[Quesadilla Joe]

Tomlinson talk heats up tumultuous Chargers offseason

The Chargers were supposed to be playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. We thought it would end that way. None of us thought it would come down to this.


Instead of a glorious end to the season, it has become the beginning of a problem-plagued offseason, punctuated by LaDainian Tomlinson’s recent scathing comments.


No game to be played, but plenty of issues to be resolved.
Never before has the nickname of Chargers Park, “The Fortress,” had a truer meaning. The franchise is under siege from an unhappy fan base and now under fire from one of its own players.


The bitterness of the blown opportunity — the awful loss to the New York Jets — will not go away. There are unanswered questions everywhere involving the team, its players, its coaches and its management.



The darkness of the setback has grown deeper with accusations of player unrest, a divided locker room and open-ended questions about leadership, responsibility and maturity.


Instead of a home-field victory against the Jets, a possible shootout with the Colts and a chance of a Super Bowl Sunday game, the team is dealing with personnel problems and a personality crisis.


Tomlinson, the future Hall of Fame running back, in a likely farewell speech, bared his soul on XX 1090 twice inside a week. First, talking about the dreadful loss to the Jets, then following up with a fusillade of critical comments about his teammates.


Tomlinson heads home this weekend to Texas, likely never to return as the Chargers star running back. He leaves frustrated over his reduced role, his substandard performance, questionable coaching and an immature locker room.


Offended by insinuations that he is washed up and too expensive, Tomlinson spoke out like never before. He maintains he still has a 1,200 or 1,400-yard season in the tank. He says the lack of a running game was not always the running back’s fault. He intimated that the passing of the torch from a running team to a Philip Rivers pass-first team played with his falloff in production.


More scathing was his adamant stance that he will not take a pay cut next year. His critical comments that the culture of the locker room had changed cannot be viewed as strictly someone speaking out of frustration. He took a direct shot at teammates, saying that there were too many “Me” players on the roster consumed by trying to market themselves to make more money.


And Tomlinson’s sentiment that the organization let the situation get out of control or did nothing to stop it, was an indirect indictment of the passive personality of head coach Norv Turner. Of concern was the word responsibility, and theories that San Diego had fast become what Turner’s teams in Washington and Oakland had become — leaderless with little accountability.


The Chargers issues though, are not just of another disappointing postseason loss, but a deeper divide involving many players.


Free spirit Shawne Merriman, on XX 1090, refuted the picture painted of him of being so “Hollywood” that nothing else mattered. He spoke of his fierce workout regimen, his leadership abilities and his public desire to stay in San Diego.

Of course, lost in all that noise were the Labor Day weekend incidents with Tila Tequila during a party at his home and the latest assertions that he is in the middle of a paternity suit with friend Tiffany Horne.


He admitted a near fight confrontation in the fourth quarter with teammate Antonio Cromartie after the cornerback refused to try for a tackle to prevent the back-breaking touchdown run of Shonn Greene in the Jets loss.


All is not well amongst the teammates.


As for Cromartie, he has backed away from the spotlight, just like he backed away from two huge plays at the end of the most important game of the season.

Cromartie has been consistent with the negative headlines all season. The training camp Twitter fine, the multiple paternity suits, the flying champagne bottle incident and now the end of season lack-of-courage performance. Whatever goodwill he built up during that flashy 10-interception rookie season has been used up.


Gifted receiver Vincent Jackson could now be facing six months in jail for his latest traffic incident, a third in recent years. First there were DUIs – and now the suspended license and registration issues from the morning of the Jets game, which have resulted in a pair of misdemeanor charges.


The real justice will come this offseason from Commissioner Roger Goodell. DMV means Dumb Move Vincent. He laughed off the most recent arrest on XX 1090. He won’t likely be laughing when all this is resolved.


Nate Kaeding continues to get blasted by the paying public, now admitting his first blown field goal attempt led to him getting a case of the shakes as he missed two more kicks in that Jets game. The fact that he is 3-of-9 in home playoff games leads to the biggest vote of no-confidence this town has given a player since the Ryan Leaf era of errors.


Through all of the fallout, no one wanted to clarify rumors about which players were out running the streets and at strip clubs some 31 hours before they were to play the Jets.


And then there’s Norv Turner’s play calling against the intimidating Jets defense, which appeared to tighten as the game wore on.


In retrospect, it now appears Rivers, his crown jewel quarterback, not only had to deal with the Jets pass rush, but his coach’s tight collar play calling, an anemic running game and receivers dropping the ball. Good luck winning that game in that environment.


Chargers fans love to scream at home games. Now, they are screaming at the home team.


It’s about leadership, accountability, maturity, decision-making, locker room divisions and turmoil.


The numbers (13-3, 11 straight wins) have been replaced the number “one.” One big offseason of decisions to fix what apparently has gone wrong in that clubhouse, on the sidelines and on that roster.


No game Sunday. Lots of problems to be dealt with on Monday. Not the Super Bowl weekend we expected in San Diego.

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02...gers-offseason
Best offseason EVAR!!

The Chargers are a sinking ship!