Exposed

AJ Smith has been exposed.

He has been exposed as arrogant and conceited. He has been exposed as nothing more than a glorified scout that should not be allowed to make personnel decisions in regards to coaching staffs. He has been exposed as a man who obviously believes that HE is the most important cog in constructing a winning NFL franchise.

He is not.

Worse - he probably still doesn't get it.

Because he couldn't stand his Hall of Fame Coach or the thought that his HOF Coach wanted to hire his own brother as the defensive coordinator. So, he fired him.

Smith replaced Marty Shottenheimer with the man Shottenheimer replaced in Washington DC - Norv Turner. Somehow Smith missed that Shottenheimer was successful with the same roster that Turner couldn't win with.

Now, Turner is showing how he can once again fail to win with the same personnel that Shottenheimer had.

Ted Cottrell has coached the Chargers once aggressive, attacking defense into a mess that gave up 23 of 30 points to a team that had scored a record low 26 points in the first three weeks of the season. Turner has presided over a team that looked barely ready for prime time in their one win against the Bears, and has given up over 30 points per game during their three game slide.

Turner, the so-called offensive genius has managed to turn one the best teams from last season to one of the worst in the AFC...only quarter of the way through the season. They are last in their division and only one team, the 0-4 Dolphins have a worse record in the AFC. In their own division the Raiders have outscored them by over 40 points, and in the entire conference only three teams have given up more - Jets (103), Browns (118), and Dolphins (109).

The Chargers today lost to a rebuilding Chiefs team that has struggled to move the ball...well, until they met the Chargers.

And the bottom line is that AJ Smith is responsible for this mess. If Chargers owner Alex Spanos is smart, he gives Turner and Smith until the bye on October 21. If the team blows games to either Denver or Oakland, both divisional foes, it is likely done for the season unless a radical change is made. That change needs to be both Smith and Turner, because if there is one thing that has become painfully obvious, it's that the Chargers weren't amongst the most talented last season - but they were among the best coached.

For those who dispute that. Other than Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson, who on that offense instills fear in opponents? And right now, no one on that defense is instilling any fear either. So maybe Smith, as opposed to him being the great talent evaluator, and his players were a product of Shottenheimer's coaching.