PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : Chargers Still Are No Match for 49ers

Even with nothing at stake, the San Francisco 49ers still dominated the San Diego Chargers. Nearly seven months after embarrassing the Chargers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX, the 49ers won Sunday night’s exhibition game, 17-6, at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It was San Francisco’s fifth consecutive exhibition victory over the Chargers and eighth in a row overall, including January’s Super Bowl and a 38-15 victory in December.

The highlight came nine plays in when 49er quarterback Steve Young scrambled for nine yards without his helmet. The left-handed Young dropped back to pass on third-and-10 from the Charger 19, and San Diego safety Rodney Harrison ripped off his helmet on a blind-side blitz. Young nonetheless scrambled through the left side for nine yards, covering his head with one arm as he dove headfirst at the end of the play.

Young played three series and was seven for 10 for 71 yards. He was the game’s leading rusher with 27 yards in five carries.

Pro Bowl selection Natrone Means had a forgettable exhibition debut, gaining only two yards in eight carries. Third-string quarterback Jeff Brohm led the Chargers with 25 yards from four rushes.

Former UCLA star J.J. Stokes, a San Diego native drafted by the 49ers in the first round with an eye to someday replacing Jerry Rice, caught three passes for 32 yards.

*

Brett Favre and Kevin Greene led a long injury list as the Green Bay Packers beat the fumble-fingered Pittsburgh Steelers, 36-13, in an exhibition game played in 93-degree heat and uncomfortable humidity at Three Rivers Stadium.

With both teams laboring in a late-summer game moved to an afternoon start to accommodate NBC, Green Bay turned five Pittsburgh turnovers--three in a span of 4:36--and a safety into all but three of its points.

But the Packers lost Favre, their two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, to a concussion when he was leveled by a second-quarter blindside hit by All-Pro linebacker Greg Lloyd. Favre, who already had thrown for a touchdown, watched the rest of the game from the sideline.

Four other Packers left with various injuries, and Greene, the Steelers’ All-Pro linebacker and the 1994 NFL sacks leader, broke his left hand in the first half. The Steelers also lost top receiver Charles Johnson, who sprained his right ankle.

The defeat was the Steelers’ worst home-field exhibition loss since moving into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970. They lost two fumbles, threw an interception and had fallen behind, 20-7, by halftime.

*

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, responded with indignation to charges of shortsightedness leveled by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and hinted that Tagliabue should refrain from reprimanding owners who are responsible for paying his salary.

Tagliabue criticized Jones on Friday for a 10-year, $40-million deal the Dallas owner made with Pepsi-Cola as the official drink of Texas Stadium after the NFL had reached a lucrative agreement with Coca-Cola.

Tagliabue said Jones’ action in trying to promote the Cowboys as a separate entity outside the NFL promotional framework was short-sighted and self-serving at best and unfair and destructive at worst.

“I’m disappointed with the commissioner for making those remarks,” Jones said. “Among his many duties--that I and 29 other owners pay him to do--is to promote the NFL, its ownership, management, coaching and players, not to make disparaging remarks.”