You Better Lock It Up.

So, I’ve been sitting here all day wondering whether I should even bother to write anything about all of the bullshit that took place yesterday. I don’t really have any enlightened take on the game. I have nothing to share that hasn’t been shared. And what can I say about Shawne Merriman? I can think of a couple of things, so I might as well go ahead and share my thoughts on both.

For far too long, teams like the Chargers have been given a pass when playing on the road in Kansas City and Denver, and I have to call bullshit. We have a far better team than the opponent we faced yesterday and we went in unprepared with predictable results. Philip Rivers gets a lot of flack for yesterday’s game, and while you hate to see him take those two sacks at the end of the game, that is the unfortunate downside of having a young quarterback in his first year as a starter. The situation can be overwhelming. The thing is, he should rarely be put in that situation. It should never have been that close. We were handled on the lines on both sides of the ball and we inexplicably could not account for Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzales. How those two didn’t make the scouting reports is beyond me, but perhaps even more mind boggling is the fact that Eddie “I swear to God I’m a viable receiving threat” Kennison was able to haul in a TD. Just who exactly were we covering out there? Now, far be it from me to cry over a 4-2 start; Lord knows it could be a lot worse, but we are about to hit a make or break stretch here, and all of a sudden you have to wonder how we’ll fare. Only time will tell, I guess.

As far as the Merriman thing goes, I don’t even feel like bothering to discuss the predicament this puts our decimated front seven in. I won’t dwell on the fact that the four game suspension he will now serve includes games against three solid clubs in St. Louis, Cincinnati and Denver. No, instead I’m going to offer my apology to the city of San Francisco. I now get it. You can’t help but cheer for your heroes and refuse to see their faults, but deep down inside it must kill you to know the maybe there really are no good guys anymore. When Merriman returns, I will of course still be dazzled by his play and happy to see him wear the Bolts, but he will have to earn back his nickname. I’ll set Manimal aside for now.

It’s time for this team to learn what it’s truly made of. Go Bolts!!!