Chargers President Dean Spanos is correct, in a way, to stick with GM AJ Smith and head coach Norv Turner following the Bolts' elimination from playoff contention on Sunday. Many fans want blood, judging by comments on radio talk shows and the Internet, but a knee-jerk reaction will not do the team or supporters much good.
The Chargers simply had a bad year -- singular. Even that 8-8 season a couple of years ago included a playoff victory. Last year, the record was 13-3. Smith has done a pretty good job in identifying talent to stock his roster, and Turner has won with those players. This is the NFL, and other teams are good, too, so stuff like this year will happen. I can read trends like anyone else, with declining numbers of annual playoff victories, poor Septembers and alternating good and bad years.
All that said, Smith and Turner have their work cut out for them this off-season.
Smith publicly is a stickler for character, yet teams stocked with high quality people don't have wild inconsistencies like the 2010 Chargers, and way too many players have had off-field problems and run-ins with the law. He's brilliant in finding diamonds in the rough, talent on the waiver wire and second-day draft picks. Yet, his record is quite poor in the first round or two of the NFL Draft. RB Ryan Mathews was hobbled all year and has now experienced what the pro game requires for success. I bet he comes on strong in 2011, but just how high a level that is remains questionable. The results from recent high picks casts doubt.
Also, group together the sagas of WR Vincent Jackson, LT Marcus McNeill and LB Shawne Merriman and you have an utter fiasco. There's no excuse for the way Smith conducts business, and the Chargers are worse off for it. This year, for the first time, Smith's own character flaws caught up with his many accomplishments.
As for Turner, how does he meld a collection of under-performing high draft choices, malcontents and castoffs into a real team that pulls together for a legitimate playoff run in 2011? That he came close this year is testiment to his ability to coach. However, just because I disagree with his detractors doesn't mean I think he is great as a team leader. The greats don't let the Raiders games happen to them or allow constantly sloppy games on the road.
So, no, nothing knee-jerk from me. It is standard practice if you're a team owner to keep a mental list of potential GM or head coach candidates should you need one -- and I'm sure Spanos has such a list. He might have consulted the list already. If it includes better names than the ones which currently fill the positions, then I could see making changes as part of a package deal. Otherwise, why bother? Firing someone just because you're mad won't help matters.
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The 2010 Chargers were a recipe for disaster.
-- Going into the season minus something like five or six of your best players,
-- Your top draft choice, the replacement for one of the missing, gets hurt in training camp,
-- A turnstile at receiver, and
-- Unresolved weaknesses in the trenches, as evidenced by the pounding administered by the Jets in last season's playoffs.
The Chargers top needs for draft and free agent help, in my eyes, are defensive end and safety. The offensive line could use some help and I wouldn't mind using a second-day pick on a receiver with raw potential of the sort Jackson was when he came out of the University of Northern Colorado. Fitting that bill would be San Diego State's DeMarco Sampson (Vincent Brown should be long gone before the Bolts turn to that priority).
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