What's wrong with the San Diego Chargers?

What's wrong with the San Diego Chargers? Who's to blame? Let's look at who and what's involved by starting from the bottom of the hierarchy that makes up the "team."

 

First, we have the players, then the HC (Head Coach, Norv Turner) then the GM (General Manager, A.J. Smith) finally the Owner (Dean Spanos.) The latter three form a "three-legged stool." The players play on top of the stool. If you take away one leg, the stool falls, along with the other two legs and the players, too.

 

Face it: the Chargers don't have a strong roster. Why? Because the GM has failed to get the best players and the HC has, obviously, not been able to convince him to get them. In addition, the Owner, who hired the GM, has hired somebody who should know better how to do that, but apparently doesn't. So, if you want to find the right person to blame, it isn't Norv Turner. He can only "go to war" on the field with who's on his roster. Who's on the roster is up to A.J. Smith, who serves at the pleasure of the Owner.

 

If you want to place the blame, place it on Dean Spanos. He can sit in his catbird seat and collect millions of dollars, whether he fields a winning team or not. One is logically entitled to think that he would want, not only the money, but a winning team. Apparently, logic has no place in this case.

 

What the Chargers need is an inspired, highly knowledgeable Owner who can assemble a powerful, fully functional team structure, starting with a powerful, fully functional GM. Not that he's blameless, but Norv Turner is stuck with working the field with the players provided to him, so you need to get off his case and get on the right one.

 

See the movie, "Moneyball" to get a better idea of what a good GM can do. True, the movie is about baseball, but the general principles still apply to football.