Chargers See Cardinals in Familiar Light : NFL:Team has been in the situation Phoenix is in. The Chargers play them today in Sun Devil Stadium..

Gill Byrd stood tall before his locker in defeat, a spokesman annually for a team hellbent on losing.

He knew all the cliches, delivered all the reasons why a team had to play on when there was really nothing to play for any longer.

For nine years, the Charger cornerback had nothing to look forward to in December, except Christmas. But he began this December in contention for the playoffs and with a smile locked to his face.

“I’m loving this,” he said. “People in the community are a lot more friendly, the people in the organization are a lot more happy and there’s just a whole lot of excitement in the air.”

Byrd & Co. play here today, where the Phoenix Cardinals (3-9) can do nothing more this season but ruin someone else’s party plans.

“If the playoffs started today we wouldn’t make it,” Byrd said. “We do not really control our own destiny, because if things don’t happen right, we still won’t be in. But we just have to continue to win; we have to beat Phoenix.

“These guys are going to play hard, and they are probably playing collectively for their jobs. Gary Plummer made a statement in a meeting we had: ‘Yeah, we know about that,’ and then Darren Carrington added, ‘Been there, done that.’ We know what the Cardinals’ thinking is. They’re going to want to knock us off and play the role of the spoiler.”

A year ago the down-and-out Chargers threw a wrinkle into the Dolphins’ playoff run, upsetting them, 38-30. They also toppled the favored Saints, and they should understand how scary today’s assignment will be in Sun Devil Stadium.

“This is a football team that is a lot better than it’s won-loss record,” said Coach Bobby Ross, echoing what everyone used to say about the Chargers.

The Cardinals, however, were roasted by the Redskins a week ago, 41-3. They have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and assured of their eighth consecutive losing season.

“What you do now in the next four weeks is going to be critical to the rest of your life, probably, in your profession,” Phoenix Coach Joe Bugel said. “Do you want to be classified as the worst team in the NFC? Do we want to finish up on a great note, where everybody remembers you in the month of December?”

In the past that speech has fallen on deaf ears in Phoenix. The Cardinals are 2-13 in the month of December since leaving St. Louis in 1988.

Byrd, however, won’t be fooled. He has played for a loser, and yet he never felt like a loser. He played hard and expected a victory when no one else did. He expects as much from the Cardinals.

“We should know how we have played at times against the Broncos, Raiders and Chiefs in the past when they had the chance to go to the playoffs,” Byrd said. “We were just looking for some bright spot and the chance to say we had beaten a good team, a team that was in the playoffs.”

The Chargers looked forward to a meaningful December in 1987 after opening with an 8-1 record. Most of the present-day players dismiss 1987, however, because it was the year of the NFL strike, and a team of replacement players compiled a 3-0 record for the Chargers.

One victory in December 1987, though, would have put the Chargers in the playoffs. They went 0-4.

“A possible playoff berth hasn’t even been on the lips of anybody in the Charger organization for quite a while,” Byrd said. “I don’t count 1987, but here’s our chance.

“I’ve thought about it a lot in the time that I have been here, but never have been close to consider it a reality. This is reality, and if we continue to win, I think the likelihood is good that we will be in the playoffs.

“And I’m going to enjoy every minute of this experience. I’ve waited so long for this to come about; I’m just enjoying being in the position to be even possibly in the playoffs. What a feeling.”

The Chargers have won seven of their last eight games. The Cardinals have dropped three in a row.

The Chargers are relatively healthy with the exception of defensive end Burt Grossman, who might still see some playing time despite two sprained ankles. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have been hammered by injuries.

Quarterback Chris Chandler, who missed the last two weeks with a separated rib cartilage, is still hurting but will start. Timm Rosenbach, the Cardinals’ hope for the future, has a sore thumb and a bruised ego after surrendering the starting quarterback position to Chandler.

The Cardinals earlier lost their two best pass rushers for the season, linebackers Freddie Joe Nunn and Ken Harvey, and against the Chargers they will play a reshuffled offensive line. Danny Villa, who has not played left tackle this season, will start in place of injured Luis Sharpe, and Joe Wolfe, who injured a shoulder in July, will join the roster and start in place of Villa on the right side. Bill Lewis starts in place of injured center Ed Cunningham.

There has also been a lot of speculation in the past week that Bugel has no chance of remaining with the Cardinals after the season.

These are not happy times here, and fewer than 30,000 fans are expected to appear today in a 73,473-seat stadium. And that was before a weather forecast of a chance for showers today.

“This was is a test for us because of last week’s game (with the Raiders),” Ross said. “You’re not going to hit an emotional high two weeks in a row too often. I’ve cautioned them, we really need to be ready to play.

“It helps the players’ attention that we got the stuffings kicked out of us when we played them in the preseason (35-14). I think they saw how talented they are.”

The Cardinals manhandled the Chargers in Ross’ NFL coaching debut, and a hit by Harvey knocked starting quarterback John Friesz out for the year with a knee injury. Many of the Chargers looked forward to this game, intending to exact revenge because they believed Friesz was the victim of a late hit.

Harvey, however, went down later in the season with a knee injury similar to Friesz’s, and now the Chargers seek motivation in another form.

“Winning, that’s what has us going,” Byrd said. “I got to know the right things to say at the right time when we were losing. You always have to find the positives so you have something to reach for when you’re losing.

“But we’re winning, and now after I’ve had a taste of it, I don’t want to ever have to talk about losing again.”