The Chargers Make All the Wrong Moves : AFC: Penalties are costly in 17-7 loss to Oilers. Moon has a big day.

SAN DIEGO — They were just sitting there expressionless in front of their lockers, as if they had been told to wait for someone to pass out the dunce caps.

The Chargers (1-3) had just failed their latest exam, 17-7, to the Houston Oilers (2-2), and Sunday’s lesson in defeat was so elementary: Don’t be stupid.

“The teams that have beaten us haven’t been any better than we are,” Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver said. “They’re just smarter.”

Many of the 48,762 fans, who were left to contemplate the latest slapstick routine in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, apparently agreed. As the Chargers filed off the field, the fans in the stands filled their earholes with all sorts of not-so-nice suggestions.

“We played stupid, there’s no doubt about it,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “To jump offsides as many times as we did to give them second chances, you can’t win in the NFL like that. If you’re a dominating team like the 49ers, maybe you get away with it.

“We’re the San Diego Chargers,” he said, “and right now we’re a team trying to find ourselves.”

If they had a penalty box in football, that would be the first place to look for the Chargers.

--A first-quarter unsportsmanlike penalty on linebacker Junior Seau on a missed field-goal attempt by Tony Zendejas allowed the Oilers to regroup and score two plays later on Warren Moon’s nine-yard pass to Drew Hill.

--A second-quarter offsides call on defensive lineman Lee Williams on third and 10 from the Chargers’ 27 gave Moon another play to complete a 22-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Givins.

“You make those kind of mistakes in the NFL, and you’re going to lose,” Plummer said.

Seau was called for taking a running jump and trying to block Zendejas’ 40-yard field-goal try. Zendejas’ attempt never had a chance of making it to the uprights, but NFL rules prohibit players from running forward and leaping into the air in an effort to distract the kicker or block the ball.

The Oilers advanced from the Chargers’ 23 to the 12 on the penalty. After Moon ran for three yards, he waited for Hill to get behind safety Lester Lyles and then connected for the touchdown. It was the first time the Oilers had scored in the first quarter this season.

The Chargers, meanwhile, went scoreless on their first offensive possession in four games when Fuad Reveiz’s field-goal attempt went wide right from 45 yards.

With time running out in the half, Tolliver went 27 yards to Anthony Miller to tie the game.

But Moon still had 1:41 remaining. He took his team to the Chargers’ 27 on third and 10 and threw incomplete into the end zone to wide receiver Bernard Ford. But Williams was caught offsides.

“It’s just a stupid play by a veteran ballplayer that shouldn’t happen,” Williams said. “There’s no excuses for it. It’s just something that shouldn’t have happened.”

On the next play, Givins split the coverage of Martin Bayless and Lyles, and Moon beat the blitz to complete a 22-yard scoring play and build a 14-7 halftime advantage.

“They did a lot more to hurt themselves than we did to hurt ourselves,” Houston Coach Jack Pardee said. “We respected their pass rush a lot; we threw the ball quickly, and Warren did an excellent job of recognizing the blitz.”

In contrast, Tolliver was not so good. On his team’s first possession in the third quarter, he tried to go to H-back Craig McEwen, only to fire the ball into the hands of Houston cornerback Cris Dishman.

The Oilers continued to chew up yardage in the second half behind the passing of Moon, who completed 27 of 46 for 355 yards, but they were thwarted by a stubborn defense near the goal line.

The Oilers could manage only a field goal in the second half.