An Offense Grounded Is Not Well-Rounded

It’s about points.

What the Chargers have is not enough of them.

That’s normally the case when a game is lost, as was Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos here. Once again, the Chargers played defense well enough to win, as they did in the opener against Kansas City, but the offense continued to be allergic to the end zone.

Sunday’s score was 21-13, which represents slight improvement from that 24-10 loss in the opener.

However, the suspicion is that this season will bring a succession of 24-10 and 21-13 scores. And all of that could well equal a repeat of last year’s 4-12 record . . . or worse. That’s a scary equation.

One touchdown a game is not going to get it done. The Broncos’ postgame notes revealed that the Chargers have not scored two touchdowns in a game in Mile High Stadium since 1985. The problem this year might be scoring two touchdowns anywhere.

The problem Sunday appeared to be efficiency. The Chargers ran 80 plays to Denver’s 47, held the ball for 35 minutes and 10 seconds and had 355 total yards to 226. Both teams scored three times, but the Broncos never had to settle for a field goal.

“We need to win in the red zone,” said Marion Butts, who gained 78 yards on 16 carries, none of them finishing in the end zone. “We have to do it when we get inside the 40.”

“We didn’t score when we had to,” said Rod Bernstine, who gained 83 yards in 12 carries, none of them finishing in the end zone.

Butts and Bernstine did their part. Ronnie Harmon, too. And the offensive line was not at all bad.

“When you run for 150 yards,” Bernstine said, “the line’s got to be blocking somebody.”

In truth, the Chargers rushed for 168 yards in 30 carries for a rather impressive gain of 5.6 yards per play. However, they passed for a mere 187 yards on 50 passing plays for a depressing gain of only 3.7 yards per play.

Therein lies the problem.

Passing.

In fairness to Stan Humphries, Sunday’s game was his first as starting quarterback. He was 23 of 45, the other five passing plays being sacks for 44 yards in losses. He deserved better. Seven passes were dropped. That’ll keep a drive for going anywhere real fast.

Humphries ducked the opportunity to criticize his receivers.

“You get dropped passes,” he said, “but I throw interceptions. It’s all frustrating.”

Trailing 21-13 entering the fourth quarter, the Chargers’ first two possessions were ended when Shawn Jefferson dropped passes on third-down plays. If either possession had ended with as much as a field goal, they would not have gone to the game’s final minutes in such a desperate situation. They could have stayed more with their strength, the running game, if they had not been in need of two scores.

“I was disappointed,” Coach Bobby Ross said, “at dropped balls in critical situations.”

It does not take a genius to conclude that this offense begins with the running backs and ends with the receivers, be they tight ends or wide receivers. They have hands like ash trays. They haven’t met a pass they couldn’t drop.

This is too bad, because the running game is so solid that any kind of a passing attack would improve the offense.

“We’re seeing a lot of eight-man fronts,” Ross said. “To work around that, you have to be able to throw the ball. You have to be able to take advantage of it.”

Against an eight-man front, darn near every receiver should get man-to-man coverage . . . and you’d expect someone might even be wide open.

“We’ve been seeing eight- and nine-man fronts for a couple of years now,” Bernstine said, “and they still haven’t stopped us. Why worry about it? But I do know we have to be able to pass to move the football.”

The offense was excruciating to watch Sunday. They had one second-period drive that covered 77 yards in 15 plays over 8 minutes 43 seconds. With the exception of a 14-yard pass to Harmon, the biggest gains were on the ground. All that resulted in a field goal.

The one touchdown came after a 44-yard interception return by Gill Byrd . . . and it came on a pass. Humphries threw to Nate Lewis for two yards and the touchdown, but the big play was a 29-yard reception by Harmon to get the ball to the two.

Indeed, the leading receiver was Harmon, a running back.

What the Chargers have is an abundance of exceptional running backs, which is more than they need. This is especially true because the offense utilizes only one back at a time.

The solution to this frustratingly one-dimensional dilemma is in the hands of Bobby Beathard, the general manager. Someone, somewhere, must have the same situation in reverse. You hate to trade one of the running backs, as good as they all are, but they need to get their hands on someone who can get his hands onto a football . . . and keep them there.