The "Back" in Quarterback
I listened to a radio commentator yesterday
talking about the Chargers' miserable season, and
the debate over whether a change at the quarterback
position can make much difference. The team lost 14
of the last 17 games in which Drew Brees started in
the quarterback position. Doug Flutie replaced
Brees five weeks ago, but has only racked up one
win, while the team has overall continued to play
at a level worthy of its last-place ranking. This
season, like the eight before it, is a wash. What
about next year?
The talk show host talked about which
quarterback would start this Sunday, and he made a
good point: the Chargers should start Brees. Flutie
hasn't made a significant difference, and he'll be
42 next year. Definitely not the quarterback of the
Chargers' future. Brees hasn't performed much
better, so is he really the quarterback of the
future that the Chargers organization has made him
out to be? The team needs a lot of things, but
perhaps most of all, it needs a strong
quarterback.
The most sensible thing to do would be to let
Brees play the last four games of the season as one
last shot to prove himself. If he showed
significant improvement, he could start next
season. Otherwise, the Chargers should seek out a
better quarterback. The team's got a superstar
running back in LaDanian Tomlinson, a potential
superstar wide receiver in David Boston, and a
defense that—with some "spring
cleaning"—could be pretty good. If they had a
Michael Vick or Trent Green in the QB position,
perhaps they could finally have a winning season. I
don't see it happening with Brees.
So it came as no surprise to me when head coach
Marty Schottenheimer announced that Flutie would
start this Sunday. If you want to know what the
Chargers will do any given week, just think what
would make sense and pick the opposite. With
Schottenheimer's announcement, it became clear to
me that the organization was not looking to the
future. It was looking back.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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