Now Hear This: Chiefs Clobber Penalty-Ridden Chargers, 31-3

This wasn’t a football game. It was a rock concert with helmets and shoulder pads.

The San Diego Chargers, deafened by the roar of 77,196 Kansas City fans, committed a team-record 19 penalties Thursday night, including eight false starts and one delay of game, and virtually handed the Chiefs and their full-throated followers a 31-3 victory.

“They were deaf,” Kansas City linebacker Anthony Davis said. “They couldn’t hear their quarterback, so they were looking at us. When we moved, they would move, and they’d be offsides.”

“It was pandemonium,” Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “You couldn’t hear a thing out there.”

The confused, distressed Chargers (3-4) were three penalties short of the 53-year-old NFL record for a game shared by the Chicago Bears and Brooklyn Dodgers. The Chargers’ previous record for penalties was 15 against Indianapolis last year. They came within three yards of matching the team record of 149 penalty yards, set while playing the New York Jets in 1963.

“[The crowd] caused a lot of our penalties,” said quarterback Jim Everett, who had to replace the injured Stan Humphries. “We never adjusted to it.”

Said San Diego guard Isaac Davis: “The crowd was a big factor, especially when we got backed up. It was hard to hear. Next time we will be prepared.”

Andre Rison caught two touchdown passes as the Chiefs (5-2) romped to a 24-0 halftime lead while beating San Diego for the 10th time in the Chargers’ last 13 trips to Kansas City.

San Diego lost the battle on both sides of the line all night and lost Humphries late in the first quarter when two tacklers hit him almost simultaneously and put him out with a mild concussion.

While building the halftime lead, the Chiefs benefited from Darren Bennett’s punts of 30 and 29 yards, an interception thrown by Everett, an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Junior Seau on one touchdown drive and a pass-interference call against Dwayne Harper on another. The Chargers drew 11 penalties for 100 yards in the first half.

“For us to play as poorly as we did was very disappointing,” Charger Coach Kevin Gilbride said. “We allowed the crowd to disrupt us, and that can’t happen at this level.”

Rison caught touchdown passes of 10 and five yards from Elvis Grbac in a 17-point second quarter. Grbac, who hurt the Chargers all game with his scrambling, got the first touchdown in the first quarter on a one-yard run.

After Grbac scrambled for seven yards on third-and-six in the second quarter, Seau was flagged for 15 yards for falling on him after he went down with a hook slide. A few minutes later, Rison beat Harper in the end zone.

“We just did the things that we do well,” Rison said. “Our offensive line gave Elvis plenty of time.”

Bennett’s short punt gave the Chiefs the ball on the San Diego 36 late in the third quarter and a 15-yard pass-interference penalty on Harper put the ball on the five. A moment later, Rison had his second touchdown.

Mark McMillian’s interception set up Pete Stoyanovich’s 45-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half.

After Donnie Edwards’ interception gave the Chiefs the ball on the San Diego 29 in the fourth quarter, Marcus Allen scored career rushing touchdown No. 116 from six yards out.

Greg Davis’ 26-yard field goal in the third period kept the Chargers from getting shut out.

Rison finished with eight catches for 86 yards.

“That big guy, Elvis, he’s alive,” Rison said. “I think everybody should write something great about that tomorrow.”