Chargers To Retain Turner, Smith
The San Diego Chargers are not going to fire their GM or head coach after another disappointing season.
“I like A.J., even though he’s a bit goofy,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I trust him. He’ll tell you he’s made mistakes. Who hasn’t? But he takes chances. Sometimes you lose the bet, but if you’re going to win a world championship, you’ve got to take chances. I learned that from my father in our business. A.J.’s committed 100 percent to this organization.”
Chargers GM A.J. Smith also told the San Diego Union-Tribune that head coach Norv Turner would be back next year.
I just don’t get the Chargers. I understand why that they want continuity but I am not so sure I could hand with Smith and Turner.
Smith basically hamstrung the Chargers this year by trying to be a hardass in refusing to pay Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNiel. I am not saying that things would have turned out differently for the Chargers had McNiel and Jackson been with the team all season but having those guys certainly wouldn’t have hurt San Diego’s chances.
As for Turner, you could argue that he is a total failure as a coach. All we ever hear about is how talented the Chargers roster is yet they continuously underachieve and they never seem to be ready to play at the beginning of the season. Aren’t head coaches supposed to make sure their players are prepared and play smart? The Chargers made bungle after bungle all year long and you can’t help but wonder how a team could be so continuously stupid if they were well coached. And don’t give me the young players excuse either. The Chiefs have plenty of young players and while they made mistakes this season, they played very smart football from day one and it was obvious how well coached they were.
The fact of the matter is, the Chargers seem to be getting worse as opposed to better. I mean the Chargers had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL this year and they are a mere game over .500. They have a boat load of talent and probably the 3rd or 4th best QB in the NFL. The Chargers should have won at least 12 games this season. Yet they are missing the playoffs.
If the talent is there and the schedule is easy then who is to blame other than the guys in charge?
I think Turner deserves to be fired and I think Smith should take a walk for screwing up the team’s chemistry by not making sure two of the team’s best players were on the field where they belonged.
Apparently the Chargers don’t feel that way. Personally I am glad Turner is sticking around. Nothing he has done since he has been in San Diego leads me to believe the Chargers will be any better of a coached football team next year as they have been in the past.
If it wasn’t for Rivers, Turner would have been fired long ago.
What do you think Addicts? Is Turner and Smith sticking around a good or bad thing for the Chiefs?