Chargers Hope to Take Second Step in Climb : Pro football: Buoyed by victory over Raiders, they play Rams today.
ANAHEIM — The Chargers have history to draw on, and it has boosted their confidence while becoming their outline for success for the remainder of the season.
The Chargers last season faltered early, fell to 1-4, but recovered to stand 5-5 as they made preparations to play the Kansas City Chiefs in a key AFC West Division encounter.
The 1991 Chargers (1-5), who today face the injury-riddled Rams (2-3) at Anaheim Stadium, will complete a death-march assignment that has included five of seven games on the road.
The Chargers, of course, are counting on a victory over the Rams, and are aware of a kindly turn in their upcoming schedule that affords them the opportunity to climb to 5-5, as they did a year ago.
After playing the Rams, the Chargers will return home to play the Browns, then will have a bye week between back-to-back games with the Seahawks. Six of the Chargers’ final nine games will be played at home.
“We’re searching for answers, but hopefully in about five weeks we’ll have them,” linebacker Junior Seau said. “We got a taste of hope with that win (over the Raiders), and I still believe there’s a chance to get a playoff berth.”
A 21-13 victory against the Raiders has left some of the Chargers looking starry-eyed. They had lost eight consecutive games, the longest losing streak in the NFL at the time, and one victory later, it’s happy days are here again.
“The schedule looks good now, but I think that’s been one of the problems ever since I’ve been here,” defensive end Burt Grossman said. “Every time you win one game, people think you have turned the corner.
“Look at the big picture. We’re still 1-5, and we still have a long way to go. The schedule may be favorable, but I’m sure the Raiders were saying that last week when they were playing us.”
The Chargers have not demonstrated much respect for the Rams this week. Several of the defenders were surprised to learn that Robert Delpino has replaced Cleveland Gary as the Rams’ primary running back.
“I think it’s a valid statement that this team has to guard against going into Anaheim and being lackadaisical or complacent,” linebacker Gary Plummer said, “because it was a heckuva win last week, and it was like we won a championship after it was over.”
The Rams’ schedule has allowed for a week off to prepare for the rejuvenated Chargers. And the Rams have experienced defeat compliments of the Chargers. The Rams were 7-4 in 1988 and favorites in Anaheim to defeat the Chargers, who were 3-8. But San Diego starting quarterback Mark Vlasic led the Chargers to a 38-24 victory.
“Hey, we haven’t turned any corner around here, other than maybe the corner of complete devastation,” defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. “We got five weeks (defeats) to make up with only 11 to go.”
The Chargers will keep pounding for respectability, and will do so with the No. 1 rushing attack in the league. The running game has averaged a league-high 5.1 yards a carry, and will be matched against a defense that has allowed but 3.9 yards a rush.
The Rams, who have failed to score a touchdown in first- and fourth-quarter play this season, would like to counter with a running game in conjunction with the effective passing of quarterback Jim Everett.
However, Everett remains the only starting quarterback in the league not to have thrown a touchdown pass this season.
“I believe my confidence is coming back,” Everett said.
Everett, who threw 83 touchdown passes in the past three seasons, has completed 55% of his passes this season, but has been sacked a dozen times while throwing five interceptions.
The Pittsburgh Steelers ended a four-game scoring drought last season at the expense of the Chargers, and the Falcons’ 19-game losing streak on the road came to a close with a 13-10 victory in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium earlier this season.
“I see them (Rams) much more capable of exploding (than Pittsburgh) because they have a history of that sort of thing with Everett and his receivers,” Coach Dan Henning said. “Pittsburgh hadn’t had that with (Bubby) Brister. With two weeks to get it straightened, we’ve got to keep them from getting hot right away.”
In Everett’s only previous appearance against the Chargers, he completed 17 of 34 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“The odds probably indicate that he will throw a touchdown this week,” Lynn said, “but we’re going to do our damnest not to allow it.
“They’ve been real sporadic in terms of their performance. They’ve had so many different guys roll through in the offensive line, I think that’s been the key factor.”
In addition to the Rams difficulty in fielding the same offensive line two weeks in a row, they have lost wide receiver Flipper Anderson with a knee injury, cornerback and first-round pick Todd Lyght with an ankle sprain and dependable third-down pass catching specialist Pete Holohan to the Chiefs via Plan B free agency.
“I think the loss of Holohan has, if not disrupted, at least slown down some of their intermediate passing game,” Lynn said. “Jim used to know he could go to Pete and know Pete was going to make a helluva catch and be in the right spot in the right place in time.”
Delpino is the Rams’ leading receiver with 19 catches, and the team’s leading rusher with 293 yards on 83 carries for an average gain of 3.5 yards an attempt. He’s scored all five of the Rams’ touchdowns this season.
“They’re basically in the same boat as we are,” Grossman said. “If you’re 1-5 or 2-3, it’s basically the same thing. Both teams need a win, and somebody has to lose and catch a lot of flak on Monday.
“It’s hard to say how we’re going to react. You don’t know whether last week was something where everybody just hated the Raiders and were so hungry for a win, and then we get the win, and what happens after that? Are guys satisfied with that?”
