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<p>I can’t believe that we are having this same conversation at the midway point of the Chargers season that we seem to have every year. Let’s face it – there are some serious issues with this team. So let’s handle this like the crime scene it is and examine some of the usual suspects.</p>
<p><strong>Phillip Rivers;</strong> I am going to strongly disagree with that one. Rivers is one of the elite QB’s in the league-I didn’t say the best. I said one of the elite. Here’s the difference. Rivers and this team have gotten to the point where he needs a perfect game, four touchdowns, and 400 plus yards every game just for the Chargers to win. There is no other team in the league that needs that from their QB aside from the leagues bottom of the barrel franchises. I feel for Rivers, every year they take away another weapon from the guy and expect him to still light it up every week. You can see the frustration on his face. It’s obvious that he knows good isn’t good enough. He needs to be perfect for this team to win, and that’s impossible at this level. Remember the other team practices and gets paid too.</p>
<p><strong>So on to suspect number two, AJ Smith.</strong> I don’t think anyone is a fan of AJ at this point, and that includes me. His style of ruling with an iron fist is about as relevant and in-style as Parachute pants and leg warmers. That style was effective up until the mid-1990’s when free agency became a game changer. Yet, AJ still continues to alienate players as if it is 1989, and they have no other options. I won’t even get into the obviousness – firing Marty Schottenheimer. But it is another example of his Iron fist my way or the highway approach. That approach is fine if you are Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick because you have proven your way is the right way; AJ isn’t even close.</p>
<p><strong>Suspect number three- Norv Turner.</strong> Norv is hard to gage, well not really. What makes it difficult is no other coach has really ever had the luxury of taking over a 14-2 team that is considered by everyone in the league as by far the most talented. We all know what has happened since. What we don’t consider is that most new coaches are inheriting teams that are in complete shambles, not 14-2 dream teams. Yet those same coaches probably wouldn’t survive a three year nightmare stretch like Norv, let alone the General Manager that is pulling the strings. Norv is a great offensive coordinator, and that is the sole reason why he keeps getting another chance at being a Head coach. His stint at the Redskins 49-59 and Raiders 9-23 as head coach are proof of that. He is a great offensive coordinator if he is working under a great head coach and leader; he is neither.</p>
<p>Any other suspects in this crime perpetrating against the fans of San Diego? Well no suspects but a person of interest or cause of interest still harps back to AJ- the draft and free agency. When was the last time we got a big name free agent? I can name about ten that we have lost, but I can’t seem to name a single replacement. If we are not replacing through free agency, we must be through the draft right? Wrong. And that in a nut shell is why this 14-2 dream team has become bottom of the NFL barrel. Here’s an analogy. Your rich uncle and aunt build a business empire, and then they die and leave the empire to your loser cousins. They run it into the ground and file for bankruptcy five years later. John Butler and Marty Schottenheimer are the uncle and aunt and AJ and Norv are the loser cousins.</p>
<p>Denver will soundly beat the Chargers in Denver this week and hopefully end the San Diego holiday tradition of coming up with obscure mathematical equations and scenarios in which the Chargers still have a shot at the playoffs.</p>
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