The San Diego Chargers aka Mr. Perfect

Mr. Perfect’s arrival in the WWF was a big deal. I remember the vignettes they used to run with athletes from different sports attesting to how perfect Mr. Perfect was. They brought in Wade Boggs to play baseball. They did this with quite a few sports. They made Bobby “The Brain” Heenan his manager which meant Mr. Perfect would quickly became involved in storylines with the top stars such as Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. He won the intercontinental championship and proved to be one of the better technical wrestler’s in the WWF. However, he never reached main event status. He never won the WWF championship. He peaked in his two years and never achieved the same success again. He had a long career as a high profile wrestler but most fans (including me) choose to remember his early WWF days.

The 2004 Chargers were essentially the same as Mr. Perfect’s initial push in the WWF. They were a solid team (Mr. Perfect), coached by a respected coach (like “The Brain”) that played a part in the NFL playoffs (early WWF success). The Chargers were solid on offense and defense. Drew Bees bounced back from a Ryan Leaf-esque performance in 2003 to become one of the top passers in the NFL. The Chargers are playing with fire by contemplating having Phillp Rivers as the starting qb. That would be a mistake of monumental proportions. The Chargers brought in Keenan McCardell midway through the season which gave SD a legitimate passing threat. Reche Caldwell got hurt early but he’s a rising star in the NFL. Antonio Gates had the most improbable season in recent NFL history by dominating opposing defenses. He had 13 touchdowns and almost 1,000 yards from the tight end position. LaDanian Tomlinson is the premier running back in the NFL along with Shuan Alexander. Tomlinson is a workhorse with an uncanny ability to catch passes out of the backfield which gives the Chargers the luxury of playing either a ball control game or wide open game.

The defense was already decent before the Chargers added two first round defensive players in the draft. Igor Olshansky is a one-man run stopper on the defensive line. Jamal Williams weighs 350 pounds which might make him the first player in NFL history to enter a game via a golf cart. First round pick Luis Castillo might be the first and only person in Northwestern history to test positive for steroids which amazingly enough adds more credibility to their football program. The linebackers are fairly deep with Donnie Edwards, Randall Godfrey and first round pick Shawn Merriman. Quentin Jammer leads an above average corner back unit that includes Jamar Fletcher and “The Candy Man” Sammie Davis.

The Chargers had the “Perfect” combination of offense and defense last season. They outscored their opponents by a whopping eight points per game. They were among the top teams in the NFL in both categories. However, I don’t see the Chargers improving. I think they’ll be pretty much the exact same team they were last season. They’ll beat the crappy teams and they’ll lose to the better teams. I’m not sure what’s missing but I’m pretty sure that something is.

Being in the AFC West automatically guarantees a difficult schedule although getting matched up with the NFC East makes things a little more manageable. They play Denver (2), KC (2) and Oakland (2). I wouldn’t be surprised if they split with all three teams. They play Philly, Dallas, Washington and the NY Giants. That should be good for three wins. The Chargers don’t get any breaks by playing Indy, Pitts, New England, and the NY Jets. That’ll be 2-2 at the best and most likely 1-3. The remaining games are against Miami and Buffalo which really should be two victories.

Predicted record: 9-7