TAMPA, Fla. – After one of the most Norv-like losses in Norv history, San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner gazed into a pack of reporters and mumbled in his usual Norv-like way.
And then he snapped.
He didn't lose his composure after a question about quarterback Philip Rivers' game-killing interception, which was one of the worst passes you'll ever see in pro football. Rivers threw so directly at Tampa Bay Buccaneers defender Leonard Johnson that the cornerback later said "It caught me by surprise." Johnson grabbed the erroneous throw and then bolted straight past Rivers into the end zone for the game-clinching score. Asked after the Buccaneers' 34-24 victory what he thought Rivers might have been thinking, Johnson paused and said, "I have no clue. I have no clue."
Bucs CB Leonard Johnson celebrates after returning a Philip Rivers INT for a TD. (AP)Nor
was the question that set Turner off about the mood in the Chargers'
locker room after the team blew a good opportunity in the fourth quarter
to fall to a season-on-the-brink record of 4-5. You'd think a question
about the team's mood might get to Turner, as all the Chargers had to
walk past the glassy-eyed stare of general manager A.J. Smith as they
came off the field at game's end. Smith stood there by the locker room
door, shifting back and forth, gazing at each player and coach. Nobody
looked back. Smith declined a request for an interview, walked into the
locker room behind his team, and then left by himself only a couple of
minutes later, suitcase in hand and not a single word on his lips. No, what hit a Norv nerve was a follow-up to his statement about the toughness of the players on his team. Turner was asked if the toughness the Chargers have showed matters every week if the team keeps losing. The beleaguered coach, who hadn't really been making eye-contact, locked in on his interlocutor.
"What do you think?!" he blared. "I mean, what do you think the answer to that question is? Answer it for me. Is it acceptable? No, it's not acceptable. You know the answer to that. What's the answer to that? No. Is it acceptable to have a blocked punt and an interception returned for a touchdown? No, it's not acceptable. That's not what we're trying to accomplish out there. We're trying to go out and win a game. Those things are keeping us from winning. No, it's not acceptable."
A longtime Chargers reporter said the head coach is "never, never, never" as visibly upset as he was after Sunday's loss. Maybe it's a positive turning point for the team and the franchise, but more likely it's another sign that Turner's frustrating time in San Diego may soon be coming to an end. His team came apart at the end of this game, much as it did in a home loss to the Denver Broncos last month. Those are two enormous losses that could have been wins, if it wasn't for inexplicable late-game errors. Members of the Chargers think the team has enough talent to make the playoffs, so clearly the problem is mental. "We stop playing our game," said running back Ryan Mathews, "and we start playing the game they do."
In other words: coaching is a problem.
"We made some bad plays in the fourth quarter," said defensive back Eric Weddle, "and that's what's been killing us all season."
Asked why the mistakes keep happening, Weddle sighed.
"I don't know," he said. "The mistakes are just magnified. All our games, we haven't been able to put it together. We're still trying to figure it out."
It's getting far too late to figure it out. The Chargers aren't the Bucs, a young team bound to make errors coming off a 6-10 season. That's what happened to Johnson, who missed a tackle on Chargers wideout Danario Alexander early in the game and watched him complete an 80-yard catch-and-run for a score on the game's opening possession. But Johnson recovered and made the play of the game when it mattered. He left the stadium with the ball in his red duffel bag and a smile on his face.
Rivers, on the other hand, had the opposite happen: He was terrific in the first half with three touchdowns and no interceptions. But then, when it counted most, he threw a bewildering pick-six that might end up being the signature highlight of the decline of the Turner era. Drew Brees has a Super Bowl ring, Michael Turner is on a one-loss, playoff-bound team, and Rivers and Antonio Gates are getting older one crushing loss at a time. See Video here
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