Five Thoughts

I. There’s one question that keeps bugging me about the game that still doesn’t make any sense: Why did Ladanian Tomlinson get only four touches all second half when he gashed the Chiefs for over 100 yards in the first half? Rivers was playing a bad game, the OL was run blocking solidly, why go away from your workhorse? Now there are some reasons for it, and the one I can best think of is that you are going away from what your opponent assumes you’ll be doing, and you’ll catch him off guard. But you know what? With a player like LT, that really doesn’t make much sense.

II. I think it is safe to say that QB Philip Rivers is going through a regression. This happens with not only quarterbacks but numerous players in their second year of starting. However, wasn’t Norv Turner supposed to make Rivers even better since he’s also a quarterback guru? Boy nothing’s going right for Turner.

III. I have no idea if a bad season will make it more or less likely that the Chargers will get a stadium anywhere in San Diego County or City. And I’m not ready to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon that the Spanos family is throwing this season as an excuse to move the team. For what it is worth, if the Spanos family wanted out of San Diego, they would have left the minute the door opened for other cities to negotiate. That window opened New Year’s Day 2007, its now October 2007. I will give the Spanos some credit in that they have really worked hard with both a reluctant city and a disorganized county to try and keep them here in San Diego.

IV. Prior to going 14-2, Marty Schottenheimer was thought to be the person holding the team back. He ran too conservative of an offense when he was actually in control (Marty-Ball). He was too archaic, he did nothing but make pretty speeches. And let’s also not forget that until AJ Smith took over as general manager, Marty had been a coach just about to get fired for going 4-12. I do not believe Marty Schottenheimer coming back will solve our problems. It’s a very well known fact that for the last two plus years that Marty was responsible for preparation of the team and getting them motivated and fired up with speeches. Cam Cameron ran the offense, Wade Phillips ran the defense and both called the plays for their sides. Marty was kept as far away from those controls as possible. Put Marty Schottenheimer into this position without good coordinators and he will be every bit as bad as Norv Turner is. What the Chargers really need is a coach who can motivate, prepare well and handle some part of the team.

V. When we fired Marty Schottenheimer, for the record, here is what I wanted: Hire Rex Ryan (Defensive Coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens) as our new head coach. He was great at running both the 4-3 defense and the 3-4, and with his creative play calling he could have taken our defense to another level. On top of that he is well known for being prepared and energetic on the sidelines. For Defensive Coordinator I would have tried to get Rex’s brother Rob Ryan (currently the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders) over here but if that would not have worked, then Mike Singletary for the job. Singletary was a member of the “Monsters of the Midway” Chicago Bears defense from 1985. He is very well known for being a speaker and a motivator, so he would have been a wonderful addition to an already fired up team.

— LOREN CASUTO