Well, the halftime show was exciting, anyway.
And if you were bored by the San Francisco 49ers’ entirely predictable lopsided victory Sunday over San Diego, so perhaps were the Chargers.
They were frustrated and bewildered, as if they hadn’t really believed their status as three-touchdown underdogs awarded by the cool guys in Vegas only minutes after this match was made two weeks ago.
The Chargers heaped praise on the 49ers as they tried to explain their defensive collapses and virtually total domination by football’s most awesome team.
“I haven’t been in the league that long,” Chargers coach Bobby Ross said. “But I’ll tell you, it’s the best I ever saw.”
“We’re embarrassed,” tackle Stan Brock said. “We wanted to show the nation a lot better game than we did. But nobody’s going to jump off a bridge. They’re not going to have to take sharp instruments away from us.”
Cornerback Darrien Gordon, merely one cog in a Chargers defensive backfield that was victimized repeatedly by wily 49ers quarterback Steve Young en route to a Super Bowl record, said the Chargers were surprised by San Francisco’s early long-range assault.
“We didn’t think they were going to go deep on us early like they did,” Gordon said. “Young was really focused. He knew he had a lot to prove.
“We were upset because of the way he got the quick points. Usually, the 49ers run shorter routes, but they ran long ones right from the beginning today.
“They were clocking on all cylinders. It was mind-boggling. To lose to them wouldn’t have been bad if it had been close. But it was embarrassing to us, letting them score all those points.”
Natrone Means, the Chargers’ usual workhorse running back, gained only 33 yards in 13 carries. He said he was “amazed” when the 49ers went up by 21 points in the second quarter.
“They got here early,” Means said. “There was a point when I felt it was slipping away. I don’t remember exactly when that was, but you could tell the game was gone.”
Quarterback Stan Humphries didn’t necessarily agree with Means.
“We’ve been behind early all year,” Humphries pointed out. “That didn’t bother us. We just didn’t get in the end zone enough.”
“We didn’t make the good plays today,” Humphries said. “They’re an outstanding team, but we could have done a lot better.”
Stanley Richard, who was burned by Young on the 49ers’ first two touchdown passes in the opening quarter along with fellow safety Darren Carrington, said the Chargers’ goal “always is not to give up the TD pass, but today we gave up so many I can’t even remember.”
“The 49ers spread our defense out,” Richard said. “On the first touchdown, we got pulled out and Jerry Rice went down the middle. On the second, Ricky Watters came out of nowhere and a couple of missed tackles killed us.”
Ross branded the Chargers’ humiliation “a learning experience. After we get over the shock, we would be very pleased and proud with what we’ve accomplished.”
