent job on his kickoffs,” Ross said. “We were at the six, seven and the one and all had hang times over four seconds, which is pretty good.”