Time to Clean House (A Chargers/Cowboys Lament)

An expression that I've sadly grown accustomed to.

So another season ends. The Chargers are home. The Cowboys got their hearts ripped out once again. 3 straight years that I haven't seen a playoff game involving one of my squads. Ironically it hasn't happened since I quit being a full-time newspaper guy.

Reality is I've been rooting for two teams that have been impossibly hard to be confident in. The Chargers went from an explosive offense to a team that can barely run the ball and watch Philip Rivers erode from great to average. The Cowboys? A total waste of talent and cursed by injuries and inconsistency.

Monday Night Massacre in the 619

I’m still feeling numb thinking about that Chargers game. Not angry, not frustrated, not even smarting from my teams (Dallas and San Diego) having a combined 4 straight stomach-punching losses. Just numb because this is a new low for a Norv Turner team and that’s saying a lot.

A 24-0 lead at home. Gone.  Fire to finish? Non-existent. Somebody as a calming, firm presence? Nowhere to be found. Philip Rivers looking like a steady leader? Nah man.

I left work with the Chargers up big at halftime. I was puffing out my chest thinking we’re going to see Peyton Manning locked up and owned by San Diego once again. I was wrong.

What I saw qualifies as the worst regular season Chargers loss in my 10 years as a fan. And that’s saying a lot considering there have been at least 2-3 gut-punching games a year. This was a slow descent from Mt. Everest to Death Valley with unbelievable mistakes that just symbolized this era of Charger football.