With Apologies, Chargers Drop to 0-3 : Pro football: Ross says he’s embarrassed after Chargers lose, 23-6, to Pittsburgh Steelers.
SAN DIEGO — Thank heavens for the easiest schedule in the NFL.
It does get easier, doesn’t it?
Surely, things can’t get much worse.
“I apologize to our management and our ownership and to the people in San Diego for the poor performance,” Coach Bobby Ross said after the Steelers thrashed the Chargers, 23-6, in front of 46,127 fans Sunday in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. “At the end we really self-destructed. When those things happen you have to point first and foremost to the guy who is in charge of that, and that’s me.
“I was embarrassed. I don’t like football teams to play that way that I’m supposedly coaching.”
The Chargers dropped to 0-3, matching their 1991 start, when they went on to lose their first five games. The underdog Steelers, under new Coach Bill Cowher, improved to 3-0.
“In the second half it was about as ugly a football game as a professional ballclub can play,” said Charger running back Rod Bernstine. “I don’t know what happened in the locker room at halftime, but we didn’t do a thing right in the second half.”
The Chargers trailed the Steelers 7-6 at halftime, and were in position to move ahead midway through the third quarter. Cornerback Gill Byrd recovered a Barry Foster fumble at the Steelers’ 38-yard line, and the fans roared their approval.
Bernstine gained 22 yards on a pair of runs, but then the Chargers’ offense ran into difficulty. On third and 11 from the Steelers’ 17-yard line, quarterback Stan Humphries completed a pass to wide receiver Stan Jefferson.
Jefferson needed two more yards for the first down, but he went to the sideline without a fight, leaving the Chargers with fourth and two from the Steelers’ eight-yard line.
“I called him (Jefferson) aside and asked how far were you away from the first down,” said Ross. “Did you know where you were? I just said, ‘If you can go and get that first down. It’s important. Scratch, crawl, dig, whatever, try and get that first down.”
The fans shouted for the Chargers to go for it, but after a momentary delay, Ross sent in kicker John Carney.
“I seriously considered going for it, then I was told it was more than a yard (for the first down),” Ross said. “When I was told that I decided to go for the field goal. I felt like the field goal would get us ahead and perhaps that would give us the spark we needed as a team.”
Carney, however, was wide left from 25 yards, and after that, the Chargers collapsed.
“It’s pretty damned discouraging,” said Carney, who was successful from 24 and 43 yards in the first half for the team’s only points. “It was a big momentum swing, and it really upsets me that I didn’t come through in a situation like that.”
The Steelers took possession after Carney’s miss and moved 80 yards in 12 plays to take a 13-6 lead with 14:14 to play on quarterback Neil O’Donnell’s six-yard touchdown pass to an uncovered Dwight Stone.
Kicker Gary Anderson missed the attempt for the extra point--only the fourth miss in his career--but it would not matter.
“Right now I don’t know what it is; I wish I did,” Ross said. “I think this, we’re a team that doesn’t know how to win. Regardless of what happens, I still think we’re that type of team. We’re a team without confidence.
“We’re a team that’s waiting for something bad to happen instead of making something good happen. We’ve got to sit down and analyze that, all of us, coaches and everyone else and see what we can do to bring us out of that.”
The Chargers’ offense, which has produced two touchdowns in the first three games, fell all over itself as it tried to muster a second-half comeback.
Humphries, forced from the game in the second quarter with a sprained ankle, returned in the third and took a further beating in the fourth quarter.
On his first possession in the fourth quarter, Steelers defensive end Kenny Davidson tipped a Humphries’ pass high into the air, and teammate David Little caught it and returned it to the Chargers’ 18-yard line.
Five plays later O’Donnell faked the Charger defense with a naked bootleg and scored from one yard out for a 20-6 advantage.
Humphries returned to the field, and on his first pass attempt Charger center Courtney Hall was called for holding. On the next play guard Eric Moten was ejected for kicking Steelers linebacker Jerrol Williams, who was on the ground.
And so it went. Humphries went on to complete only five of his next 16 passes for 50 yards. He was sacked once, and one pass was intercepted.
“You all saw the game, you write it. I don’t have anything to say,” said Humphries while walking away from reporters.
Humphries, who completed 13 of 29 for 151 yards, left the field for X-rays on his left ankle. Bob Gagliano finished the second quarter and started the third and left after completing three of seven for 78 yards with an interception.
“I didn’t know Stan was ready to come back in until he ran on the field,” Gagliano said. “I was out there and ready. It’s Bobby Ross’ decision, and that’s the way it should be. Stan is the starter, and if he can go, the coach wants him in the game.”
The Chargers’ offense, which outgained the Broncos a week ago, did so again in this game, 330-272. However, when the Chargers approached the end zone, they went into a funk.
A first-quarter, 11-yard touchdown pass to Nate Lewis was negated by an illegal motion penalty on tackle Harry Swayne. A second-quarter scoring opportunity went awry when Jefferson was unable to keep his feet in play after catching a 27-yard pass in the back corner of the end zone.
“It seems like every time we are right on the brink of getting it done we self-destruct,” Ross said.
The Chargers’ defense shut down Barry Foster, the NFL’s leading rusher, and allowed him only 36 yards on 21 carries. However, they were nowhere near tight end Adrian Cooper in the second quarter when he hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass from O’Donnell, and there was no one around Stone in the fourth quarter when he scored.
“You can say we play hard on defense, but what the hell does that mean?” said Charger defensive end Burt Grossman, his uniform covered in blood. “I have no idea what’s going on. It seems like the same thing every week. I don’t like to go out there and look like I was in Sharon Tate’s house the night helter-skelter happened.”
The Chargers have lost 20 of their last 25 games, and they will travel to Houston undoubtedly as decisive underdogs.
“When you’re losing and then you go out in the fourth quarter and play as poorly as we played,” said linebacker Gary Plummer, “the fans have a right to be angry and disappointed in us.
“Working hard isn’t enough. The fact is, we have to win. Coach Ross is going to take the blame for this, but the fact is, it’s the 47 players in this room that have to find a way to get it done.”
