Contender? Don’t Ask New Coach
The sound and fury of a busy Charger preseason has subsided. Did it signify nothing? Anything?
Will quarterback Jim McMahon rise again as Mad Mac, or will he spend more time flat on his back? Has defensive coordinator Ron Lynn brought his improved unit to a boil just in time for the Raiders Sunday, or will the defense’s lack of depth end up drowning the Chargers’ hopes in a shallow pool?
It’s time to dive in and test the water.
Is new Coach Dan Henning an offensive genius or just another guy who watches film and smokes a lot of cigarettes? Is the future of Steve Ortmayer, the team’s beleaguered director of football operations, tied to the trade that brought McMahon? Or will Alex Spanos bring in Bobby Beathard, the former Redskins’ general manager, to replace him next year no matter how the team does?
And speaking of Spanos, the team’s absentee owner, how much patience does he have left? Since he bought the Chargers from Gene Klein on Aug. 1, 1984, they have lost 13 more games than they have won and never finished higher than third in the AFC West.
For his part, these Chargers remind McMahon of the Chicago Bears in his third season there.
“I think this team is probably right where (the Bears) were in 1984,” McMahon says. “We (the Chargers) are good, but we don’t know how good we can be.”
The 1984 Bears were 10-6 and upset the Redskins at Washington in the playoffs before losing to the 49ers in the NFC championship game.
“Right now, these guys just have to believe they can win close games,” McMahon says. “I don’t know if they believe that yet. Shoot, that’s going to take time. Winning is contagious.”
Which is one of the main reasons the Chargers acquired McMahon. He knows how to win. He also knows the role leadership plays in shortening the gestation period of a team pregnant with potential.
Ask a Charger, any Charger, if they have the needed talent, and he will answer in the affirmative. Ask what must happen for that talent to coalesce, and most Chargers will cite on-field leadership.
“This team will be pretty good as long as it gets that togetherness,” running back Timmy Smith said moments after the Chargers cut him. “Once you have this team as a big family, everything will come together. But that’s still happening.”
Says rookie running back Marion Butts: “Some of the older guys have to stand up--guys like (veteran linebacker) Billy Ray Smith--guys you really look up to. That’s all we need here.”
Henning is more concerned with the tangibles. Such as an offense that finished 26th out 28 teams in total yardage last year. And a special teams unit that has a new coach, a new punter, a new kicker and a long snapper, Dennis McKnight, who injured his leg in the final exhibition game and will miss the whole year.
“I think our defense has come along fine,” Henning says. “And I think that’s due to the continuity in the staff and the system and the players. The other areas of concern--the offense and the special teams--is not at that level right now because of people changes.”
Lynn, a holdover from the staff of Al Saunders, Henning’s predecessor, will open with at least eight players who started at least one game last year. Newcomers who figure to be starters include veteran inside linebacker Jim Collins, the former Ram, and rookie defensive end Burt Grossman. Holdout interior lineman Joe Phillips probably won’t play until the Houston Oilers come to town next week.
“We aren’t the young pups we’ve been in the past on defense,” says Lee Williams, the Pro Bowl defensive end. “A lot of our guys are in their prime.”
On offense, a lot of guys are more into prime rib. Starting tackles Brett Miller and Joel Patten, both first-year Chargers, weigh a combined 607 pounds. Second-year player David Richards, converted from tackle to guard, weighs 310. H-back Joe Caravello, who caught six passes for 53 yards in the final exhibition game, weighs 270.
“It’s kind of comforting to see all that beef,” McMahon says.
The Charger backfield will feature another heavyweight and a sprite. Both are rookies. Marion Butts, 6-feet-1, 248, is a bruiser and a blocker. Dana Brinson, 5-9, 167, is the quickest player on the team and the reason the Chargers released popular Lionel (Little Train) James.
Gary Anderson, last year’s leading rusher, remains unsigned and says he wants to be traded. The Chargers publicly say they won’t oblige. Privately, they aren’t so sure Anderson would be anything more than a situation player in Henning’s offense anyway.
Gone, too, from last year are a bunch of other guys who started at least one game. The list includes quarterback Mark Malone (waived), kicker Vince Abbott (waived), defensive end Keith Baldwin (waived), running back Curtis Adams (waived), linebacker Keith Browner (drug suspension), tackle John Clay (waived), tackle Ken Dalliafor (Plan B free agency), linebacker Chuck Faucette (waived), linebacker Jeff Jackson (waived), H-back Anthony Jones (Plan B free agency), defensive end Tyrone Keys (waived), tackle Gary Kowalski (waived), quarterback Babe Laufenberg (waived), safety Pat Miller (waived), punter Ralf Mojsiejenko (traded), running back Barry Redden (traded), center Dan Rosado (waived) and defensive end Karl Wilson (waived).
The Henning broom swept clean.
And the area that suffered was special teams. Chris Bahr, the new kicker, missed a 25-yarder and a 43-yarder last Friday night against the Cardinals. In the same game, Lewis Colbert, the new punter, averaged 36.3 yards on three kicks; another was blocked.
“Monumental,” said Henning when pressed for an adjective to describe the changes in the special teams.
How many games will the 1989 Chargers win? How many do they need to win? Ask Henning that question, and his answer will be: Enough to make the playoffs.
OK, we’ll bite. How many victories will it take to make the playoffs?
In the underachieving AFC West, that number could be as small as eight. The team that goes 9-7 will probably earn at least a share of the division title.
Seattle needed four touchdown passes and 410 yards passing from Dave Krieg in the Coliseum on the last day of the 1988 season to beat the Raiders, 43-37, finish two games above .500 and win the first division title in franchise history.
Krieg is the NFL’s fourth-ranked passer of all time and the primary reason the Seahawks are the choice of most experts to repeat.
Denver, 8-8 last season after conference championships in 1986 and 1987, is rebuilding. Franchise quarterback John Elway enters his seventh season (“Hard to believe,” he says) and has the scars to show it. Elway underwent off-season surgery to remove a bursa sac from his right elbow. Like McMahon, Elway is aging. But Elway’s 54 victories over the past five years are more than any other NFL quarterback.
Kansas City has a new head coach in Marty Schottenheimer, who was a candidate to replace Al Saunders before his demands turned off Alex Spanos. Interesting how Schottenheimer then hired Saunders to coach his receivers. What Schottenheimer doesn’t have is a quarterback. His choices: Steve DeBerg, 35, or Ron Jaworski, 38.
That leaves the Raiders, who lost all four of their exhibition games, didn’t get running back Marcus Allen in camp until September and can’t be sure when Bo Jackson-Of-All-Trades will show up in a football uniform.
So again, Dan Henning, what kind of things do your Chargers have to do win more games than the other teams in the division?
“Score more points than the other teams,” he says.
And how will you do that?
“If they have seven, you have to have nine or 10. It’s pretty difficult to get eight. If they have 17, you got to have 18. And so on.”
In short, Henning says, the Chargers have to play “better football.”
And this is a coach who hasn’t lost a game yet in the AFC West. When he wants to, Henning can be downright charming, a regular raconteur. On other occasions, such as the instance above, he can make former Charger Coach Al Saunders--the vanilla king--sound like William Jennings Bryan.
“I think it’s an accurate description to say the division is up for grabs,” Williams says. “This is a team that can grab it. And this is a team ready to do it.”
“To me,” McMahon says, “this division is pretty evenly matched. Close games are going to decide who’s going to win.”
They don’t come any closer than the final exhibition game, in which McMahon came off the bench with one second showing on the clock and threw a fourth-and-goal, four-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Early to beat the Phoenix Cardinals 21-20.
This was all well and good. But the Chargers got McMahon because he is as stable on the field and he is unstable off it. He’s the prototypal NFL possession quarterback--low interception percentage, avoids sacks and has nice touch. Plus, he is probably the best ball-handler in the league, an attribute you almost never hear scouts discuss.
Buddy Ryan, defensive coordinator for the Bears when they won Super Bowl XX, often acknowledged McMahon as one of that team’s most valuable defenders. When the offense is on the field, the defense can’t give up any yards, much less points.
Ron Lynn, as thoughtful as Ryan is crusty, feels much the same way.
“If he can do those same things here,” Lynn says, “it’s obviously going to benefit our football team. Look at the offense he ran in Chicago. The structure of it was such that they didn’t turn the ball over. And that was because they made their decisions on first down. They didn’t try to force things. They’d rather have a second-and-10 than turn the ball over.
“McMahon is experienced enough to know when, how and why he’s doing what he’s doing. I see him being able to do that in the structure of our offense even though the formations and alignments are different. The philosophy is similar.”