Henning’s Bouquet: Many Mums : Chargers: In the wake of another defeat for his team the coach responds with thinly-veiled contempt for the media.
SAN DIEGO — Charger Coach Dan Henning squinted into the white hot glare of a 4-9 record and a three-game losing streak Monday afternoon and groped for answers.
After announcing that rookie quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver will start against the Redskins Sunday in Washington, Henning was asked by reporters what encouragement he might offer long-suffering Charger fans, who haven’t supported a playoff team since 1982.
“Pardon me,” Henning said grimly, “while I laugh.”
Henning wasn’t laughing figuratively at Charger fans so much as he was laughing at what he perceives to be the impossibility of anything he says being relayed to the public through the media without being distorted.
“Sometimes when I give an opinion,” he said, “it’s misrepresented.”
Why, he was asked, should season ticket holders go see the Chargers, who have one home game remaining--Dec. 24 against Denver?
“It would depend on why I bought the season ticket in the first place,” he said.
It was classic Henning. He can be a charming guy in private. But when pushed in public about the repeated failures of his team, he responds with thinly-veiled contempt.
“I watch the Chargers because that’s my job,” he said. “I go every Sunday.”
Henning pointed out that the Chargers have gone 12 weeks in a row without losing a game by more than seven points. “Not too many other teams can say that,” he said.
The problem with that logic is that not too many teams can say their last seven losses have been by by an average of 3.85 points.
Then a reporter asked Henning to assess the job he has done in his first year as head coach of the Chargers. You could have read War And Peace during the pause Henning took before answering that one.
“That question and the answer to it--if the answer came from me--is irrelevant,” he said. “What I think of what I’ve done will have no bearing except for me and my coaches on winning and losing. Other than that, we evaluate ourselves and try to win football games.
“Other people (Steve Ortmayer and Alex Spanos) will make determinations and suggestions based on their perceptions.”
Ortmayer, the team’s director of football operations, has refused public comment on the team to newspaper reporters for weeks. Spanos, the team’s owner, does not live in the San Diego area and usually deflects questions about the Chargers by saying, “You’ll have to ask Steve.”
Henning said he has not decided whether he will start Tolliver the rest of the year. The man Tolliver replaced, Jim McMahon, started warming up on the sidelines several times during the loss to the Jets.
Henning said Monday he never instructed McMahon to warm up. Which means McMahon’s actions were a little like a baseball relief pitcher heating up in the bullpen because he thinks the starting pitcher isn’t going to last much longer.
Henning said he didn’t see anything inappropriate in McMahon’s actions. McMahon, another member of the Charger menagerie who doesn’t speak to newspaper reporters, was unavailable for comment.
Henning announced there will be at least three lineup changes for the Redskins game. Rookie Marion Butts, whose 40-yard touchdown run against the Jets was the highlight of the game for the Chargers, will replace Tim Spencer in the backfield.
Veteran Brett Miller will return at right tackle after a one-week benching necessitated by Henning’s desire to look at former first-rounder James FitzPatrick. And free agent rookie Wayne Walker, a teammate of Tolliver’s at Texas Tech will replace wide receiver Jamie Holland, the Chargers’ leading receiver last year.
“Wayne has made some plays and I’d like to see more of him,” Henning said of Walker. “Fitz (FitzPatrick) didn’t play well enough to merit another start. He had a number of shortcomings.”
But somehow the questions kept coming back to Henning and his growing number of critics. Earlier this year Henning said his wife was his toughest critic.
Asked what his wife thought of the job he has done this year, he said: “She doesn’t think I’ve been home enough. That’s the one thing she concerns herself with.”
Charger Notes
After Sunday’s NFL games, Chargers Lee Williams (12) and Leslie O’Neal (10.5) rank 1-2 in AFC sacks. . . . Charger Coach Dan Henning reported no serious injuries from Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Jets. Defensive lineman George Hinkle and linebacker David Brandon suffered pulled muscles. . . . Washington, the Chargers’ next opponent, ranks second in the NFC in total offense and fourth in defense yet the Redskins are just 7-6. . . . Henning on the boos that cascaded down upon Billy Joe Tolliver during the Jets’ loss: “I told the player (Tolliver) when you don’t play well, you’re gonna get booed. When (Miami quarterback) Dan Marino doesn’t play well, after eight years in the league, he gets booed. Your job is to play well. The boos didn’t bother me and they didn’t bother Billy either. They probably juiced him up a little bit.” Tolliver threw two interceptions and got sacked five times.
