In a newspaper article earlier this week, San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers said the following:

“It seems the expectation outside the building is we never should lose a game, we should score every single time in the red zone, we should never punt,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “It’s just a little bit unrealistic. We aren’t as good as we want to be or can be yet. Look at that negatively or look at it on the positive side. If we were peaking in Week 2 and sitting at 1-1 we’d be in trouble. But we’re here climbing the mountain early in the season.”

As a Chargers fan, the above quote scares the bloody hell out of me.  Up until this time, Rivers has always been confident bordering on brash…a common trait that most successful quarterbacks possess.  Now, it certainly sounds like Rivers has been drinking Kool-Aid from Norv Turner’s hot pink thermos and that doesn’t bode well for the future prospects of the team.  

With all due respect to Rivers, the first sentence is absolutely preposterous. Even the most die-hard fans don’t expect the team to win every game and never punt.  Nobody expects perfection.  However, most knowledgable fans do expect this team to score touchdowns at least 50% of the time when in the red zone  (instead of kicking chip shot field goals), win 11 or 12 games and make it to the AFC Championship. 

Just imagine if Barack Obama tried to manage/lower everyone’s expectations like Rivers by saying, “The United States of America isn't even close to being the best country in the world anymore.  A lot of other countries have surpassed us and we have a lot of work to do in order to narrow the gap. It is what it is.”    

This would be blasphemous, right?  I’ll tell you what:  if Rivers continues to spew garbage like this throughout the season then Kyle Orton’s Denver Broncos or…gulp…JaMarcus Russell’s Oakland Raiders will win the division.  Turner is timid, ultra-conservative and a pussy...and I'm being charitable.  If Rivers continues to think and talk like his head coach then the Chargers won't have a prayer of making the playoffs this season.