San Diego -- The San Diego Chargers had just returned from New Orleans after beating the Saints, 36-22, last Sunday to raise their record to 6-0, the team's best start since it went 11-0 in 1961.
When the team bus pulled into the parking lot at Jack Murphy Stadium at approximately 11 p.m., it was met by "thousands of people, cheering," according to Reggie White, formerly of Milford Mill High and currently second on San Diego's depth chart at right defensive tackle.
The crowd was closer to 500 than 1,000, but that wasn't the point. The point was that they were there, seven hours after the game had ended, and well after the sun had gone down.
"San Diego is a day town, not a night town," said White.
San Diego is always a good weather town, not always a good sports town. But that's changing, as sellout crowds pack the Murph to watch the most surprising team in the NFL.
The Chargers were 8-8 last year and then said goodbye to 10 starters, including their two leading offensive weapons. Wide receiver Anthony Miller, a free agent, signed with Denver. Running back Marion Butts, also a free agent, signed with New England.
The Chargers broke training camp with only 33 of their 62 players remaining from 1993. They opened the season with the youngest roster in the league -- an average age of 25.6 years.
With Miller gone, they had a starting receiving corps that began the season having played a total of eight games. Filling in for Butts was a second-year running back out of North Carolina, Natrone Means. The only given for Means, 5 feet 10 and 245 pounds, was that he could take up the space once occupied by Butts.
"Everybody was saying we were going to come in last," said Billy Devaney, the Chargers' director of player personnel. "Then, at the beginning of the season we were thinking, it's falling into place for us. Let everybody say that this is a rebuilding year. We'll sneak up on people.
"Nobody in their right mind thought we would go 6-0."
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Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard and his staff have )) turned teams around before. As Washington Redskins general manager from 1978 to 1989, Beathard built Super Bowl teams by using the draft and free-agent market to construct strong offensive and defensive lines.
"We only really know one way," said Devaney, who worked under Beathard in Washington, too. "Stop the run first on defense. Have two big defensive ends as your pass rushers. On offense, (( have a big offensive line and be able to run the ball.
"That's certainly not an enlightening package, but it's comfortable. It's what we know."
Beathard, who came to San Diego in January 1990 after resigning from the Redskins, appears to have pulled the same trick that he managed in Washington.
Beathard signed free-agent defensive tackle Reuben Davis to strengthen the line. It was one area that management and coaches felt positively about from the beginning. They had the players, but wondered if the unit would manage to click.
The offensive line was a question mark, with the right side anchored by Joe Milinichik, who was coming back from off-season knee surgery, and Stan Brock, entering his 15th season.
According to Devaney, the doubts -- about the receivers, the play of Means, the ability of the defensive line to jell and the offensive line to endure -- gnawed less after the Chargers went to Germany in August to play an exhibition against the New York Giants.
"We felt good coming back from Germany after practicing with the Giants," said Devaney. "We knew they were a typical NFC smash-mouth football team and our offensive and defensive lines really controlled them.
"I think even Coach [Bobby] Ross felt good about the way things went."
Yes, and no. Chargers offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen has coached alongside Ross for most of the past 18 years, from Ross' first days at the Citadel, to Maryland, to Georgia Tech and, finally, to the Chargers.
"He hasn't changed in 18 years," said Friedgen. "He's the same guy, all 18 hours a day."
Which means that Ross is still consumed by winning. He wanted to win that game in Berlin. He wanted to win every preseason game.
"He wants to win more than anyone, anyone on this team," said offensive lineman Eric Jonassen, from Mount St. Joseph High.
Ross builds confidence
Turning floundering programs into winners is nothing new to Ross. He did it at Maryland and at Georgia Tech. He had even done it once before in San Diego.
In 1992, Ross' first season with the Chargers, San Diego opened the season with four straight losses.
"Coach Ross never panicked," said Friedgen. "We had a lot of players who had never really won, so there was a lot of finger-pointing. We brought the whole team in and he [Ross] said he didn't want the finger-pointing, but that he was going to show everybody why we weren't winning.
"But he did it in a very constructive manner. Then, when the players felt like they were going to get their butts chewed out, [instead] they came out feeling like it's not so bad after all and maybe there's a chance. All it takes is for you to get a win and get a little confidence."
Everywhere he has gone, Ross has tried to instill that confidence. One spring at Georgia Tech, Friedgen said, the Yellow Jackets were coming off back-to-back losing seasons and Ross sensed the confidence of the players and coaches falling.
He forbade his coaching staff to utter one negative word to the team during spring practice. That included barring Friedgen's frequently revealing facial expressions.
"He said, 'If they don't do anything but break the huddle well, then tell them they broke the huddle well,' " said Friedgen. "It was really almost like a farce, because we were being overly positive.
"We went out and lost our first three games the next season. Then we finally came back and won a game and then we won the next seven in a row and then 11 in a row and it finally caught on.
"It's like these guys. It's just so hard to get over the hump."
Hard for the players, and the coaches, too. Ross said the difference in his own confidence level this season compared to last is profound. Four times this year he has gone for it on fourth down.
"Last year I would have lined up and kicked the field goal," said Ross.
"Last year, if we were second-and-10 offensively, we were really worried about that. We don't even think about that now. Second-and-10 doesn't bother us anymore, whereas last year it was, 'Oh my God! We're second-and-10!' "
'Sharing the wealth'
Everyone in the locker room points to a different reason for the Chargers' success, as long as it does not mean accepting the credit. When teams are losing, this is called passing the blame. When teams are on a roll it is called, according to San Diego's All-Pro linebacker, Junior Seau, "sharing the wealth."
That includes Means and quarterback Stan Humphries, who say they have been the beneficiaries of an offensive line that can do no wrong.
Humphries and Means make a perfect pair. Neither looks like he should be doing what he is doing. Humphries still looks best suited for touch football in the backyard after a family barbecue. Means' body just looks too thick to house a running back with his speed and quickness.
Humphries is having an MVP-type season. He is the AFC's top-ranked passer, and is third in the NFL with a 98.5 rating. He has thrown only two interceptions.
The Chargers got him from the Redskins for a third-round draft pick.
"We've coached [Humphries] on the fact that you can make plays by not making plays," said Friedgen. "Stan has always been kind of a riverboat gambler, trying to force a play when it's not there. There was a play in Denver on our last drive. It was first-and-goal on the 2 and I called a pass play and [wide receiver] Deems May was over in the back of the end zone and Stan threw it long.
"I said to him, 'What happened?' and [Humphries] said, 'I was going to throw it where he was going to catch it or no one was going to catch it.' That's all I wanted to hear. That was a smart play."
Means has been running the ball and taking would-be tacklers along with him. He has not given anyone in San Diego time or reason to miss Butts. In the AFC, only Colts rookie Marshall Faulk has gained more than Means' 586 yards. With eight touchdowns, Means is tied for the league lead in that category.
As a whole, the offensive unit is putting up more points (28.3) than any other team in the NFL.
"Now that we're winning, winning isn't such a big deal," said White.