MVN: Most Valuable Network

Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop
I'll be on that hill with everything I got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town

Those words were, of course, written by Bruce Springsteen who will be performing at halftime of the Super Bowl.  While they resonate right now for how I feel about the Chargers, they will be nowhere near that game.  Sure, there will be some team that no one expects right now that will go on a run in this year's playoffs and Boltheads will be tempted to think that it could have been us.  However, Sunday's game, which on paper was our worst loss of the year, was a perfect representation of our entire season.  It really wasn't that close.  We tried to make a run at the end (of both the game and the year) but the flaws and mistakes you saw at the beginning were our true selves.  Antonio Gates might not want to believe that these were the Chargers we were getting used to seeing each week.  However, these were your 2008 Bolts.

Cris Collinsworth can scoff at the idea that this was once a team expected to reach the Super Bowl.  He did the same thing last year before they actually began to play up to expectations.  Of course, they needed to have all their old security blankets on offense taken away before they did so.  All the talk about the "window of opportunity" was never boasting about how good the Chargers were.  It was a reminder that they haven't won anything yet. 

Where does the blame lie?  I wish I knew.  I never wanted Marty or Norv, but whether it's tthe coach that induces winning or winning that makes the coach has never been proven to me.  More likely, it's combination.  Look at where Bill Cowher and Tom Coughlin were right before their teams won the Super Bowl.  Should AJ Smith be "untouchable?"  Of course not, Charger fans are already fearful that he has the Spanoses so smitten that they will be unable to see if he's lost the touch.  Are his players simply not good enough or not good enough yet?  Something needs to change before next season because this one was the toughest one yet and I've been watching since 1978.  It's much less frustrating when you know going in you're going to suck.

In today's NFL, it might not seem like there is much difference between the good and bad teams.  Parity might make for quick turnarounds from season to season.  But the difference between winning and losing is the only thing that matters.  This team constantly fell behind and couldn't make the stops that mattered.  They may have lost by a small margin on the scoreboard but they came up short BIG TIME where it counts the most.  Do they lack heart or poise?  One could argue that this team and its overpaid underacheivers on defense (Phillips. Castillo, Wilhelm, Olshansky and Tucker) are like those popcorn muscles that Joey Porter babbled about.  They look big, but underneath are small and weak.  I still believe that JUSTICE IS COMING, but I really don't know when.

Let the words be yours,

RLW