<p></p>
<p>Well another loss and another year that we are clinging on to straws hoping, praying for some miracle to rescue us from another post season play-off absence.</p>
<p>That above realization is part of the problem. It seems like we have become a team and fan base of -hope the other guy or team saves us. You remember that self-help craze of a couple years ago “The Secret” where the universe works on laws of attraction and if you wrote down or said positive things enough times they would come to you? You didn’t actually have to earn them or do anything. I think the mantra was ask- believe- receive. It would just come to you if you said it out loud enough times. Is that us now? We don’t have to actually win – we just sit around and hope other teams lose. We don’t control our destiny. We hope others fail worse than us and we will somehow magically slip into the playoffs. Does anyone think the Patriots, Packers or Steelers think that way? I mean we have asked and believed how come we haven’t received?</p>
<p>Fortunately for us this regime will be gone at years end. I have experienced this mid-season lame duck administration position before with both the Eagles and the Chargers. Everyone in town, as well as the locker room, knew that it was the end of the road for the coaching staff. This is where the true novella starts to take place –in the locker room.</p>
<p>I grew up in Philly and know the sports culture well. I also was traded there during a QB controversy between Randall Cunningham and Bubby Brister, as well as a coaching staff and front office that were on their way out. It wasn’t much of a controversy because Bubby Brister sucked, but it was still powerful enough to split not only the town but the Eagles locker room at the time. I didn’t really care for either of them. But it was something that managed to manifest because of the absence of front office leadership. The players knew the staff and front office were gone at season’s end. As a result, the place sort of turned into a Lord of the Flies chaotic mess.</p>
<p>When all is lost, players will still play hard on Sunday, with all the money at stake from free agency and incentive based contracts – they have to. The difference is they won’t play as a team and the selfish self -serving side comes out replacing the team’s first common goal approach. I wish I could tell you that’s it’s a horrible experience, but the reality is these are guys making millions of dollars to play a game so let’s keep this in perspective. Times are tough. We all want a little escape on Sunday. Granted, it’s still is San Diego, not Cleveland, Detroit, or Philly – so let’s not get too miserable. We could be living in one of those dump cities and still have no shot at the playoffs.</p>
<p>This week it is the Ravens. It’s also Alumni Day, which I think I may skip for the twentieth year in a row. I actually think the Chargers may win this game. Don’t ask me why, but that’s just the way the Chargers are. Winning of course is contingent on the Chargers offensive line protecting Phillip Rivers for more than two seconds. It would be nice if the guy actually had time to check his second and third options down field. He didn’t even attempt a Hail Mary at the end of the Denver game, opting instead to give the ball to the ref with five seconds left and walking away? Why? Because Rivers knows his O-line can’t protect him for even ten yard routes to develop, let alone a 60 yard Hail Mary, or maybe because like all of us – Phillip knows it’s over.</p>
<p>Grossman is a former No. 1 draft pick of the Chargers in 1989, playing five seasons with the team.</p>
Category