Stories of the '87 Season 4: Low-Voltage

To talk about what happened to the Chargers at the end of ‘87, one must look back to history, to ‘85 and ‘86 and maybe a little bit further. By ‘85, it seemed that the Air Coryell era was largely over: they hadn’t been to the playoffs since the ‘82 Uprising season and Fouts--and owner Gene Klein--had slogged through 6-10 and 7-9 campaigns in ‘83 and ‘84. Even in a new era of men-of-vision-and-strength philating, Klein was viewed as the architect of degradation: he traded Fred Dean in ‘81 over a contract dispute; nearly dealt Dan to Baltimore to land Elway in ‘83; nearly pushed Fouts into signing with the proposed San Diego USFL team in ‘84, but Fouts got misty eyed for the Epic in Miami season (also Klein controlled the Murph’s lease and wouldn’t let the team that would become the Oklahoma Outlaws play there anyway). Like their playoff runs, disasters always seemed to nearly happen (about the only certainty was an Al Davis-induced heart attack in ‘81, but only nearly killed him). But by Week 13 of ‘85, the Chargers were 5-7 and seemed on pace for another abysmal finish. Klein nearly had his hand on the plug ready to pull.  

Then a pissed off Fouts would lead the Super Chargers on one of the greatest four game runs in NFL history--including a back-to-back 110-7 roll of the Eagles (64-0) and the Steelers (46-7). The defense started to click, a run game started to emerge in USFL refugee Tim Spencer. Fouts would finish with 4,007 yards--his third 4k season--and a then-NFL record 52 touchdown passes against just 9 picks. Corner Danny Walters would have a league-leading 9 interceptions. 

San Diego would finish ‘85 9-7 and in the playoffs--the Chargers would roll New England 42-21 (the Pats had a similar miracle run, winning four straight to get to 9-7--ed.). While San Diego would lose a week later in a classic with the equally surprising Browns, 28-26, a detente emerged between the tightfisted Klein and a promising, if a little rough, team--goddamn, maybe we can do this thing. 

The Chargers would start ‘86 with three straight losses before righting the ship, winning their next 4. Air Coryell 2 seemed to correct the issues of the first run: joining Spencer in the backfield was another USFL star, Gary Anderson, a tough banger who could do it all: the platooner would rush for 1,053 and 19, catch for 779 and 6 and even return for 332 yards; he also ran for a NFL record 334 yards and 5 touchdowns against Houston in Week 14, a key win that would keep the Chargers in the division hunt. Wes Chandler pulled in 1,392 and 17, Winslow and Joiner both contributed with 690 and 7 and 702 and 9. While there was no Fred Dean there was a Bruise Brothers Jr. in rookie Leslie O’Neal (7 sacks and 2 picks as a defense end), Gary Plummer (18 sacks), and Billy Ray Smith (10 sacks and 1 pick). While Danny Walters missed all of ‘86 to a hip injury, the secondary of Donald Brown, Ken Taylor, Gill Byrd, and Jeffrey Dale combined for 15 picks, nearly half of those coming from Dale (7). The Chargers would get to 6-6 in a tight AFC West before heading off to the races, crushing Houston 67-20, defeating Seattle 42-34, and handing the Browns their only loss of the year in Week 16, 34-31, winning the game on a last second connection between Fouts and Winslow; Dan would throw for over 4,000 yards for the fourth time in his career (4,078), finishing with 44 touchdowns and 11 interceptions (he had the third lowest interception rate in the NFL at 4%).

San Diego finished 10-6 and were AFC West champions for the first time since ‘81. They would beat the Super Bowl champion Dolphins 40-38 in the divisional playoff, setting up a rematch with Cleveland; the old ghosts returned to the Bolts, however, as Fouts and the offense struggled to exploit 4 Browns turnovers and the defense failed to contain Mack. Cleveland cruised to a 30-7 win, a result with echos to the Freezer Bowl against Cincinnati in January ‘82. It felt both over and just the beginning. Fouts was old and Joiner would retire, but the new young crop seemed ready to step up.

And Klein seemed a little less miserly--San Diego would land Browns veteran linebacker Chip Banks in the off-season for what seemed like a steal (a pick swap basically, moving the Chargers down from 18 to 28), joining O’Neal, Plummer and Smith; Danny Walters seemed to be recovering and ready for ‘87. They nabbed Rod Bernstine, the heir apparent to Winslow and Lionel James, a running back/tight end platooner type, in the second round. The pieces all seemed there to make a go again. 

And for half a season they looked good--6-2, tied for first with the ramblin’ wreck Raiders who were in the midst of what would be a nine game winning streak. A highlight was a 38-35 shootout win with Cleveland, the Browns first loss of the year--the 4th meeting in 3 years, the series now 2-2; Roosevelt “Rosie” Nuske, public intellectual, novelist, Cleveland native, and Axhelm-in-waiting, told Costas he would take the split given the 2 playoff wins. 

***

Then came the Colts and their linebacker core in Week 9. Maybe it was the air conditioning and the cacophony of 60,000+ suburban psychopaths living off the interest of 150 years of Prussian and Anglo Saxon spoil--a base blinded and catterwhalling for any sense of meaning and identity beyond consumption--but Fouts and crew looked overwhelmed. One writer referred to Buddy Curry as “gobbling up Fouts like Pac-Man”; the more accurate, and contemporary, simile might be Mario the Plumber stomping on the little mushrooms (they always looked like hawkheads to me, but my nephew plays that game on an old bleeding Zenith --ed.). Curry would be attributed with 11 sacks of Fouts--at the end of the season, after a re-assessment of the NCR-powered computerized stat-tracker, 5 would be more accurate--while Testaverde threw all over for 337 yards; Jackie Flowers, the USFL veteran and one of three sneaky successful free agent signings by Indy in the off-season, would have 4 catches for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns. A total nightmare, 69-27. The worst came early in the fourth, when a sluggish Fouts would get laid out by Jon Hand; Durable Dan’s head bounced off the red-white-blue 50-yard line. He was conscious, but didn’t get up for a good two minutes; the blue and white paint from the astroturf, plastic blades of grass all over the helmet. None of the crowd seemed to pay attention as they seemed in a general ecstacy (their team was winning and Steve Alford was in attendance and showed up on the jumbotron). Rick Neuheisal would come in for the rest of the game, handing it off over and over to Tim Spencer and Gary Anderson, who always seemed to be enveloped in royal blue. Degeneration.

Concussion and a pulled back was the prognosis; Fouts looked slick in his turtleneck and blazer combo over the next two weeks. Rick Neuheisel, company man, would split his two starts; against the Raiders, Rick would lead the Chargers on deep drives only to falter at the end (a pick, a fumble, a missed field goal); the Chargers defense frustrated the Raiders offense, but Williams and Lofton were just good enough in a 26-16 win. 6-4.

"Rapid Rick," would play much better against Seattle the following week; it was largely a grinder until Curt Warner left the game after a foot injury (just a twisted ankle in the carpet, the municipal government rebuffed an offer from the Soviet embassy to install an experimental natural grass developed in the Ukrainian SSR that grew indoors--ed.). Klein got the idea for Rapid after Neuheisel, trailing 13-10, put together a no-huddle mad-dash drive with 46 seconds left; the crescendo a Lionel James 13-yard catch at the back of the end zone, 17-13. Klein yelled "Rapid!," which was then transcribed by an assistant and relayed to the marketing team--a group of USD student interns--who would quickly screen print t-shirts.

It would be the Chargers last win. Fouts taped himself up and got brain trauma clearance; fans quickly pitched those t-shirts because Durable/Thunder/Dynamo/Devilish Dan was back and so quickly. Aside from a 40-10 blowout loss in Week 12, San Diego would suffer a string of heartbreakers: against the Oilers in Week 13, Thunder Dan would lead a long drive with about 10 minutes left to extend their lead to 24-10; the defense would fail, giving up a Moon flea flicker--Houston seemed like the only team to pull off trickeration down the stretch--to make it 24-17. A frustrated Fouts would try to get to Chandler in triple coverage only to find Keith Bostic, which set up a Rozier run and a 24-24 tie. Fouts would be picked again during a final drive, which led to a Zendejas field goal at the last second. A week later, Mark Malone, in his best game of the season, would match Fouts; a stronger run game was the difference, with a 38-yard run by Jackson gave Pittsburgh a 31-24 win; San Diego was officially eliminated in Week 15, when two Fouts picks in the third resulted in two Colts touchdowns in a 24-17 win. 7-8. 

The most painful loss came in Week 16 against the Broncos. In the midst of a snow storm, Fouts threw for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns; San Diego led 19-13 late in the third when Fouts slipped, got blindsided by Rulon Jones, and watched a floater fall into the hands of Tony Lilly. On the ground, numb, big flakes in his beard, Dan knew that this was probably it for him. He was carried off by his teammates as if he was Achilles or a beloved dog. Rapid Rick played conservatively in the fourth outside of a stray pick--again, to Lilly--the Broncos scored 20 straight points; Fouts sat on the sideline never looking up. Finally warmed, chords of pain shot up his back and into his neck. It happened to him like everybody else who came before him. Don Coryell came over, saying something about how the Whale of Time swallows us all. 7-9, so close.

Klein got the knives out, his interns--a mix of techno-libertarian nerds and sedevacantist University of San Diego drop-outs--had Fouts and Winslow’s retirement paperwork completed and ready to sign before they got on the commercial flight back from Denver (Gene had canceled the charter flight); Fouts signed on the tarmac and had them ship his personal belongings, which showed up at his door three months later with a courier bill attached. Winslow would fax his over in February with 20 black pages, devastating the ink (he put the pages up front, ahead of the paperwork). Though Waters was out of contract and thus available for Plan B offers, the club dropped deep-throat-level leaks to BircherSports and local media highlighting his arrest for cocaine possession from back in October, time clock data revealing he was frequently late to practice, and crude, Weekly World News-level doctored photos of the defensive back hanging out with known RAF and Provisional IRA members in Italy. This still didn’t keep clubs from trying to submit offers, which Klein continually matched; when Wes Chandler never signed his pre-completed retirement “offer”, the Chargers placed him on their IR list, making it impossible to trade or cut him. In March, Chip Banks refused to exercise his side of a mutual-option for 1988, wanting (a) a new contract, (b) an opportunity at Plan B, or (c) a trade. Klein refused all of them and claimed that he already exercised the option and looked forward to seeing the linebacker on the field in ‘88.  

Things were getting ugly. Klein called the cops everyday reporting death threats. He claimed in local media that this was all a conspiracy concocted by the San Diego Sockers, the eight-time indoor soccer championship team, to draw fans to their team (they did briefly run an ad featuring Dean encouraging fans to check them out because they “finish what they start,” before Klein threatened litigation--ed.). There wasn’t a lot of solidarity from other owners because they all wanted those players. Klein would be censured at the owners meeting in March while ranting about Sockers forward Julie Vee’s connections to Al Davis and Steve Zangul’s connection to Yugoslavia’s new Morenovist Premier, jeopardizing Klein’s short on IMF loans issued to the country in 1977. 

What made everything so bizarre was the fact that Klein had not been the team’s majority owner since ‘84, just its front-man. Alex Spanos, a real estate developer and quasi-Horatio Alger character himself, was writing most of the checks. The shadow owner would come to the forefront in April after rumors emerged that the local San Diego GOP was even on board with a public seizure of the club a la St. Louis; he bought out Klein’s stake at 2 to 1 its worth and complied with a demand from owners to at least let Banks, Chandler, and Walters onto the Plan B market. Spanos complied, and didn’t match offers from the Dolphins, Bucs, and Eagles--the latter two signings coming after the draft. Don Coryell would resign ahead of his trip to Moscow; Spanos, in another political move, would promote his assistant coach and former star, Charlie Joiner, to the head coaching position, making him the first African-American coach in modern NFL history. Coryell would finish with a record of 86-63 with the Chargers and an overall NFL record of 128-90-1.