The Chargers got their Mt. Rushmore on Friday. And the greatest running back in team history didn’t get a spot on it.
Sure, PFT Planet opted to give LaDainian Tomlinson one of the four positions. For me, however, L.T. ended up at No. 5.
It didn’t help that he played for a franchise that has included men like Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, Lance Alworth, and Junior Seau, my four choices. It also didn’t help that Tomlinson’s teams never made it to a Super Bowl, despite having more talent than Fouts’ Chargers and less intense competition than those San Diego teams faced.
Cementing the decision was Tomlinson’s opinion, as expressed last year on NBCSN, that he’d rather have a Hall of Fame career than a championship. While his accomplishments are worthy of Canton, that mindset hurts him when it’s time to pick the men who are the faces of a franchise that, based on his own admission, ultimately took a back seat to Tomlinson’s individual goals and ambitions.
The full segment from Friday’s show appears below, along with the L.T. debate and the outcome of the voting process.