LaDainian Tomlinson can not be happy

by James on October 5th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Something just seems off balance to LT

LT took the NFL world by storm last year.

This year LT has 2 touchdowns in 4 games and is averaging 3.4 yards per carry.

A lot of the criticism is pointed at the hiring of Norv Turner as head coach.

Last year Marty Schottenheimer (for the record, your gallivanting author spelled that name without looking it up! Whatiya think uf that?) was fired, because he could only pull together a 14 - 2 record.

Ouch!

San Diego went looking for a coach. A lot of names were bandied about. Then Norv Turner was announced.

The general reaction was why? Here is a guy that is a pretty darn good offensive coordinator that just struggles to win as a head coach.

What was he supposed to accomplish?

The Chargers lost in the playoffs to a more used to the big game Patriots. The Chargers made a lot of bone head mistakes in that game, because the Patriots had been there and the Chargers were not used to that atmosphere and had to play the Patriots. That plays on your mind.

But Marty and the GM, A. J. Smith, did not see eye to eye. In fact, they had no use for each other.

This normally means a contract extension for a coach, not a pink slip. But Marty Schottenheimer and general manager A.J. Smith apparently can’t be in the same room without one of them accusing the other of passing gas. Owner Dean Spanos tried to find common ground, but both men just held their nose and said, “He did it!” So Spanos fired Schottenheimer.

Marty Schottenheimer lost a power struggle with A.J. Smith after leading San Diego to a 14-2 regular-season record in 2006. ( / Getty Images)

Pro sports are a ruthless business. Coaches don’t really “deserve” to keep their job any more than players “deserve” to get traded. Teams make cold, bloodless transactions based on what they think will help them win a championship. Schottenheimer might not feel like he got a fair shake, but hey, this is the life he chose.

So that’s fine. The Chargers had every right to fire Schottenheimer, just as they had every right to let Drew Brees go two years ago.

The problem is that they replaced Schottenheimer with Norv Turner. source

Is there Hope?

Now admittedly the Chargers have faced some quality opposition and some of that on the road, but it is not looking too good.

Maybe the schedule will give them a chance to right the ship. They have Denver coming, which should be tough, then 3 winnable games with Oakland, Houston, and Minnesota with a bye week thrown in.

There is still time, but 4 games in the new coach has more losses than the old coach had all season and LT has only 2 touchdowns.

LT can not be happy.

NFL Football Fan Question What would you do to help out the Chargers?

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Tags: chargers, LaDainian Tomlinson, lt, marty-schottenheimer, new-england, norv-turner, patriots, Philip Rivers, san-diego

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