Chargers find ways to short-circuit
IS THERE a more maddening tease in the NFL than the San Diego Chargers?
Never has there been a more perfect microcosm of the plight of the franchise as there was played out on national television Monday night, when the Chargers blew a 24-0 halftime lead at home against the Broncos and lost, 35-24.
The result represented more than a single loss in a season of 16 games. It represented a referendum on the shaky foundation of the franchise.
Few in football would argue the Charge r s should own the weak and watered-down AFC West. Yet they sit in misery as a mystery during their bye at 3-3 tied for first place with the Broncos, thanks to last week’s impromptu giveaway night.
If you choose to take a narrow view of the Chargers’ problems, you can break down the mistakes of quarterback Philip Rivers, who suddenly has become a turnover machine — throwing three INTs and losing two fumbles in the second half, with the Broncos returning two of the turnovers for TDs.
Rivers, who threw a career-high 20 INTs last season, has nine in six games this year and is on a pace to throw 24. But the plight of the Chargers is much deeper than Rivers’ slump.
The common denominator to the disappointment in San Diego has been general manager A.J. Smith and head coach Norv Turner, whose job always seems to come into question at the end of each season yet ownership continuously keeps things status quo.
This has been a remarkable development for a team that f i red Marty Schottenheimer after he led the Chargers to a 14-2 record in 2006 and suffered a hard-luck playoff loss to the Patriots in a game in which the Chargers had control until a boneheaded turnover on an interception in the final minutes.
Since Turner took over for Schottenheimer, the Chargers have morphed from an AFC Championship team in the 2007 season to an underachieving mediocrity since.
They were 13-3 in 2009 but were bounced from the playoffs by the Jets in the f irst round, and haven’t been back to the postseason since then. For those scoring at home, the Chargers have one playoff victory in the past four years.
Their three wins this season have come against the Raiders (1-4), Titans (2-4) and Chiefs (1-5).
Coupled with San Diego’s loss in New Orleans the previous week, when the Saints scored the final 17 points of the game, the Chargers have been outscored 52-7 in the second half of their past two games.
Frustrated Chargers fans, in their sixth season with Turner, have to wonder when enough is enough.
“If you want to make this about somebody, it’s not about one of the guys, make it about me,” Turner said this week in an effort to divert pressure from his quarterback.
Turner said he needs “to do a better job” if the Chargers are to curb their turnover epidemic.
“It starts with coaching,” he said.
Hinting that he was going to simplify the offense, Turner, who calls t he offensive plays, vowed the Chargers will “eliminate” the turnover issue.
The question is this: If Turner does, indeed, help eliminate the turnover problem, is that truly eliminating the Chargers’ recurring big-picture problem as one of the NFL’s perennial underachievers?
Or is it merely placing a Band-Aid on a life-threatening wound?