The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 39

LOS ANGELES TIMES C7 MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1995 AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 17, PITTSBURGH STEELERS 13 4k ft A 1 in 1'f 111" RICHARD DERK Los Angeles Times VINCE COMPAGNONE Los Angeles Times DOWNEY Continued from CI Pittsburgh 13. AFC championship at stake. Super Bowl trip at stake. San Diego sanity at stake. If Pittsburgh scores, that's it.

If Pittsburgh doesn't score, San Diego goes to Super Bowl XXIX after sitting out Super Bowls I through XXVIII. Yes, the Chargers. The guys with the lightning on their helmets. The bolts from the blue. The team that was defeated this season by Atlanta, by Denver, by New England and by the Raiders.

The team that lost to San Francisco by 23 points. What are they doing here, three yards from a Super Bowl? Yet here they are, playing football oi Pittsburgh's field, in front of Pittsburgh's 61,545 towel-wavers, in Pittsburgh's 939i humidity, in Pittsburgh's pouring raiii. Oddsmakers made the Chargers nine-point underdogs. Jeff Daniels, an actor starring in one of the title roles of "Dumb and Dumber," did a TV commercial inviting viewers to watch him be host of "Saturday Night Live" and then tune in to NBC again on Sunday to see Pittsburgh murder San Diego. Pretty funny.

San Diego has been the butt of so many jokes. Even the Chargers' own general manager, Bobby Beathard, couldn't resist one, back in September when his team won three games in three weeks. Somebody asked what it meant. And Beathard said, "It means the worst we can be is 3-13." It wasn't easy to be a believer. San Diego had been suffering so long.

Alex Spanos suffered so long that one morning last winter, his wife of 46 years and others who had seen him endure 33 Super Bowl-free seasons called an emergency family meeting. They sat down the 70-year-old head of the family, looked him in the eye and told him it was time to turn over full-time ownership responsibilities to his oldest son, Dean. Never before had his loved ones spoken to Spanos this way. He got the message. OK, he said to Dean Spanos, 44, do whatever you have to do.

"Just bring me a winner." Bring one to San Diego, which had never been to a Super Bowl, never won a World Series, never won in anything but indoor soccer, never got anything but rid of the Clippers. This was a father's request of his son. And when the Chargers ran right out and won their first six games, the Spanoses and Beathard and everybody else in town dared to dream that wishes could come true. And suddenly here they are, three feet away. For half a game, San Diego has been outplayed, toyed with, pushed around.

Even with a clean shot at a touchdown, the Chargers cannot budge the ball one measly yard. Damp people with painted faces are laughing at them, but the Chargers try not to crack. Junior Seau, the great linebacker from USC, even gestures to the Steeler fans to pump up the volume, begging for more noise. A touchdown pass from Stan Humphries to Tony Martin shuts them up. Now the town of San Diego is a little more than five minutes from being a winner.

Pittsburgh must cover 87 yards. But its quarterback completes seven passes in a row. At the two-minute warning, the Steelers are now nine yards from a touchdown. There is nanio in t.hp strppts nf Defense was a key for Chargers, as illustrated by Willie Clark's tackle of Ernie Mills, left, and Dennis Gibson's near-interception of a pass intended for tight end Eric Green. t- Defeat Leaves Steelers Emotionally Drained pionship game was only a quick stop on the way to Super Bowl XXIX in Miami.

Instead of worrying about the Chargers, the Steelers appeared more interested in acquiring additional Super Bowl tickets and making a Super Bowl rap video. Defensive end Ray Seals even said that if the Steelers played up to their abilities, the Chargers would not score. For most of the first three quarters, the Steelers played like a team that had a reason to be overconfident as they dominated the Chargers. At one point, the Steelers had outgained the Chargers, 279 yards to 49, and had held the ball for 25:33 compared to San Diego's 8:50. Pittsburgh's problem was that it only had a 13-3 lead to show for it.

"We were able to drive the ball all the way down into their red-zone area, but we weren't getting any touchdowns," quarterback Neil O'Donnell said. "Not getting into the end zone really hurt us." What really added to the Steelers' woes was the fact that their domination was not coming from their running game, which had carried them throughout the season and helped them hold leads in the second half. that we hadn't seen before to perfection." Had the Steelers been able to get their running attack clicking, they would have had a better chance of preventing Humphries from making his second big completion of the game with 5:13 to play. After converting on only one of eight third-down plays, the Chargers capitalized on two in a row during their game-winning drive, with the clincher being Humphries completing a perfectly thrown 43-yard touchdown pass to Tony Martin, who got behind McKyer on a deep post pattern. After recording the best record during the regular season to have home-field advantage during the AFC playoffs, the Steelers still had a chance and 61,545 supportive fans behind them.

With the ball at his 17-yard line, O'Donnell led the Steelers on a 10-play drive before having his fourth-and-goal pass to Barry Foster knocked down by the Chargers' Dennis Gibson in the end zone with 1:08 to play. "We were three yards away and we couldn't get it done," said linebacker Chad Brown. "Most times, we are going to make that play. We had it right there in front of us but we fell short." Against San Diego, Pittsburgh decided to pass more and rushed for only 66 yards. "When a team brings up their safeties and plays an eight- or nine-man front, it's tough to run the ball," said Pittsburgh tackle John Jackson.

"That's why we had to start passing the ball so much." In easily his best game as a pro, O'Donnell completed 32 of 54 passes for 349 yards and a touchdown. But his passing wasn't able to keep the Chargers' offense off the field long enough when it counted. With Natrone Means gaining 69 yards in 20 carries, San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries was able to catch the Steelers off-guard with play-action passes. Humphries' first big completion came with 8:03 to play in the third quarter, when he faked a handoff to Means and passed to wide-open tight end Alfred Pupunu for a 43-yard touchdown to cut the Steelers' lead to 13-10. "We dropped coverage on that play and they just caught us with a good run fake," Steeler safety Carnell Lake said.

"We knew that Humphries is a good play-action quarterback who likes to throw deep. What they did was execute a play By LONNIE WHITE TIMES STAFF WRITER PITTSBURGH The reaction of Pittsburgh's three most quotable players said it all about the Steelers' emotions after their loss to San Diego at Three Rivers Stadium on Sunday. Cornerback Tim McKyer was so devastated after getting beat deep on San Diego's winning touchdown pass that he needed four security guards to help him off the field five minutes after the game. Linebacker Kevin Greene was so upset that he greeted reporters in the locker room still dressed in full uniform from a crawl position and tearfully shouted at them: "You. get out of my face." Linebacker Greg Lloyd was so shocked thit he sat alone on a bench in the Steelers' weight room looking down at the ground without talking for 20 minutes before joining his teammates in the locker rodm.

4 "So what happened to the Steelers "One 1 for' the Thumb Super Bowl Run?" Overconfidence. Plain and simple. "Throughout the week, the Steelers and iheir fans acted like Sunday's AFC cham AFC 1 I (( J. Continued from CI phins to Mark Seay with 35 seconds to play on Sunday he connected with Tony Martin on the game-winning 43-yarder with 5:13 to play. Last week the Chargers beat Dan Marino, arguably the best quarterback in the AFC, and on Sunday they overcame the conference's best defense.

The Chargers got all the motivation they needed when they learned that the Steelers had already made plans to film a Super Bowl video Tuesday. Steeler defensive end Ray Seals also predicted the Chargers would not score. "Why's everybody in our locker room?" iSeay asked afterward. "Why isn't every-rbody in the other locker room, partying and playing their Super Bowl video?" Elsewhere, a Charger clubhouse attendant marched through the room, yelling, Videos! Half price!" Said Humphries: "We weren't even supposed to score today. We figured we as well just go out and have fun." Indeed, for a while Sunday, it seemed as if the Chargers might not score.

They were facing not only the top defense in the conference, but the top rushing team in the The Steelers had won the AFC East, 12 of 16 regular-season games and I their playoff opener against the Cleveland Browns, 29-9. Steelers came out passing, of all things. Knowing that his team was facing a defense that ranked first in the AFC against the run but 22nd in the league against the pass, Steeler Coach Bill Co-; wher decided to air it out. And he got results. Quarterback Neil O'Donnell completed 32 of 54 passes for had to his Chargers, the San Diego quarterback having been successful on only one of five attempts in the first half.

Pittsburgh converted the turnover into three points, Anderson kicking a 23-yard field goal to increase the Steeler lead to 13-3. But on the Chargers' next possession, Humphries broke through from the Pittsburgh 43. When tight end Alfred Pupunu slipped past the Steeler safeties, who had moved up on a play-action fake, Humphries spotted his tight end wide open at the Pittsburgh 20 and connected. Pupunu steamed into the end zone and, after Carney's conversion, the score was 13-10. In the fourth quarter, on a third-and-14 play at the Pittsburgh 43, Humphries faded back, saw Martin streaking down the right sideline step for step with defensive back Tim McKyer and saw linebacker Chad Brown roaring straight up the middle in Humphries' direction.

He let go of the ball just as he got cracked across the face mask. As Humphries went down, the ball went up. Martin had turned inside. "I was just concentrating," Martin said. "That ball took a long time to come down.

I never thought it would come down." It finally did, squarely in his hands at the two, just ahead of McKyer. Martin stepped into the end zone. "I secured it," he said, "and I knew we were going to Miami." Not just yet. Cheered by a record Three Rivers Stadium crowd and spearheaded by seven consecutive completions by O'Donnell, the Steelers drove to the San Diego nine with two minutes to play. On a first-down running play, Barry Foster was thrown for a one-yard loss.

On second down, O'Donnell passed toward tight end Eric Green, but linebacker Dennis Gibson stepped in front and nearly intercepted. On third down, O'Donnell passed to Williams for seven yards. Fourth down. Three-yard line. One play left.

Get into the end zone. Get into the Super Bowl. O'Donnell faded back again. Junior Seau, who finished with a game-high 16 tackles, had Green covered. O'Donnell went to Foster over the middle.

The ball was there. So was Gibson. It bounced off his arm and fell to the ground. "That," said Gibson, "was the biggest play of my life." And arguably the biggest play in Charger history. In the locker room, as he talked to reporters, Means glanced up at a television showing the NFC championship game.

"The 49ers and the Cowboys," he said. "That's the real Super Bowl. We're just the appetizers." Not anymore. San Diego. On the field, Seau and the Chargers are straining to stay cool.

Pittsburgh tries a run by Barry Foster, who is tossed by John Parrella for a loss. Then a pass toward Eric Green gets busted up by Dennis Gibson. Seau shouts at his teammates to hang tough. He personally tackles the receiver on third down, three yards shy of the goal. Seau says later, "It's a time where you go through hills and valleys in the course of 60 minutes.

And in the end it comes down to that last play. You don't know whether to cry or yell or smile." Neil O'Donnell drops to pass. Looks right, looks left. Sees that Seau is right on Green's tail, so looks for someone else. Spots Foster, cutting across the middle.

Aims and fires. But Gibson bats it away. Seau doesn't see. He spins around to see what's happening. "Chills just run through your body," Seau says.

"It doesn't stop for a good minute. You see the fans, everything coming to total silence. You see white jerseys jumping around and you know something went right." Chargers, Chargers, everywhere. Stanley Richard is waving a yellow towel. Rodney Harrison finds another.

Andre Coleman takes his and hops atop the bench, waving it at Pittsburgh's crowd. Harry Swayne and Isaac Davis go into a mad dance. Humphries has the game ball. Reuben Davis has found a victory cigar that he stashed away for the occasion. He pops it into his mouth as he struts from the field.

Alex Spanos is smiling for his wife, his son, his other three children, his 12 grandkids, his players, his city. "I am so happy for all of San Diego. Nobody, nobody felt that we were ever going to get this far, and here we are," Spanos says. He turns to his players, AFC trophy in hand. "This is for you! This is for everybody!" He is owner of the San Diego Chargers, and finally that is something to shout about.

Alex Spanos shouts: "What do you suppose the country is thinking now?" VINCE COMPAGNONE Los Angeles Times Stan Humphries, under pressure from the Steelers throughout game, completed one pass in the first half and 10 in the second, with two going for touchdowns. yards. The totals for attempts and completions are new highs for both O'Don-1 nell and the AFC championship game. connected with John L. Williams on 6-yard touchdown pass play in the first quarter to open the scoring.

more ominous for the Chargers was the fact that Pittsburgh held the ball 11:33 in the first 15 minutes. By Jialftime, the margin was 22:11 to 7:49 in ttsburgh's favor and the sellout crowd of was in a Terrible Towel waving frenzy. Jf KNot much went right for San Diego in first 30 minutes. 1 The Chargers made their first serious push into Steeler territory in the second Quarter when Pittsburgh defensive back Figures was called for pass interference on Shawn Jefferson, the call made tafter Figures clearly grabbed Jefferson's ight arm as he reached for a pass. That gave San Diego first and goal at the Pittsburgh two.

From there: Natrone Means ran around the right end for no gain. Means ran off right tackle for no gain. Means ran up the middle for a one-yard loss. On the third-down play, Means never got past his blockers, the Pittsburgh front wall refusing to yield even a crack. On came kicker John Carney to salvage three points with a 20-yard field goal, but it was clearly an emotional victory for the Steelers.

Pittsburgh made one more charge at the Chargers before the half was over, driving to the San Diego 12. From there, however, offensive tackle Leon Searcy was called for holding, moving the Steelers back to the 22. With 43 seconds to play, Williams was stopped for no gain. Cowher, explaining that "too many bad things could happen," elected to go for the field goal on third down instead of trying for a touchdown, Anderson kicking a 39-yarder. The second half didn't appear initially as if it were going to be any more promising for the Chargers.

On their opening possession, Humphries threw a pass into the arms of Steeler defensive back Rod Woodson. That gave Humphries as many completions to the Steelers at that point as he 4 sKSVfe fe.Sk.Ai MIA fe fes fefe Sk SUkSViktlWMMk.