Sportsbook handicappers respect the fact that under the leadership of general manager AJ Smith the San Diego Chargers have become a perennial playoff contender. What they do not respect is the ever growing amount of evidence that Smith’s ego is blocking the Chargers from going all the way.
First Tell in 2006
The San Diego Chargers rolled to a phenomenal record of 14-2 in the 2006 season under then head coach Marty Schottenheimer before suffering a bizarre and heartbreaking sportsbook online payoff loss to the New England Patriots in which they fumbled a 4th quarter interception to give New England a stay of execution. Despite the great season and promising future Smith and Schottenheimer clashed repeatedly and Smith won the power struggle with ownership and executed the firing of Schottenheimer.
A Weak Replacement
Smith quickly moved to replace the strong and respected Schottenheimer with Norv Turner, who had failed at previous head coaching jobs with the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders. Under Turner the Chargers lost appeal with handicappers at Sbg global.com as they slipped to 11-5 in 2007 and then 8-8 in 2008 as Turner reminded everyone why he was fired twice as a NFL head coach. Fans began to wonder what would have been had Schottenheimer stayed as he was building a powerhouse.
Slight Recovery
To Smith’s credit he has built a powerful offensive team led by All Pro quarterback Philip Rivers. Turner is respected as a solid offensive coach as he was offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys when they were Super Bowl champions under Jimmy Johnson and a highly profitable sportsbook commodity.
San Diego improved to 12-4 last year but then blew their playoff game with the upstart New York Jets to ruin what looked to be a potentially promising playoff run.
Hardball
Smith’s latest brush with controversy was with his stone-wall/hardball tactics used against the holdouts of key players including ace wideout Vincent Jackson. Many teams were willing to trade for Jackson including the Minnesota Vikings, who are in desperate need of a receiver that can stretch the field. The word among NFL officials was that Smith was being deliberately unreasonable in order to ruin Jackson and keep him held hostage. This was just the latest of many Smith antics in which he would rather win the battle and lose the war. His pettiness is why San Diego has not competed in a Super Bowl despite being a sportsbook online favorite to do so.