Chargers At The Half Way Point

The San Diego Chargers have finished their 8th game this past weekend marking the halfway point of their 16 game regular season campaign and sit at 4 and 4.  On "paper" a 4-4 record isn't bad and teams have been worse off at this point and still rallied to win a championship.  But what's different about the Chargers 4-4 record is that they haven't even played very many good teams...in fact, with the only exception being Atlanta and Denver, games the Chargers lost both of, the Chargers haven't even played anyone with a winning record.  Add to that, the Chargers lost to teams that had 1 or no wins on the season (New Orleans and Cleveland).  And then sprinkle in embarrassing nationally televised losses in which the Chargers had double digit leads at halftime only to get totally destroyed in the second half by New Orleans and Denver.  Then what you have is a pretty lousy 4 and 4 team.

So what are some of the problems?  Here's what I've seen so far...

Phillip Rivers stinks.  He started stinking last season and it is only compounding into a bigger problem this year.  It's been noted that he hasn't led the Chargers to a fourth quarter comeback since 2008.  If the Chargers do not have the lead in the fourth quarter, which is typically the case, they can not mount any sort of late game offense to come from behind to win the game.

No Big Plays.  Watching other NFL teams, it seems as if other teams are able to have big plays on a somewhat regular basis.  A runningback that rips off a 60+ yard run.  A deep 80 yard bomb that opens the field up.  The Chargers are very "contained" in their offense.  They seem to take the 10, 15, 20 yard plays the defense give them but because there is no big play, the offense has more time to make mistakes on long drives and the Chargers do just that.  Whether it be penalties or turnovers, it seems the more plays the Chargers run the more likely they are going to screw up. 

Poor Defense. Some Charger fans are able to point out some positives on the Chargers defense and I'll say that Eric Weddle is probably the best the Chargers have on defense...but after that, I am not sure there is a "good" player on defense for the Chargers right now.  The secondary is a complete joke.  Quentin Jammer is obviously a little too old and lost a step and Cason and Gilchrist are just plain bad.  I don't mind the way Atari Bigby delivers big hits and seems pretty active for a safety, but I've also seen him miss some tackles, but still is serviceable.  The defensive line and linebackers all essentially get run over and chase the ball on most plays.  Sure, there is the occasional sack and the stats would seem to point that the Chargers have a decent rush defense, but that is because teams have chosen to pass on the Chargers rather than run.  When teams' have wanted to "ice" the game against the Chargers, they are able to run at will and do so.

Norv Turner. The Chargers are exactly what Norv Turner has coached them to be.  Look to last season and the season prior when the talent had departed from San Diego, the Chargers are a stumbling, bumbling embarrassment on the field.

Is There Hope? The short answer is no.  The only hope I would have for this Charger team is if Norv Turner is fired right now and a new head coach is brought in from the outside.  The current coaching staff has all been around Norv Turner and see how a loser runs a team...this team needs to be shaken up and a new attitude...a new winning attitude needs to brought in for anything positive to happen this season.  But everyone knows that Dean Spanos is too cheap to first fire Norv before the season is over (to get his money's worth) and second, Dean Spanos is too cheap to hire a competent coach in the first place...how do you think the Chargers ended up with the losingest head coach in NFL history?  I truly don't think the players on the Chargers are really as bad as they seem to play and even with a new head coach they may not be in the elite of the NFL but the hope is they at least return to being competitive, something more than one coach has accomplished in short order.