Chargers jump off their own bandwagon

Chargers LB Shawne Merriman isn't happy with his GM's comments. (John Pyle/Cal Sport Media)

A storm is brewing in San Diego.

A few weeks after Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner basically admitted to his team’s mediocrity, General Manager A.J. Smith did the same.

“Everything is wrong with it right now,” Smith told the San Diego Union Tribune. “I’m not the least bit happy in a lot of areas. I’ve seen us be tough and physical to soft and bewildered.”

Outside linebacker Shawne Merriman, at first declining to speak on the matter, took exception to his GM’s comments.

“I don’t know too much of that. That’s an opinion of a person, and it’s not needed,” Merriman said. “We know that we have to play better. We met for an extra hour and a half as a defense as a whole to discuss what we need to do and things we need to do to get better. And we’re going to make adjustments in this locker room as far as players and our attitudes and getting after people a little more. But all that extra (stuff) is not needed at all.”

Merriman went on to say, “The only opinions that matter to me are the ones in this locker room. Anything else, it doesn’t matter.”

Consider that the GM made that locker room, one wonders what Merriman was thinking.

Naturally his comments caused quite a stir Wednesday night, and Merriman responded, saying the headlines were overblown in his twitter account (sic): “I love how things get blown up for nothing, all that was said is that we need to play better & we didnt need to be told that..NOW HEADLINES?”

Yes, Merriman, headlines. Like it or not, when a player responds to a front office employee in the media like that, let alone the high-end executive who built the team, it’s going to cause headlines.

The good employee says, “He’s right, we’re not very good and we need to get better,” or he doesn’t say anything at all. He doesn’t challenge the qualifications of his boss to make such a statement.

Best of all, all of this turmoil is taking place as the Chargers are 2-2, banged up, and using their bye to try and get healthy for their Week 6 tilt with the currently 4-0 Denver Broncos. The Broncos were thought to be the AFC West team with the most tumultuous offseason. Now they’re the ones smooth-sailing into the pivotal division matchup, while the Chargers are left with their heads spinning. Denver couldn’t conjure up a better scenario to head to San Diego, their annual toughest-game-of-the-year.

Not that any of Merriman’s comments matter to San Diego four months from now. If Merriman, who will be a free agent after this season, doesn’t already have a ticket punched out of town, calling out his boss surely isn’t going to help matters.

Something tells me the Chargers were preparing for life with Merriman, anyway:

San Diego Chargers' first-round draft pick Larry English, second from right, holds up his new jersey as, from left to right, general manager A.J. Smith, president-CEO Dean Spanos and head coach Norv Turner look on during a news conference Sunday, April 26, 2009, in San Diego. English, a linebacker, is from Northern Illinois. (AP Photo/Jack Smith)