I didn't hear much talk about the Chargers vs Colts game last night but there was something I noticed at the end of the game that I feel is worth discussing. The Chargers lost 23-20 on a last second field goal that was the result of a well-orchestrated drive led by Peyton Manning. I believe that's his 35th career game-winning drive (including OT) if I'm not mistaken. This crucial loss dropped the Chargers to 4-7 and severly damaged what playoff hopes they have remaining. But it's not so much that they lost, but how they lost. The Chargers were driving with about a minute and half left. A false start had backed them up to 2nd and 15. This penalty proved to be too much to overcome as they were stopped a couple yards shy of the 1st down after their 3rd down play, resulting in something like a 4th and 2 with, say, 1:27 remaining. Norv Turner, being the genius that he is, calls timeout with between 30-35 seconds left on the playclock. They were lining up for the game-tying field goal so why wouldn't you want to leave Peyton Manning as much time as possible? Kaeding drills the field goal and as I previously mentioned Manning methodically drove the Colts down the field and spiked the ball with 2 seconds left to give Vinatieri a chance to win the game. 2 seconds that should have never been there. Nice work Norv. Congratulations for continuing to suck. Which leads me to my points. If I were a Chargers fan I would be livid with A.J. Smith. Remember it was A.J. Smith who forced Marty Schottenheimer out after a 14-2 regular season but lost a divisional game at home to the Patriots. I understand wanting to let Marty go. Apparently you had some issues with him over personnel and Marty didn't win in the playoffs. That's always been the knock on Marty. But if you're going to fire him don't replace him with someone who sucks and has always sucked and therefore will continue to suck aka Norv Turner. At least Marty got your tatented squad to the playoffs. That's better than being 4-7 and barely still mathematically alive right?
