What's a Norv? ( Hint: I think it means " Bad At Math")

I’m no Albert Einstein. You will never read one of my articles that begin with the words, “NASA called last night and I have to fly down there to bail them boys out again so…”

I can balance a checkbook and I do pretty good when it comes to figuring out how much of what I need to go where and if I can pay for it.

What the hell is a Norv?

Sorry, I got ahead of myself. Last year the San Diego Chargers ran over anything and everything that got in the way. They were finally derailed by The New England Patriots in the playoffs. In case you’re new to the NFL the Patriots have a man who is possibly the best head coach ever to breathe air, Bill Belichick. They have one of the all time great quarterbacks in Ton Brady. As a team they are damn tough to beat, and as the season wears on they only get better. In the playoffs they are awesome.

To lose to New England in the playoffs isn’t a sign you’ve done something horribly wrong.

Last year the Chargers did indeed lose to the Patriots, in a season most experts picked the Chargers to win it all. Most of the blame for the loss fell upon the shoulders of Marty Schottenheimer, who has a 5-13 record for playoff games. Schottenheimer was fired, and then replaced with….Norv Turner.

Okay, now…. What the hell is a Norv?

Overall, Turner has a regular season record of  59-85-1. That’s a .410 average.

Turner has played two playoffs games and lost one of those.

Once, only one time in his entire career has Turner coached a team that won more than nine games. Last year, Schottenheimer’s Chargers won  fourteen games. The last time Norv coached he went 4-12. This year, Norv’s Chargers are 1-3.

Okay, my total failure to attract NASA’s attention aside, does anyone else see a math problem with firing Marty Schottenheimer and replacing him with Norv Turner? Does this not seem to be one of the most stupid coaching mistakes anyone has ever made? Oh! Marty went 14-2 last year, maybe we can improve on that by hiring a man who has to match up his best two seasons to win fourteen games.

The use of the word “stupid”  was neither accidental, nor was it inappropriate.

The Chargers, if they play damn well for the rest of the season are going to be fighting an uphill battle. They are playing in the dismal AFC West which means an 8-8 year could win that Division. But even of they win the division they’re going to have to play either New England, who is playing better ball than god right now, or they will have to play the Colts, who always play well at home.

The good news is that the rest of the schedule is pretty weak. They play the Raiders twice. They can still salvage the season. But to think that a Norv is going to march into New England or Indianapolis and walk out with a win is simply ludicrous.

And it’s bad math, too.

Take Care,

Mike