PRO FOOTBALL ’95 : Bono Stars as the Starter for Chiefs

No Joe? So?

Steve Bono, Joe Montana’s understudy in both San Francisco and Kansas City, ruined Dennis Erickson’s NFL coaching debut, leading the Chiefs over the Seattle Seahawks, 34-10, Sunday.

Bono, now in his 10th year out of UCLA, completed 18 of 23 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns in his 12th NFL start.

Willie Davis, a fourth-year pro, caught touchdown passes on plays of 60 and 40 yards in the first half, Tamarick Vanover returned the second-half kickoff 99 yards, and Lake Dawson caught a 16-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

“Everybody has been saying we lost Joe and Bono was untested,” said Davis, who had six receptions for 155 yards. “Well, we all knew what Bono can do. We all think he can take us to the Super Bowl.”

Said Bono: “I came here to play well and to show my teammates what I could do.”

Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer said, “Probably the only way to be better than Steve was to be 33 for 33. Steve Bono throws the deep ball very, very well.”

Bono found Davis wide open in the secondary on their 60-yard touchdown play 11 minutes into the game. Davis caught the ball at the Seattle 27 on his way to the end zone.

“I said to myself, ‘Don’t miss him,’ ” Bono said. “I knew Willie wasn’t going to miss it.”

The Chiefs made the score 17-3 on the 40-yard Bono-to-Davis pass. The ball was slightly under thrown, but Davis was able to reach back and catch it against cornerback Carlton Gray.

“I’ve been working on going up for the ball all training camp,” Davis said.

Ahead, 20-3, at halftime, Kansas City stunned the Seahawks on the second-half kickoff when Vanover, who spent the 1994 season with the Las Vegas Posse in the Canadian Football League, sprinted up the left sideline for his 99-yard touchdown.

It was an embarrassing debut for Erickson, who coached the University of Miami to two national championships. The Seahawks took the opening kickoff and set up Todd Peterson for a 49-yard field goal, but they didn’t score again until backup John Friesz passed to Brian Blades for a 21-yard touchdown with 2:52 remaining.

“It was embarrassing,” said Rick Mirer, Seattle’s starting quarterback who finished 19 of 37 for 209 yards. “It was ugly.”