14 Million Americans Are Out Of Work Yet Norv Turner Still Has A Job!

It’s hard to criticize a coach with Norv Turner’s record in San Diego and even harder to diminish the coaching ability of a man to whom Troy Aikman attributes a large portion of his success. Most of all its hardest to validate anything that Rex Ryan has ever said that does not pertain to a pie eating contest. However, if you look beyond the 3 division titles and last year’s top offence and defense, Norv simply isn’t getting it done.


I don’t believe a coach should ever be fired or even criticized simply for not winning a Super Bowl and expecting a coach to win one is flat out preposterous. It took Bill Cowher 13 seasons to win one and Bill Parcells didn’t win any with the last 3 teams he coached. Both men are widely and rightfully considered to be great coaches and there is no way that Norv Turner should ever be held to a higher standard than those men with San Diego or any other team. That notwithstanding, what should be expected from all coaches who were handed a 14-2 team and a young franchise quarterback is to get them to a place where they can win a Super Bowl. While wildcard teams have won Super Bowls in the past, it is much easier with a first round bye and once the talent is aligned the head coach needs to take responsibility for the slow starts and the close losses to less talented teams.

Let’s all look back at the 2006 season in which Marty Schotenheimer, one of the great regular season coaches of a generation, led San Diego to a 14-2 season only to lose their first playoff game to the Pats (who’s leading receiver was Jabbar Gaffney) in typical “Marty-Ball” fashion. After that season which featured Philip Rivers in his first season as a starter, LT still very much in his prime and Shawne Merriman as one of the most intimidating QB hunters in the game, the Bolts were considered the team of the future. Schotenheirmer’s inability to win playoff games ultimately cost him his job, but his successor has since shown the inability to coach a contender from beginning to end. The Super Chargers had two options in looking for a replacement; they could have interviewed young ambitious coordinators who were in other systems or they could have gone for the brand name Head Coach despite a lifetime losing record as a head coach. Unlike the last 3 Super Bowl champions who all replaced their head coach in the past 5 years while employing the first hiring strategy, San Diego chose the latter and went with Norv. Hind sight is always 20/20, but the Norv decision is clearly not working out and if the window of opportunity was getting narrow in San Diego 5 years ago, where does it stand today? Worst of all, I correctly picked the last 3 Super Bowl champions before the seasons began and at 4-5, my streak is very much in danger of ending this year with my San Diego pick. (In case anyone cares I picked them to beat the Cowboys in Indy)

Regardless of how San Diego fares from this point on, anything short of winning a Super Bowl should merit a coaching change. That is not a contradiction to what I said earlier as I think Norv really needs to be replaced regardless, but if he somehow pulls off the improbably I think a stay of execution would be reasonable. Even if they get to the Super Bowl and lose, they would have most likely gotten there the hard way, winning 3 playoff games and 2 on the road in the cold weather that the flip flop wearing team does not like to play in, and in that scenario a Super Bowl loss might be the result of being run down, a state that could have been avoided with a better regular season.



AND THAT’S THE BRUTAL TRUTH!