Only Fouts Gets Cheers in Defeat
SAN DIEGO — They cheered Dan Fouts Sunday. They booed Alex Spanos, owner of the team that Fouts left behind.
It wasn’t hard to figure out why.
Fouts has his health, a handsome family and a bright future as a CBS-TV pro football analyst. The people who came to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to see his jersey (No. 14) retired at halftime have pleasant memories of his 15-year career.
The Chargers he left behind have enough injuries to fill a hospital ward, lack of direction and no immediate future to speak of.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers showed them just how wide the gulf is between a playoff team and a castoff team by trashing the Chargers, 48-10, in rather perfunctory men-against-boys fashion.
“They’re damned good,” said Charger Coach Al Saunders of the 49ers.
Charger defensive lineman Joe Phillips put it another way: “We got our doors blown off.”
Even the normally reliable Charger defense caved in under the avalanche that was the 49er offense.
San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana--like Fouts, a future Hall of Famer--completed 14 of 22 passes for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns. San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice, the NFL’s leading scorer last year, caught 6 passes for 171 yards. San Francisco running back Roger Craig, the NFL’s third-leading rusher, led all ballcarriers with 87 yards in 17 attempts. San Francisco kicker Mike Cofer, a candidate for NFC offensive rookie of the year, converted field goals of 45 and 32 yards.
Rice caught 2 of the Montana touchdown passes, a 96-yarder in the first period and a 41-yarder in the third. The 96-yarder was the longest in the history of the 49ers’ franchise. And it happened because strong safety Martin Bayless failed to adjust from a 3-deep zone to a 2-deep zone when the 49ers sent their tight end in motion before the snap.
“Nobody to blame but me,” Bayless said.
The 41-yarder occurred when Montana caught the Chargers in a blitz that left cornerback Sam Seale 1-on-1 against Rice. Seale overran the play and Rice made a leaping catch at the 5-yard line before falling into the end zone.
The 49ers gained 475 yards, the most against the Chargers this year. The 48 points were another season high for a Charger opponent.
“We were shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Ron Lynn, Charger defensive coordinator. “One foul-up compounded the next and then bam-bam-bam, it became just what we feared.”
The score was 24-7 after 30 minutes and any doubt about the final outcome disappeared long before the teams returned to the field for the third period. So the 51,484 in attendance chanted, “We want Fouts! We want Fouts! We want Fouts!” before the second-half kickoff.
Instead they got Mark Malone and Babe Laufenberg.
Malone, the starter, completed 17 of 32 passes for 136 yards. But he threw 2 interceptions and gave way to Laufenberg in the final period. Laufenberg, playing for the first time in 3 weeks, connected on 6 of 13 for 43 yards.
This is the same crowd that, moments before calling for Fouts, had booed Spanos on 3 different occasions during halftime. It was not a pretty sight. But it was not unexpected. Charger officials warned Spanos it would happen.
“Crowds always boo authority figures,” said Rick Smith, the team’s public relations director. “The only guy who wouldn’t have been booed out there is the Pontiff.”
“The fans were booing us, too,” Phillips said. “And we deserve it.”
The loss snapped a 2-game Charger winning streak and dropped them to 4-9. Which means, in case anybody was still wondering, they are dead in the playoff water. They are 1-5 at home this season and have managed only 3 offensive touchdowns and 48 total points in those games. The 49ers (8-5) won their second in a row.
“Maybe we ought to be like the Globetrotters and take it on the road,” Laufenberg said.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have won 13 of their last 16 on the road but were impressed by little they did or saw.
“It wasn’t an artistic game,” said 49er Coach Bill Walsh.
“It was the ugliest 48 points we ever scored,” 49er center Randy Cross said.
“The later you get in the season, some of the teams that don’t have the experience get a little shaky and may even fold,” 49er safety Jeff Fuller said.
The 96-yard touchdown pass to Rice gave San Francisco a 7-0 lead which grew to 14-0 on Craig’s 1-yard dive 3 minutes into the second period. Craig’s touchdown came 3 plays after 49er safety Ronnie Lott intercepted a Malone pass and returned it to the Charger 23.
The interception looked suspiciously like a pass forced into the teeth of a well-conceived coverage. Malone said offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome later told him he thought Lott had blown his coverage and ended up in the right place by accident.
The Chargers rallied briefly on a 36-yard touchdown run by Malone made possible by an inside fake to tailback Gary Anderson from the shotgun formation on third and 7. Instead of handing off to Anderson, Malone executed a beautiful naked bootleg and wasn’t touched until the 2, where he jumped over cornerback Eric Wright.
Moments later, San Francisco scored on a 2-yard, left-handed, shuttle pass from Montana to Craig. The 49ers added a 7-yard Craig touchdown run in the third period and a 37-yard scoring sweep by Doug Dubose with less than 3 minutes to play.
Charger kicker Steve DeLine converted a 23-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.
Charger Notes
Despite a sore hip, Charger linebacker Gary Plummer started and tied for the team lead in tackles with 5. . . . Charger defensive end Lee Williams, who entered the game leading the AFC with 10 sacks, did not add to his total. Tyrone Keys and Leslie O’Neal, with 1 each, had the only Charger sacks. . . . The Charger defense that had allowed 1 rushing touchdown in its last 5 games allowed 3 against the 49ers. . . . Charger H-back Rod Bernstine led all receivers with 9 catches for 80 yards. . . . The Chargers no longer are the lowest-scoring team in the league. Going into this week, they had 167 points to Detroit’s 168. But the Vikings blanked the Lions on Thanksgiving. . . . Gary Anderson led all Charger running backs with 61 yards in 14 carries. But he had only 1 yard on 1 second-half rush. His fumble at the 49ers’ 18 ruined a smooth Charger drive that started on their 29 after the opening kickoff. Larry Roberts recovered for the 49ers. . . . The Chargers converted 7 of 16 third downs but allowed the 49ers to be successful on 8 of 13.
