The NFL game wasn’t done, but Alex Spanos was done with it. He was out. O-U-T. Fed up and perhaps ready to throw up.
Would he be returning for the rest of the second half?
A Chargers staffer could not say.
The visiting owner’s suite in the New Jersey stadium would remain empty through game’s end. By the time Chargers players showered off in East Rutherford, Spanos may have been 30,000 feet above them, San Diego-bound.
Three words best described the performance that November 1991 day versus the not-so-mean, green Jets.
Stink, stank, stunk.
A construction magnate who’d bought control of the Chargers seven years earlier, Spanos knew only enough football to fit it into a Gatorade bottle.
But he knew bad ball when he saw it.
His head coach was Dan Henning. Three years into the gig by then, Henning wasn’t long for the job. Bobby Beathard wanted more attention to detail. A different scheme for defense.
As the Jets wrapped up the 24-3 victory, you knew Henning was done. It was as obvious as Spanos’ empty suite.
Rod Bernstine and the Chargers were thumped by the Jets during their 1991 game at The Meadowlands.
(Focus On Sport / Getty Images)
So much is different now for the Chargers because Justin Herbert quarterbacks them, where in 1991 the stylings of Bob Gagliano and John Friesz sent Spanos fleeing.
But there’s some echo to the coaching. Regarding Brandon Staley, Chargers President of Football Operations John Spanos may be wise to reprise some of his grandfather’s skepticism toward his own third-year coach.
I’m not saying John should fire Staley. But when Spanos hired Staley three offseasons ago, he was co-signing on the ex-Rams coordinator’s reputation as a defensive expert much as Alex had co-signed on Henning’s reputation as an offensive expert.
Evidence has proved to the contrary. More surfaced Sunday in Germany as Staley’s Chargers bivouaced in or near East Rutherford.
Showing Frankfurters how American football should be played, Chiefs defenders hemmed in and roughed up Dolphins star Tyreek Hill. They stuffed Miami’s offense — the NFL’s best — as a result.
Dolphins defenders pulled off a similar feat. They disappeared Travis Kelce, who finished with three catches for 14 yards.
Did the display of true expertise register with John Spanos, who heads his franchise’s football operations?
Did he connect dots to his own team’s defensive performances against the Dolphins and Chiefs?
A refresher: Hill ran Staley’s defense out of the Kroenke Dome. Kelce took nine catches for 143 yards into halftime.
John’s grandpop might’ve decided, then and there, to pull the plug on Staley. Not the style of the grandson, who gave four years to both Mike McCoy and Anthony Lynn.
Forbearance with Staley wasn’t unwarranted last year. Lately, the softening schedule is providing Staley a decent chance to lead a push for a wild-card berth.
But by now, events should have removed the scales from John’s eyes. Staley should be on shorter leash than McCoy and Lynn were midway through their third years. They’d each won a playoff game, both on the road.
Sounding Off
Meet Josh McDaniels. Former emperor of Silver & Blackdom. Now naked. …
In the wake of McDaniel’s dismissal last week, it’s not clear who’s giddier — Vegas sharks when the rubes walk in, or Raiders players. …
Rookie Dalton Kincaid did another Kelce imitation Sunday, catching 10 of 11 passes from Josh Allen. Yes, he fumbled. But that’s 25 catches in 28 targets lately for the tight end who lit up University of San Diego games for two years. …
Recycled quote on Kincaid: “We had no idea he’d be this good,” said Dale Lindsey, his former Toreros head coach. …
Kevin O’Connell found another stash of pixie dust. A year after his first Vikings team set an NFL record by going 11-0 in close games, his Kirk Cousins-less second act could finagle a wild card. …
Who among QBs is smarter than KOC’s new starter, Josh Dobbs? Obtained for a sixth-round chip to replace the injured Cousins last week, the former aerospace engineer student (Tennessee) took a crash course on O’Connell’s offense and, adjusting dials on the fly, landed the plane Sunday, edging the Falcons. …
One of San Diego’s billionaires needs to be ready should Robert Kraft decide to move on from Bill Belichick, 71. In his visits to the 619 area code, Belichick said he’s a big fan of our Navy town. His late father, Steve, deployed with the Navy to Europe and the South Pacific in World War II. Bill, whose father coached at the Naval Academy from 1956-89, often said he enjoyed San Diego’s patriotic/Navy-town vibe. And of course, the weather.
If The Hoodie were to fancy a chance to unwind but keep a hand in football, pay him to advise San Diego State. …
C.J. Stroud, Texans rookie, shows a feathery touch and innate accuracy. Brings to mind a retired QB known for saying “dadgummit” and “by golly.” …
Who other than Jill Ellis and Ron Burkle saw this coming six years ago when Dean Spanos and siblings accepted the NFL’s offer to rip the Chargers out of San Diego? Mission Valley has become a hotbed for women’s soccer. Perhaps the country’s hottest.
The Wave weren’t fibbing Sunday night when they announced 32,262 tickets were distributed for their National Women Soccer League semifinals match. Fans filled Snapdragon Stadium’s 18,000-seat lower bowl and most the upper decks and standing-view areas. Numbering some 30,000, the noisy crowd doubled the turnstile count of one night earlier for the football Aztecs’ game against Utah State.
“Absolutely incredible,” coach Casey Stoney said of the fans. …
As for the 1-0 defeat, which the Wave deserved, even with the bad-luck goal, it felt very San Diego. And, fairly Chargery. A victory would’ve sent the Wave to the championship match. They would’ve faced Gotham, the lowest seed, against whom they were 4-0, having outscored them 10-1. Another big crowd would’ve flowed into Mission Valley. …
The time has come. Erect a statue of Sid Gillman’s ’63 Chargers.
