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SDUT (Acee): Chargers' biggest game preceded by darkest hour
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Robin Miller
Nov 12, 2012, 10:23:56 PM11/12/12
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Acee: Chargers' biggest game preceded by darkest hour
By Kevin Acee
Monday, November 12, 2012
As they prepared to leave Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, a
pall engulfed the Chargers, the gravity of which had not been felt
before in at least all the years Norv Turner has been the team’s head coach.
That is remarkable on its own, given the many opportunities they have
had to be downcast. That it came where it did, too, provided easy
perspective to just how dire the current state is.
It was on a December day in 2008 that the Chargers left the same stadium
believing their playoff chances had finally been snuffed.
While they had beaten the Buccaneers in that season’s second-to-last
game, the Chargers players and coaches watched television as they
dressed and saw the Denver Broncos winning in Buffalo.
It was a solemn bunch that boarded the team buses to the airport, ready
to accept that their efforts would be ultimately fruitless. All Denver
had to do was close out the Bills.
The Broncos, of course, lost that day, came to San Diego the next week
and were routed, and the Chargers became the first team to ever win a
division after trailing by three games with three games to play.
But the point here is that they left Tampa in resignation that their
season was over.
And the purpose of that memory being rehashed here is because the
Chargers left Tampa again on Sunday, after a 34-24 loss, and what was
seen on their faces and heard in their voices was even less optimism
about this season, with seven games remaining, than witnessed that day
in ’08.
Talk about resilience is hollow now. That is not to say these guys
aren’t trying, that they’re not furiously working to win. It’s just that
the weight of this season has caved in on itself.
Remember when the Chargers used to calmly assure us things were going to
get better … and things got better?
It happened all the time.
In 2007, from 1-3 to 4-5 to 11-5 and the AFC Championship. In 2008, from
4-8 to 8-8 and even a playoff win. In 2009, from 2-3 to 13-3.
Yeah, that’s the past. History has stopped repeating itself.
Yes, the Chargers go to Denver this coming Sunday with a mathematical
chance to stay in the AFC West race. But their actual chances seem
hardly worth considering.
In fact, never in the past six seasons have the prospects for such a
turn seemed grimmer.
And, listen, I went along for the ride in ’08 that included a
season-opening loss suffered after time had expired, Ed Hochuli giving
Denver a victory the next week, a defeat in Buffalo played in a power
outage, the next week’s trip to London that resulted in a loss to the
Saints and a November home loss to Atlanta that dropped the Chargers to
4-8 and sent Philip Rivers home practically in tears.
This isn’t 2008. Not only are these Chargers evidently incapable of
pushing anyone around or getting out of their own way, the team they’re
chasing isn’t Jay Cutler’s Broncos.
A 24-point lead isn’t safe against Peyton Manning, he almost certainly
isn’t losing a four-game lead with six to play.
That advantage is essentially what the Broncos will possess if they win
Sunday. Their 7-3 record would put them three games ahead of the 4-6
Chargers in the standings, but having swept the teams’ season series
would mean the Chargers would have to finish one game ahead of them in
order to win the West.
Rivers, especially, never said anything in past seasons, no matter how
improbable it seemed, other than that the Chargers had a chance. And
he’s not saying different now. It’s just no one sees the Broncos blowing
a lead this time.
“We knew when the season started, when he signed in Denver, it wasn’t
going to be 8-8 and 9-7 that got you in,” Rivers said Sunday afternoon
as our conversation turned forward to Manning and the Broncos.
Well, at this point, do you believe the Chargers can win six of their
final seven games and get to 10-6?
Don't feel bad if not. I don’t even think they believe they can.
By Kevin Acee
Monday, November 12, 2012
As they prepared to leave Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, a
pall engulfed the Chargers, the gravity of which had not been felt
before in at least all the years Norv Turner has been the team’s head coach.
That is remarkable on its own, given the many opportunities they have
had to be downcast. That it came where it did, too, provided easy
perspective to just how dire the current state is.
It was on a December day in 2008 that the Chargers left the same stadium
believing their playoff chances had finally been snuffed.
While they had beaten the Buccaneers in that season’s second-to-last
game, the Chargers players and coaches watched television as they
dressed and saw the Denver Broncos winning in Buffalo.
It was a solemn bunch that boarded the team buses to the airport, ready
to accept that their efforts would be ultimately fruitless. All Denver
had to do was close out the Bills.
The Broncos, of course, lost that day, came to San Diego the next week
and were routed, and the Chargers became the first team to ever win a
division after trailing by three games with three games to play.
But the point here is that they left Tampa in resignation that their
season was over.
And the purpose of that memory being rehashed here is because the
Chargers left Tampa again on Sunday, after a 34-24 loss, and what was
seen on their faces and heard in their voices was even less optimism
about this season, with seven games remaining, than witnessed that day
in ’08.
Talk about resilience is hollow now. That is not to say these guys
aren’t trying, that they’re not furiously working to win. It’s just that
the weight of this season has caved in on itself.
Remember when the Chargers used to calmly assure us things were going to
get better … and things got better?
It happened all the time.
In 2007, from 1-3 to 4-5 to 11-5 and the AFC Championship. In 2008, from
4-8 to 8-8 and even a playoff win. In 2009, from 2-3 to 13-3.
Yeah, that’s the past. History has stopped repeating itself.
Yes, the Chargers go to Denver this coming Sunday with a mathematical
chance to stay in the AFC West race. But their actual chances seem
hardly worth considering.
In fact, never in the past six seasons have the prospects for such a
turn seemed grimmer.
And, listen, I went along for the ride in ’08 that included a
season-opening loss suffered after time had expired, Ed Hochuli giving
Denver a victory the next week, a defeat in Buffalo played in a power
outage, the next week’s trip to London that resulted in a loss to the
Saints and a November home loss to Atlanta that dropped the Chargers to
4-8 and sent Philip Rivers home practically in tears.
This isn’t 2008. Not only are these Chargers evidently incapable of
pushing anyone around or getting out of their own way, the team they’re
chasing isn’t Jay Cutler’s Broncos.
A 24-point lead isn’t safe against Peyton Manning, he almost certainly
isn’t losing a four-game lead with six to play.
That advantage is essentially what the Broncos will possess if they win
Sunday. Their 7-3 record would put them three games ahead of the 4-6
Chargers in the standings, but having swept the teams’ season series
would mean the Chargers would have to finish one game ahead of them in
order to win the West.
Rivers, especially, never said anything in past seasons, no matter how
improbable it seemed, other than that the Chargers had a chance. And
he’s not saying different now. It’s just no one sees the Broncos blowing
a lead this time.
“We knew when the season started, when he signed in Denver, it wasn’t
going to be 8-8 and 9-7 that got you in,” Rivers said Sunday afternoon
as our conversation turned forward to Manning and the Broncos.
Well, at this point, do you believe the Chargers can win six of their
final seven games and get to 10-6?
Don't feel bad if not. I don’t even think they believe they can.
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