The Chargers Being The Chargers

I have nothing against the San Diego Chargers. I hold great respect for head coach Marty Schottenheimer and for tailback LaDanian Tomlinson. But, why is it that the Chargers seem to find ways of not making the playoffs, living up to their potential, and regressing when they could very well progress?

According to my grading sheet, San Diego had the worst draft in all of football. Their first round selection was of a guy who missed all of last season with an injury. But, worse than that? They left go of now-established starting quarterback Drew Brees, because they have so much money invested in Philip Rivers. Why? San Diego's offense was finally clicking. All they really needed help was in their secondary. Brees, Tomlinson, Gates. San Diego finally had an offense that could batter opposing defenses and win games by themselves, if their defense was having an off day. Brees doesn't have the strongest throwing arm in the league, but he's accurate and smart. It took him a few years to get comfortable in the system, but these past two seasons, he's proven himself to be a pro bowl-caliber quarterback. What do the Chargers do? Let the guy go.

In favor of? Philip Rivers. In two seasons, he's completed 17 of 30 passes (56.7%) for 148 yards (4.93 yards per attempt), 1 touchdown, 1 interception, been sacked four times, with a quarterback rating of 67.1. Brees threw for 24 touchdowns, completed over 64% of his passes, and had a rating of over 89.0 last season. I've heard many Chargers' players and coaches claim that they won't regress any this year with Rivers replacing Brees, but I don't see how that's not possible. Remember, it took Brees a few years to get comfortable with the system and that's when he was playing every game. Rivers has yet to be the starter. It'll take him some time, just as it did Brees, to get comfortable with the offensive scheme. But, unlike Brees, Rivers' mechanics are anything but smooth and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see him be another Rick Meier. Lucky for the Chargers, they still have LaDanian Tomlinson in the backfield, but he can't do it all himself. If Rivers isn't able to throw the ball consistently, defenses will be lining up to stop LT and not even LT will be able to plow over those defenses.

Link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6763