No Excuses

Aug 8, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy (left) and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt (right) before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jody Gomez-USA TODAY Sports

Wow… what a season. Today was disappointing, no doubt. But,” it is what it is”, right? We went into Denver, and we thought we could beat them. I think we had a chance, but we fell short. I’m glad there was some January football. Denver played a balanced game, and Peyton kept the mistakes to a minimum. Denver’s running game was on point, and they really beat us at our own game… hard-nosed running. Quite honestly, the Broncos had the Chargers on their heels from the get-go. The Broncos got a ton of pressure on Rivers. Their offensive line was dominating our defensive front all day. The play calling was offbeat, and predictable. The Chargers finally decided to stop running Woodhead for two yards (without Mathews), and were staging a comeback. They scored twice after a quick strike, and executed an amazing onside kick recovery. But, instead of going for a second onside kick, they decided to go conservative, and gave the ball back to Denver, with three minutes left. They never saw the ball again (sound familiar?).

The Chargers streak of luck ended today. I have said many times before… “FITYMI”. Fake It Til You Make It. They did that down the final stretch, and gained valuable playoff experience for a young crew, that will be around for years to come. The Broncos are a stacked team. This rag-tag fleet of no-names, rookies, undrafted free agents, brand new starters, scrappy veterans, and first-year management have put a winning product on the field, despite major setbacks. There is a lot to learn, and there are a lot of moves that can be made. If they continue to make wise choices, they will succeed.

When Tom Telesco was hired, there was a period where we weren’t getting any real information about what was going with the new regime. I wrote an article called “Tom Telesco’s Experiment”. We had all of these new parts, and none of it really made sense. I compared it to a Frankenstein type roster. Sewn together by a mad scientist, who just performed major surgery on a team, and created an assembly of odd parts. Telesco, McCoy, Whisenhunt, Pagano, Reich, and Coach D’ Alessandris took that monstrosity, and made it win on the field. Despite the lack of talent, they rode it until the wheels fell off.

In the end… those wheels have names. I just started to type specific names, but I stopped. You know who they are. I hope they sleep really good tonight, and don’t trip too hard on the loss. It was a great Charger season. I feel blessed to have been a part of it. It only gets better from here.

Keep Bolting Toward Excellence

Peter Thompson