Where to start?
Well, let’s at least start with this: there are 11 games left in the San Diego Chargers’ 2009 season, and thank God you fans aren’t running the show.
Norv's Searching For Answers -- Again
If you were, we know what you would do. Fire Norv Turner. Kick A.J. Smith’s egotistical behind to the curb. Trade that loud-mouth ex-star Shawne Merriman for a bag of footballs. Retire LaDainian Tomlinson out to a Fort Worth pasture.
Personally drive Dean Spanos back to Stockton in a beat up Ford Focus so he could count all of his money alongside his father Alex. Hell, never mind that. Let’s just give the whole damn bunch of ‘em to Los Angeles and let the smog deal with them.
To be honest with you, all of it sounds pretty good about now. Problem is, none of it is going to happen.
So, what then? How in the name of the Washington Nationals are we supposed to play out this disaster of a lost season?
You’ve got two choices. Pack away all the hopes of a division title and Super Bowl season and send a congratulations bouquet to Josh McDaniels and the Denver Broncos. Or pick yourself up out of the gutter and keep fighting.
Pick one.
We know that giving up is the easiest way. It always is. Other than a possible broken ankle, how painful can it really be to leap off the bandwagon?
Let’s hope the Chargers players and coaches — the ones who really count — choose the other option. I don’t know that any of us can be sure they will, but we can always hope.
If they do decide to continue the struggle, there are so many obstacles they will have to overcome. After all, most figured that Denver’s 34-23 victory Monday night proved that the Broncos were for real.
Perhaps it did. But what it also proved is that the Chargers are for real. They really are no longer one of the NFL’s perceived elite. They really are just your every day garden-variety 2-3 football team. A team with a lengthy laundry list of problems.
They have a General Manager who has made one poor decision after another for about three straight years now. Draft Buster Davis (inactive once again for Monday night’s game). Pick up Paul Oliver in the supplemental draft (missed the tackle on Eddie Royal’s kickoff return touchdown). Trade far too many draft picks to move up and get guys like Eric Weddle (beaten like a drum on Tony Scheffler’s go-ahead touchdown catch) and Jacob Hester (carried the ball once Monday night).
Draft Antoine Cason (hasn’t covered anybody in the slot for two years now). Draft Vaughn Martin to be Jamal Williams’ replacement at nose tackle (kind of hard to do that when Martin’s inactive every week also). Throw big money contract extensions at Luis Castillo (1 tackle vs. Denver), Jacques Cesaire (2 tackles) and Jyles Tucker (never saw the field).
Am I Ever Going To Make The Right Call Again?
Put Ryon Bingham on injured reserve even though he could have returned at mid-season (and could have been quite useful). Cut Kynan Forney (so that he could start for Jacksonville). Put Gartrell Johnson on waivers (so he could be claimed by the New York Giants).
Hired Norv Turner in the first place. (Not enough room in this post to detail all of his short-comings, but let’s just start with the fact that he now has a record of 12-16 with the Bolts in games played before December and is a far less-than stellar 83-101-1 record in his NFL coaching career).
Of course, putting all the blame on A.J. and Norv is to ignore the rest of the mess.
Last I checked, the Chargers’ offensive linemen were receiving rather hefty paychecks to either block for the running game or to protect quarterback Philip Rivers. Monday night, of course, they did neither.
Tomlinson busted one run, but despite all of the Charger insiders’ claims otherwise, L.T. is just a guy nowadays. A good guy. But a guy nonetheless. It’s no accident that just about every team the Bolts have faced this season is among the league leaders in rushing defense. The one constant there is they have all fattened up their numbers against San Diego.
Sure the passing game is dangerous, but one jewel in a sea of mediocrity is eventually going to take on too much water.
The defensive line currently has to be among the worst in football. The especially annoying thing about the Denver game was that you could see the effort, yet you still couldn’t see any results.
Merriman has gone from the most disruptive defensive player in the game to simply a disruption. He hasn’t made a single play all season. Ditto for Shaun Phillips on the other side.
Antonio Cromartie honestly couldn’t tackle my grandmother. Whoever put him on the Bolts’ special teams cover units should be fired immediately. How can you put a guy who can’t tackle on a special teams squad whose sole responsibility is to tackle?
Of course, nobody else tackled either as the Chargers suffered the embarrassment of having two kicks returned for touchdowns in the first half.
Beyond all of that, honestly I can’t figure out what the problem is with this team. It’s kind of like saying that other than that itty-bitty problem of the bomb, Hiroshima was in good shape.
But just as in other disasters, the troops must fight on. There really isn’t any other option. Start from scratch and rebuild. Unfortunately, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Perhaps, over the next 11 weeks, the Chargers can fare a bit better.
– Ello –
Craig Elsten -
Chris Ello -
Chainsaw -
