sometimes it just makes no sense at all. after a storybook regular season which saw my beloved san diego chargers finish 14-2 on the backs of mvp ladanian tomlinson & the first 10-game winning streak of coach marty schottenheimer's illustrious career (making him the 6th coach to win 200 games in the process)... it all ended in tatters. a rift with gm aj smith resulted in marty's unceremonious dismissal (it may be the best record a fired coach has had) & now... norv turner? 58-82-1 norv turner? been to the playoffs once in his head coaching career norv turner? i'll join with charger fans everywhere when i say... "whaaaaa?"
now make no mistake, turner's got some cred. he was the offensive co-ordinator of the superbowl champion dallas cowboys in 1992 & 93. but the head coach was the great jimmy johnson... & the offense included hall-of-famers troy aikman, michael irvin & all-time rushing leader emmett smith. i'm not saying I could have coached that offense to a championship, but i'm not saying i couldn't.
norv will be helped with a dynamic new defensive coaching tandem in defensive co-ordinator ted cottrell & linebacker coach ron rivera. rivera's last gig, after all, was as defensive co-ordinator for the nfc champion chicago bears.
& it'll be a nice change for norv not to have to take over a terrible team. both washington & oakland were 4-12 the year before he took over. & while norv's regular season record ain't much... well, at least he doesn't have the gawd-awful playoff luck that marty has had.
question 1: where does that put marty schottenheimer next year?
question 2: how many years does norv get to bring the vince lombardi trophy to san diego?
question 3: is norv turner the answer to my chargers' 12-year run without a playoff win? (ladanian says yes... so that'll do for now)