Over winter break many students watched the San Diego Chargers fall victim to the Detroit Lions and effectively put an end to yet another disappointing season. Hundreds of loyal Charger fans cried for drastic changes in hopes that maybe they wouldn’t have to endure yet another losing season.
Head coach Norv Turner and General Manager AJ Smith were the first two expected to be on the chopping block. But, despite all the pressure from fans, owner Dean Spanos chose to keep both Turner and Smith for the 2012 season, a move which, to some students, won’t much improve the Charger’s fate in the 2012 season.
“They could win the AFC West” said senior Jake Barenholtz, “but they’re not going anywhere in the playoffs.”
However, Greg Manusky, the defensive coordinator was fired and replaced by John Pagano who had been passed up for the position last year.
“I think that was the right choice because their defense has gone down” senior William Wundrach said.
But, that was all the significant change Spanos was willing to make. And while it may be easy to simply put the blame on the coach, many students believe that it will take more than that for the Chargers to have a solid defense in the upcoming season.
“They need to get better players, too,” Wundrach said. “They need better linebackers and cornerbacks.”
Although the defense certainly left much to be desired, the offense was a far cry from what it had the potential to be. Philip Rivers throwing interceptions and dropping the football when it truly mattered kept the offense in the red zone and out of the end zone one too many times.
With no coaching changes made to the offense, whether or not the Chargers have a solid offense next season will most likely depend on what kind of players they have. A source of debate on the offensive side is whether or not to keep free agent Vincent Jackson.
“Vincent Jackson is a great receiver even when he came in halfway through the season he put up great up numbers,” Barenholtz said.
For better or worse, Norv will be returning for the 2012 season. All Charger’s fans can do for now is sit and hope that the NFL draft will produce some high performance players and that the changes made to the coaching staff, are enough to push the Bolts far into the postseason.