For Fontes, It Was Hail of a Time for Timeout

Applications to coach the Detroit Lions will most likely be accepted soon at 1200 Featherstone Rd., Pontiac, MI 48342.

References not as important as knowing not to call a timeout when leading, 14-10, with 37 seconds remaining in the first half, thereby giving the other team, which has no timeouts remaining, at least three more downs and a rainbow heave to the end zone to grab the lead.

Prior experience obviously did not factor into Wayne Fontes’ and his team’s decision Monday night, and as a result, the coaching faux pas propelled the Chargers to a 27-21 victory over the Lions before 60,425 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Lions’ timeout--called, Fontes said later, because his team had 12 men on the field--coupled oddly enough with an offside call on San Diego center Courtney Hall two plays later, gave the Chargers two prized seconds and one more chance to score before halftime.

The Chargers had the ball at their own 48-yard line after a 12-yard loss on first down, and 37 seconds remaining in the half with no timeouts. Fontes said defensive back Corey Raymond “noticed a problem” on the field and signaled for the timeout.

The Chargers regrouped and gained 11 yards on the following play and faced third and 17 at the Detroit 41 with the clock running down inside 12 seconds. Hall snapped the ball to quarterback Stan Humphries, but referee Dale Hamer called Hall for offsides, and by rule, ran 10 seconds off the clock. With no chance to work the ball into field-goal position for John Carney, the Chargers had to go for the end zone.

This appeared to confuse Fontes & Co., who sent 12 men on the field, including wide receiver and former college high jumper Herman Moore, to defend the final play. Humphries, meanwhile, let loose with a “Hail Mary” pass to the corner of the end zone.

“There was miscommunication before the play even started,” said Lion defensive back Ryan McNeil, who had been beaten earlier in the half by Tony Martin for a 32-yard touchdown. “I’d rather not say what it was.”

McNeil, in position to make an interception, raised his arms and leaped to make the catch, but the ball sailed through McNeil’s make-shift uprights untouched and into the chest of Charger wide receiver Andre Coleman for a 46-yard touchdown to give San Diego a 17-14 lead.

“Andre’s catch was huge,” said Charger cornerback Dwayne Harper. “It was the big play of the game.”

The big play of the game was Coleman’s first NFL receiving touchdown, and probably the last chapter in Fontes’ rocky 66-66 career as Detroit’s head coach.

“We’re not out of it by any stretch of imagination,” said Fontes, who was not kidding. “We’re 4-6 and we’re not counting ourselves out.”

The Lions, who won seven in a row a year ago after owner William Clay Ford’s “make the playoffs or else” ultimatum, earned a stay of firing for Fontes. But this season they have not defeated a team with a winning record. And the Lions are now--at best--two games out of the running for the final NFC wild-card spot.

“I’m not going to put my head down,” Fontes said. “And I’m not going to let my team see me with my head down.”

Before dismissing this loss, however, Fontes provided one more coaching decision to be challenged. Trailing, 27-14, with a first down on the Charger seven-yard line, Fontes had the Lions use their second timeout with 2:04 remaining rather than allow the clock to move to the two-minute warning.

Quarterback Don Majkowski, who replaced Scott Mitchell, who re-injured a pulled rib muscle in the third quarter, threw an incomplete pass to Brett Perriman in the end zone, and then the Lions were given the two-minute warning. Two plays later Majkowski connected with Perriman, and Detroit’s opportunity to win rested on recovering the onside kick and going to work with one timeout.

But why beat a dead coach? Charger linebacker Junior Seau ran forward, caught the onside kick and then fired a perfect pass 40 rows into the stands to register the timeout controversy a moot point.

One bad note for the Chargers was tight end Alfred Pupunu suffering a broken ankle.