The Chargers fired coach Norv Turner on Monday and, as in most of these cases, a big reason why was his failure to make the playoffs.
Many felt the Chargers underachieved the last three years under Turner, a notion that Turner took issue with in some post-firing comments. Turner said Monday that no one in San Diego should go into the 2013 season with the expectation that the Chargers can make the playoffs because, in his opinion, they’re a good distance away from being good enough to do that.
“Someone wrote a few weeks ago that this team is not that far away from the playoffs. I would disagree. I know the things that would have to get done for that to happen. If this team comes next year and they get some things done to help them get better and are able to make the playoffs, I would hope it would be a surprise to all the Chargers fans, and they would be excited about it,” Turner said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I would hope it would not be the expectation starting in August because I think you need to give whoever the guy who comes in here and the group he brings in some time to get back this thing back to where it was.”
Turner said that he thought the team lost too many players in recent years from teams that were the most talented in the AFC West, explaining that you have to draft well and keep your players to be successful. That argument makes former General Manager A.J. Smith, also fired on Monday, the man to blame for the team’s downturn.
There’s a lot of truth to such an argument, although it didn’t do Turner any good when it came time to hand out pink slips.