Spreading his wings

Falcons' Chandler beating image, opponents

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Posted: Friday January 29, 1999 11:48 PM

Chandler: "My family and personal life is so much better, so solid that the football just kind of takes care of itself right now, and I have a lot more fun playing it." AP

MIAMI (CNN/SI) -- It is the kind of moment legends are made of.

Down by seven. Two minutes left. Seventy-one yards to go. On the road. NFC Championship Game.

It was the kind of moment Chris Chandler spent his entire NFL career trying to reach. It was the kind of moment most of the NFL thought the injury-prone Chandler never would.

In what was turning out to be the defining moment of his career, Chandler fell awkwardly to the Metrodome turf trying to scramble for a first down.

Do some things ever change?

"I remember he was limping around with his knee," Falcons center Robbie Tobeck said. "We needed to make big plays. You just heard somebody come up and say 'Tough it out, this is for the Super Bowl.' That's what the quarterback has to do, he has to be the leader out there."

That is exactly what Chandler did.

Chandler's fire-breathing 340-yard, three-touchdown performance in Atlanta's 30-27 overtime win over Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game did more than simply propel his Falcons into the Super Bowl. It served as a coming-out party for the 11-year veteran who has quietly led Atlanta to 22 victories in his last 26 starts.

"I don't think he did anything special in the NFC Championship Game, he just gave us the same consistent performance he's been giving us all year," tight end O.J. Santiago said. "He rarely makes mistakes. He's calm, confident and when it's time to make the big throw, when it's time to hit the open man, he makes the read and hits the open man."

Making the key pass in a key game was something Chandler rarely did in his first 10 seasons in the NFL. Even with his recent 22-4 stretch with the Falcons, Chandler's record as a starting quarterback is just 50-50.

So what gives? Falcons coach Dan Reeves, for one.

The same coach who was criticized for hampering the ability of Denver quarterback John Elway is credited with helping to turn around the fortunes of Chandler.

In the last two seasons under Reeves, Chandler has thrown 45 touchdown passes. He threw 74 in his first 10 seasons combined.

"This is the first time in my career where I have a head coach who believes in me and has told me so," Chandler said. "I think I've got a team around me that I get along with really well. It's a special relationship we have with one another."

Before coming to Atlanta, Chandler was the ultimate journeyman. Two years in Indianapolis. Then 18 months in Tampa Bay. Two-and-a-half years in Phoenix. Another two years with the Rams followed by two years in Houston. He was a backup quarterback, an emergency starter, but never the future.

And worse, he was considered fragile. A knee injury and a series of concussions led to an embarrassing nickname -- "Crystal Chand-alier"

"Unfortunately, I got the bad kind of label and it's taken a long time to shake that," said Chandler, who started 14 of the Falcons' 16 regular-season games this season. "Any time you get any kind of little nick or injury, the stereotype comes up again, 'Oh, well, he's fragile; he's gonna get injured a lot.'"

But in 1993, as he was backing up Steve Beuerlein in Phoenix, his journey began its upward path. He met the woman who would become his wife, Diane.

"That's the biggest reason football is going so well now," Chandler said. "She supports me and supported me as much as anybody could and that's what I really needed. She was really the saving grace of my life at that time."

There also was an added bonus.

Diane's father is former San Francisco 49ers All-Pro quarterback John Brodie, who set about trying to reverse the emotional damage Chandler suffered in his roller-coaster ride around the NFL.

"I think it wasn't his confidence, it was other people's confidence in him," Brodie said. "He knew that he could play, there was no doubt in his mind, and he had played that way. But what they do in this game, when enough people begin doubting you, you become frustrated."

And with Reeves' and Brodie's help, Chandler started to turn his fortunes around. The Falcons soon followed.

"He really started working on my confidence in myself and the attitude I have when I step onto the field," Chandler said. "He made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to on the football field."

Chandler will head to the Pro Bowl in February, backing up Steve Young and Randall Cunningham -- the two quarterbacks he beat to get to the Super Bowl.

Brodie, though, isn't surprised with Chandler's maturation.

"He's been a finished product for 3-4 years," Brodie said. "People put a lot of heat on a quarterback, and I think a guy in his position needs support from both his family and friends. I've been there and it's a very important quality to be given."

Chandler's support team grew by one last week when Diane gave birth to another daughter, Brynn Brodie Chandler.

"My family and personal life is so much better, so solid that the football just kind of takes care of itself right now," Chandler said. "I have a lot more fun playing it."

As are the Falcons.

 

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