This just in...Norval Eugene Turner is not a very good head coach.  Norv is a solid offensive coordinator, but has proven time and time again that he doesn't have the right stuff to be a competent NFL head coach.  Yesterday's loss to the Baltimore Ravens was so brutal that I came down with an acute case of Norvitis thirty minutes after the game ended.  You might have this virus as well even if the Chargers aren't your favorite team...especially if you have at least six of the following things are happening:

10. A sense of dread, doom and gloom that takes over your entire body when your favorite team is in a tight game with less than five minutes to play  

9.  Bad things always seem to happen to your favorite team and the head coach’s nickname coincidentally happens to be The Cooler.

8.  Your head coach continuously botches challenges game after game

7.  Despite having as much talent as any team in the league, the head coach’s overall record is only 20-13 (and 78-95-1 over his entire career)

6.  The head coach’s first name is Norval and his middle name is Eugene.  With a name like that is there any doubt that lil’ Norvie ate paste and got his ass pounded on a daily basis as a kid?

5.  Despite having four 1st and goal situations during a game, your team only comes away with four chip shot field goals

4.  After yet another game that could should have been won, your head coach gives the following quote, “We’re like every other team.  There are things we need to do better.  It is what it is.” 

3.  The head coach opts to kick a field goal on 3rd down inside the 5 yard line with 11 seconds to go before the half.  What kind of message is being sent  to your team with ultra-conservative and timid decisions like this?

2.  Jellyfish openly mock the head coach for being cowardly and spineless (see #3)

1.  Even though your quarterback has thrown for 426 yards during the game, on 4th and 2 with 35 seconds to go you decide to hand the ball off to a 5′6″ 180 pound running back. 

_______________________________________________________________

Here is an e-mail that arrived in the San Diego Sports Guy's in-box this morning.  Needless to say, there are a number of other people in town that don't have a lot of confidence in Norv:

The Chargers defense stinks, but the game was lost by Norv.  Four delay of game penalties – yikes!  And all those wasted timeouts early in the first half – yikes!  And then when Rivers was in a nice rhythm, on 3^rd and 2 he effectively takes Rivers out of his rhythm by lining up in an elephant formation, trying to trick Balt with the play action pass.  When that fails, he goes back to the elephant formation to try to trick Balt with the run.  Why did he give up on the spread formation that was working so well in the 4^th quarter?  What happened to the Gates’ pass play that worked so well on 4^th and 2 at the end of the 1^st half – they lined him up as a WR and had him slant on a safety?  How do they not try that same play on either 3^rd or 4^th down at the end of the game, considering that Rivers and Gates are their top two players?  Ugh – and running up the middle against a team that had been blitzing up the middle all game!?  Even if you want to get tricky and run, you need to spread the formation to show pass, and then run Sproles on some sort of sweep.   Lewis didn’t read run on that play.  He was blitzing up the middle like he was doing on every pass play the whole game.  Sheesh! 

Sadly, this loss could result in a January playoff game IN Baltimore.  I wouldn’t worry too much about the Chargers, other than their putrid defense and the invisibility of Merriman except when he blitzes offsides, doesn’t get called for it, and forces a fumble.

The good news for the Chargers is that Miami plays tonight, then travels cross-country to San Diego on a short week.  The NFL schedule-makers weren’t very fair to Miami, which should make Sunday’s game an easy Chargers win.