COMMENTARY / PRO FOOTBALL : Chiefs Are Advised to Pursue Montana

Kansas City Chief coach Marty Schottenheimer has heard this before: Get a new offensive coordinator. Apparently, it was an immediate point of discussion between owner Lamar Hunt and General Manager Carl Peterson when the Chiefs were defeated by the San Diego Chargers, 17-0, in the first round of the playoffs.

Got a name for you, Marty.

Joe Montana.

Yeah, say goodbye to Dave Krieg. It wasn’t his fault, but Kansas City isn’t going to the Super Bowl with Krieg.

And it also may be time to shake up the staff. There was talk inside the organization that Schottenheimer might dismiss Joe Pendry as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Defensively, the Chiefs had troubles all season. But that’s explainable considering Schottenheimer lost two valuable defensive coaches in Bill Cowher, the former defensive coordinator who was hired as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tony Dungy, the former secondary coach who was hired as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

The offense, which was damaged by line injuries, misfired. It wasn’t only because of injuries. It needs a new scheme. It needs a new quarterback. It needs new leadership. What better leader than Montana?

Montana will need a new home next season because the San Francisco 49ers don’t intend to lose quarterback Steve Young to free agency.

Though the 49ers would be willing to pay Montana big bucks as a backup, Montana wants to go out as a starter.

No doubt, everyone is going to say Montana would be a good match with Minnesota. Dennis Green is a Bill Walsh disciple, and after the Vikings’ 24-7 playoff loss to Washington, it’s clear that neither Sean Salisbury nor Rich Gannon will be their quarterback in 1993.

But remember, Green’s Vikings are not running Walsh’s offense--they are running the Redskins’ one-back attack.

The Chiefs are primed to revamp their offense. If they could trade for Montana--who has a year remaining on his contract--and ask him to name a coordinator (how about Los Angeles Raiders quarterbacks coach Mike White?), then it’s possible for the transition to be made. White is a close friend of Walsh, and Montana could fill in the gaps in the offense. Throw in a pass-catching tight end, too, and wind ‘em up.

It’s only a one- or two-year shot, but Montana has made dreams come true before. The guy we saw in that fourth quarter of the 49ers’ regular-season finale was the same guy we saw win four Super Bowls.

Right now, the Chiefs need to do something dramatic to restore some faith. Just a suggestion.

IT’S POSSIBLE THAT the first two picks of the National Football League draft will be quarterbacks--Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe and Notre Dame’s Rick Mirer.

Bledsoe, a junior, announced Monday that he would forgo his senior season and enter the draft. Mirer is a senior.

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, who own the 1-2 spots in the draft, respectively, must address their quarterback needs. New England CEO Sam Jankovich reportedly attended Washington State’s victory over Utah in the Copper Bowl, a game in which Bledsoe passed for 476 yards.

Even if the Patriots and Seahawks want to beg out of the expensive quarterback race, a handful of general managers will trade up to select Bledsoe and Mirer.

And it’s almost a split vote on who is the better prospect. Funny enough, neither quarterback is a consensus “franchise” player.

“But they both might be,” one National Football Conference general manager says. “Bledsoe’s got a lot of physical ability. Mirer didn’t get the coaching he needed, but in time he could be like (Troy) Aikman.”

Miami’s Gino Torretta? He is rated no better than a fifth-round pick. Several personnel men did not think Torretta deserved the Heisman Trophy.

“The guy you saw in the Sugar Bowl is exactly what we expected,” one American Football Conference general manager says. “If the formula is a winning record, does that mean (Alabama’s) Jay Barker is a shoo-in next year?” Barker, a sophomore, is undefeated in two seasons as Alabama’s starter but is not considered a prospect.

Regardless, the first round of the draft should be outstanding. It has a little bit of everything.

Three great junior running backs were planning to enter the draft: Notre Dame’s Jerome Bettis (who committed Tuesday), Georgia’s Garrison Hearst and North Carolina’s Natrone Means. Bettis and Means weigh 250 pounds. Hearst is being compared with the Buffalo Bills’ Thurman Thomas.

The talent pool is not completely dominated by underclassmen. Alabama senior defensive end Eric Curry is being compared with Kansas City’s Neil Smith. Washington offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy will answer somebody’s prayers.

“When the dust settles on the (underclassmen) rush, this is going to be a lot better than we thought a few months ago,” one scout says.

THE DISTURBING Allegations from New York Jet defensive back Erik McMillan that NFL referee Larry Nemmers used a racial slur toward him do not appear headed for a decisive resolution.

League officials took the allegations seriously and reviewed all available game film. The league considered bringing in a professional lip reader, but the available video did not provide a front shot of Nemmers. The film apparently revealed that Nemmers told McMillan, “Get out of my face,” before Nemmers turned his body.

In an affidavit that was provided to the league, Jets defensive tackle Mario Johnson supported McMillan’s claims.

Nemmers denied the allegations and volunteered to take a lie detector test.

THERE IS NO doubt that run-and-shoot critics such as Walsh will say that the Houston Oilers’ shocking 41-38 overtime loss at Buffalo proves the offense is incapable of holding a lead and running out the clock. Sorry, that was a defensive collapse.

The point here is to give a push for Oilers offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride as a head-coaching candidate. Gilbride has made a fast recovery from surgery to remove a cancerous kidney in early December. Many Houston players believe he is the best leader on the Oilers’ coaching staff.

The Oilers think so much of Gilbride that they denied the Pittsburgh Steelers permission to interview him after Chuck Noll resigned a year ago. It was only after the Pittsburgh media reported the Houston blockade that the Oilers reluctantly granted permission.

Though the Steelers didn’t know much about Gilbride, 41, before the interview process, he shot way up on their list.

There was a hangup, of course. The run-and-shoot offense wasn’t their idea of football in the Steel City.

This is where Gilbride gets defensive about the run-and-shoot. For the past three seasons, the Oilers have ranked among the NFL’s top three offenses. During this period, they have rated highly in three critical offensive areas: points scored, time of possession and conversions in the red zone (inside the 20-yard line).

Yet, Gilbride is not married to the run-and-shoot. In previous college coaching jobs, he was on the cutting edge of the four-receiver attacks. He has run the option, the wing-T, all the conventional stuff. His track record is one of success.

Don’t forget, too, that Joe Gibbs primarily ran a pass-crazy offense as offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers under Don Coryell in 1979 and ’80. When the Redskins hired Gibbs in ‘81, he added his own touches with the tight ends and gave Washington a power style.

It doesn’t mean Gilbride would do the same. But take a young, bright mind with a great work ethic and leadership skills, and you have a pretty good head-coaching candidate. The doctors have given him a clean bill of health, so somebody better look at this guy.