Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 73

1 Friday, October 23, 1931. i Section 6 jj I i I i j- i r4 -1" i I ..1 Coach Don Coryell has created an offensive machine at San Diego that few teams have been able to stop. '-I 'Hi I I 11 Hi 3 flying high Air Coryell off on Bears since taking By Don Pierson THE UNPRECEDENTED passing atv tack of the San Diego Chargers didn't exactly develop overnight, but there was an evening in 1978 when the Chargers threw a party that turned into a birthday. 1 They beat the Bears 40-7 on Monday night television. Such an occasion is nothing unusual for the Bears, who didn't realize they were providing the runway for Air Coryell.

Don Coryell had replaced Tommy Prothro as! coach nine weeks earlier, when the Chargers were "He just puts the ball in the hands of his best athletes," said Chargers' receiver coach Ernie Zam- 1 If the Bears had Dan Kellen tyinslo'w, Charlie Joiner, Wes Chandler; Chuck Muncie, and a huge, veteran offensive line, they might do more than hand off and block for Walter Payton. Then again, those players might all freeze up in Chicago weather. The thing is, the Bears could have had most of those players. So could have many other teams, but that's another story. The Chargers have them and they put on a marvelous show.

"You can't completely stop them; you just try to control it," Bears' safety Doug Plank says of the Chargers' passing game. "They've proven it week after week. All their priorities are geared toward it their drafting, their practice time." "YOU'RE NOT GOING to keep them from scoring," said Armstrong. "You better make up your mind you're going to outscore them." The least number of points the Chargers have scored this year is 24. The most the Bears have scored is 28.

How does Air Coryell work? Like any offense, it probably starts at the line. It definitely ends with the quarterback. Receivers and runners are in between. Tackle to tackle, the Chargers average 6-5, 270. The Bears average e1, 256.

Fouts takes a short drop and gets rid of the ball fast, so he is rarely sacked. All the line needs to do is get one' good pop at the line of scrimmage. "We form a solid wall, no spaces or gaps," said guard Ed White. WHILE FOUTS BARKS signals, defenses try to figure out who is supposed to cover Winslow, Joiner, Chandler, and Muncie. Sometimes Muncie is the only back.

The Chargers jlon't forsake the run. They average 4.1 yards a carry. The Bears average 3.4.' Which is the better running team? The receivers are liable to line up anywhere. Winslow is a 6-5, 242-pound tight end who starts in the backfield or on the wing, or splits wide and goes in motion. Coryell has a new formation every week.

"Joiner is an All-Pro, but he's the most underrated player in football," said Zampese. "He runs fast, gets deep, reads coverages, adjusts routes, and catches the ball." Chandler, acquired from New Orleans Sept. 30 after the Chargers were forced to trade Jefferson, is beginning to adapt to the i "THEY ALL HAVE to be where the quarterback expects them to be when he expects them to be there," said Zampese. "I know th oands simple." Bear fans know it isn't. To lose Jefferson and still average 34 points a game is a tribute to Coryell's system and, an All-Pro vote for Fouts.

1-3. Under Coryell, they fell to 2-6 before winning four in a row. The week before the Bears' game, they were shut out by Kansas City 23-0. Quarterback Dan Fouts was injured and did not play. Ray Perkins was the Chargers' offensive coordinator at the time, and Coryell had more or less allowed him to retain his system.

Against the Bears, however, Coryell decided to let things fly. The Chargers were 6-7 with no more to lose. "WE WERE LOOSE," remembered Fouts. who completed 16 of 24 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns. A rookie, John Jefferson, fulfilled his potential by catching 7 passes for 155 yards.

In the final three games of that year, Fouts threw for 917 yards and 9 touchdowns. Air Coryell has yet to land. In 1979, the Chargers passed for 3,915 yards, the second highest total in NFL history. Last year, they passed for 4,535 yards, the highest ever. Fouts has started 42 straight games since the 1978 rout of the Bears.

During that time, he has thrown for 80 touchdowns and averaged 21 completions in 35. attempts for 282 yards a game. By contrast, three Bear quarterbacks, have thrown for an average of 12 completions in 24 attempts for 159 yards in the last 42 games. Only 36 passes have gone for touchdowns. WITH THE BEARS' passing production roughly half of the Chargers' output, is it only coincidence that the Bears' record during the last 42 games is 22 while the Chargers are 31-11? Perkins left the Chargers to become head coach of the New York Giants in 1979.

Coryell's assistant head coach, Jim Hanifan, left the Chargers to become head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1980. Joe Gibbs, Coryell's offensive coordinator in 1979-80, left to become head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1981.. Air Coryell remains. Air Perkins, Air Hanifan, and Air Gibbs are almost as low as Chicago's Air Neill Armstrong.

Is Coryell a genius, and are all the rest Idiots? Probably not, but the record speaks for itself. "Coryell just knows how to move the ball. It's his whole orientation," said Chargers' publicist Rick Smith." i WHEN CORYELL COACHED the Cardinals, Jim Otis gained 1,000 yards one year. At San Diego State, Coryell had a running back who led the nation in rushing. He turned to passing at San Diego State because he figured opposing defensive backs wouldn't know how to cover.

i 4 "Basically, it has to start with the quarterback," said Armstrong. "They only throw the ball three times more a game than we do." But they complete almost six more passes a game than the Bears do. According to Zampese. the foundation of the attack Continued on page 4 strong arm of quarterback Dan Fouts Is responsible for. most of the Chargers' offense.

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