Men on a mission

Sporting News, The, Oct 17, 1994 by Bob Nightengale

The folks in these parts have always prided themselves in believing they live in "america's Finest City." They boast about the gorgeous weather and sandy beaches. They tell you the only smog is 90 miles north in Los Angeles. Crime hardly exists outside the inner city.

Yet there always has been something missing in their lives, a terrible, dreadful void that always was a source of embarrassment. It was the idea, that well, this is a rotten sports town.

This town, for all intents and purposes, lost its Padres baseball team when it was stripped and sold for parts during the 1993 season. The major university in town, San Diego State, has produced only one bowl team in seven years, despite playing in the Western Athletic Conference. The victories by the San Diego State basketball program annually can be counted on one hand. The clippers bolted out of town years ago. And the town never did have an NHL team.

Why, the only true championship team this town has ever possessed was the San Diego Sockers. They won 10 indoor soccer championships, for anyone that cared. And even that, for crying outloud, vanished when the league folded.

"This town has got nothing but us," Chargers defensive tackle Reuben Davis says. "That's why this is so beautiful to see. I can see it now. Everyone can see it.

"This town is ready to explode, and baby, ain't it going to be something when it happens."

The Charges, the team that everyone was picking for last in the AFC West, the team that failed to sell out its home opener, the team that has a surfer for a general manager and a coach whose wardrobe appears to be from the Salvation Army, is leading the football world with a 5-0 record.

The Chargers, just in case anyone had any doubts, are for real.

The Chargers manhandled the Chiefs last Sunday, 20-6, dominating them in every aspect of the game. They shoved the Chiefs around on the line of scrimmage. Running back Natrone Means rushed for a career-high 125 yards, nearly twice the entire output of the Chiefs' 64-yard total. The defense kept the Chiefs from scoring a touchdown, with quarterback Joe Montana being shut out a second consecutive game. And the Chargers' only sins were one turnover and a 5-yard penalty.

"I guess this was the game people were going to judge us by," says Means, who has scored a touchdown in eight consecutive games. "This is the game that people are going to say,' The Chargers are for real.'"

The Chargers, off to their best start since 1961, entered the game with precious few believers, Sure, they had already won three division games--all on the road--but Denver and the Raiders hardly are playing like anyone expected. Everyone is beating Cincinnati. and no one ca figure out Seattle.

Besides, the Chiefs had defeated the Chargers eight consecutive times in the regular season. It hardly mattered to anyone that the Chargers beat Kansas city when it counted, in the 1992 playoffs, as they were constantly reminded of their futility. If they were going to gain any respect in the AFC, and truly believe for themselves they were for real, they would finally have to beat the Chiefs.

"This is a bigger win for us than anyone will ever know," defensive end Leslie O'Neal says. "K.C. was the team a lot of people picked to win it all. We beat Denver and the Raiders, but no one gave us much credit because those guys aren't doing too hot.

"This was the game that we proved that we're for real."

"It's been a joke listening to these NFL shows," Davis says. "We've been picked to lose almost every game this year. I watched Inside the NFL,' after we beat Denver, and they gave us about 10 seconds of air time. It's like, Oh, we're the Chargers, nobody gives damn about them.'

"That's why i quit watching TV. I quit reading the papers. If people don't take us seriously now, they're in for a big surprise."

Cornerback Darrien Gordon, who intercepted one pass and made life miserable all day for Montana, says, "The only people who believed in us were ourselves. So we're just going to keep the train rolling, and if anyone wants to get on board, that's fine by us."

The Chargers drew a regular-season record crowd of62,923 for the Chiefs game. Scalpers attracted as much as $400 for a ticket. One radio show sponsored a contest guessing who would be the defensive player to knock Montana out of the game. And a father and son each painted themselves in blue an gold.

"Sometimes," Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries says, "I have trouble believing all of this myself."

Of course, if it weren't for Humphries, none of this would be possible. This is a franchise that haws desperately searched for a quarterback since the day Dan Fouts retired. It tried Mark Herrmann, Babe Laufenberg, Mark Malone, Mark Vlasic, Jim McMahon, Billy Gagliano, Jeff Graham, Pat O'Hara... Bob Gagliano, Jeff Graham, Pat O'Hara until Humphries came along.

In fact, if it wasn't for a season-ending knee injury that Friesz suffered in the first exhibition game of the 1992 season, Humphries figures he would be out of football by now. "Probably another year or two with the Redskins," he says, "and I might have been washed out of the league and never heard of again."