[RM: The article actually does not mention a "source" who states that
Turner is "not fully in the clear." That seems to be Cole's own assessment.]
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--source--norv-turner-not-fully-in-th...
Yahoo! Sports
Jason Cole
Source: Norv Turner not fully in the clear after Chargers' romp over Chiefs
SAN DIEGO Let's start with the "what if" scenario.
If the San Diego Chargers had somehow lost on Thursday night to the
Kansas City Chiefs, there's a very serious chance that coach Norv Turner
would have been fired, as had been reported earlier Thursday.
Owner Dean Spanos had thought through what he might do if the Chargers
had lost their fourth straight game, two sources told Yahoo! Sports. As
hard as it would have been (the Chargers don't have anybody else on the
coaching staff who has ever been an offensive coordinator or who has
called the plays), Spanos likely would have pulled the plug on Turner.
And according to the aforementioned report, he would have been replaced
by special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
Instead, Turner once again put his demise on hold as the Chargers
cruised to a 31-13 win at Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego got to 4-4 with
plenty of help from the Chiefs (1-7), who increased their league lead in
turnovers to 29 overall and upped their turnover margin to minus-20.
Two of Kansas City's four turnovers were converted to touchdowns in the
second half. Both of those came against quarterback Matt Cassel, who
figures to be purged in the offseason along with general manager Scott
Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel.
Those moves are but a fait accompli. The real question is whether Turner
who is still under immense pressure, according to one of the sources
will continue to survive his merry-go-round run on the coaching hot seat
after getting to the midpoint of his 15th season as a head coach.
Every time you think Turner is about to get fired, he somehow survives
and returns for another season. It's an amazing thing when you consider
that Turner has reached a conference championship game only once in his
career.
Turner knows that so well that he barely flinched as he walked out of
the locker room. Strangely, Turner flashed an almost whimsical smile at
questions about his job security.
"We've been through it so many times that the guys in there understand,"
Turner said, pointing toward the locker room. "We have a veteran group
of players, a veteran group of coaches, and if I felt that they were
being affected by it, I would pay more attention to it."
Likewise, quarterback Philip Rivers continues to believe that Turner
handles the pressure with supreme tact and confidence.
"Everybody in that locker room sees how he reacts to it every week and
he's straight ahead and focused," said Rivers, the son of a high school
football coach. "Just because he doesn't throw his headset or stomp his
feet or pound on the podium the way the public wants to see him do it
doesn't mean that he doesn't do it with us.
"Norv has taken unfair heat his entire career and I just don't
understand it."
In fact, Rivers said that despite the three-game skid that had brought
the coach and team so much scrutiny, the Chargers had their practice of
the season Tuesday.
"If you didn't know it, you'd have thought we were an undefeated team
with how into it and how excited we were in practice," said Rivers, who
was booed by the home crowd Thursday night.
All the same, there are players who worry about the situation. In fact,
one player asked a reporter after the game, "Would Norv have been gone
if we had lost this one?"
As it is, Turner is facing an uphill battle, even if there's still the
dilemma of who would handle the offensive play-calling. Over the next
two games, the Chargers go to Tampa Bay and then to Denver. They also
have games with Baltimore and Pittsburgh. If that's not bad enough, it's
not going to be easy for Turner to get fans to forget the historic
collapse at home against the Broncos (the Chargers blew a 24-0 halftime
lead) and subsequent 7-6 loss at Cleveland.
Those losses, particularly when taken in concert, are indelible. If the
Chargers miss the playoffs for a third straight season, there is no
question that fans will point to those two losses as the turning point.
Certainly Spanos was looking at it that way going into this game. Spanos
took heat this offseason when he decided to bring back Turner and
general manager A.J. Smith. These days, he's facing stunning levels of
apathy for the team. The Chargers were 10,000 tickets short of selling
out this game and needed six companies to kick in money to guarantee the
sell out and make sure the game was shown locally (and thus avoiding the
first local blackout of an NFL Network televised game).
And if you looked just casually at the stands, you could see huge gaps
in prime ticket sections, if not almost empty areas in the upper levels.
Fans here have started to tune out this team, even at a time when it's
relatively competitive and pretty entertaining.
Fans here have grown tired of hearing what a great offensive playcaller
that Turner is (that's a fact, if you ask even a moderate number of
fellow NFL coaches) and how close the team has been to breaking through.
That's why when Turner talked about the "progress" the team is making on
offense these days, it seemed almost laughable. The time has long since
passed for Chargers fans to be satisfied by "progress."
They want a finished product.
Or they want Turner finished.
