ESPN NFL

Posted by ESPN.com's Bill Williamson

As expected, we had varied thoughts on this week's sound-off question.

The question was whether San Diego fans are pleased with Norv Turner as the team's coach. Turner has been long maligned as a head coach, but he does have a strong late-season record in his two seasons as San Diego's coach.

I think Turner is a good fit for San Diego. Sure, his overall head-coaching history isn't strong, but the San Diego brass trusts him and believes in him.

Plus, Turner has proven to be a strong coach for the Chargers when it counts. He has won big some big games in the playoffs and he has been brilliant in late-season regular season games.

Turner works well with San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, who is the team's most important player. Rivers is making strides under Turner and that can't be underscored. I'm with the Turner supporters on this one.

I received many responses and some people are behind Turner, while others aren't. Below are some of your responses. Thanks for participating.

Darren Tassone from Tampa, FL: Norv is great!! He always puts the Chargers in a position to win with his game planning and strategy. It's up to the players to be ready and execute. I believe the reason for the slow starts is on the players not Norv. Sometimes the players read into their own hype and just believe all they need to do is to show up to beat teams when actually they need to be at their best to beat any NFL team. Norv definitely needs players such as Rivers and Merriman because he is not a natural Rah! Rah! coach.

Joe from Columbus, Oh: Norv is a head average coach at best. He will bring the Chargers back to the pack. The Chargers are the best team on paper, but he will not have them playing to their peak. As a Raider fan, he just does not seem to inspire his team. He is the polar opposite of Marty. He git very lucky last year w/Denver's collapse, but I just can't see him having that kind of luck again.

Manas from Denver: Norv Turner is a coach who's teams consistently perform below expectations. Yes, he has had success in December with the Chargers. But until he wins a championship, his teams' slow performance in the regular seasons will be a tarnish on his coaching reputation.

Bobbyz from Omaha/Nebraska: Bill, great column,My only issue with Turner is that with LT on the apparent "decline" (though I expect a big year from him) and the offense becoming more Rivers-centered, what is Norv doing to beef up the run. He gets rid of Lo Neal, your traditional block-first fullback, Hester is now in that role as a hybrid player, and the O-line hasn't been upgraded when LT probably had the most stopped runs at scrimmage last year. For a run-first coach that many say Norv is, where's the commitment to improving the run game? Do you see any way that it's improved, though a healthy LT himself will improve it tremendously. Thx

Kevin Argo from Lebanon, Or.: As a Raiders fan, I know Norv Turner is overrated. He was supposed to be this offensive genius, who could barely score any points when he was with us. Chargers fans will say that we had a bad team for him to work with, maybe so, but what is his excuse now. San Diego is widely considered one of, if not the most talented team in the league. The Chargers have made a mistake keeping him on this long, I think it only gets worse from here and Chargerfans have missed thier window.

Dan Auklandd: why does everyone see Norv as a bad HC? The guy has single handedly made Rivers into one of 3 best QBs in the league, hes won big games in the regular season and playoffs, and last year he was able to get his team @4-8 to respond and come out of their collective funk. Yes he replaced a 14-2 coach and has since lost 3 more games each of his 2 seasons here. I think 08 can be completely chalked up to the injuries and the last play of the game losses we suffered early. The only glaring mistake he really made was the TO vs Colts in the regular season (and possibly; still handing the ball of to LT when denver had clearly quit in the 52-21 game). I think he's right for SD but why are people so negative towards him and his ability to be a coach.

Lawrence Akwaboah from Fontana, California: Norv is a very good offensive coach, but i still don't see him as a leader among men. He has plenty of talented players but it seems his team never gets motivated to win games early in the season. To me when your team is stacked with pro bowl talent there is no excuse to go 8-8 in a relatively weak division. He just doesn't seem to have that killer instinct and neither do his players. He shows no emotion and football is a game filled with emotion, in order for his team to get to the super bowl he needs to be more feisty and nasty and i guarantee that mentality will trickle down to his players. Hes done some good things, like improving the offense and the play of phlip Rivers but scoring doesn't make you a super bowl contender, the will to go out there every Sunday and beat your opponent to submission wins championships.

Matt Solbro from San Diego: I like Norv Turner and I agree that his style is actually a positive one for the team. Marty was too much of a rah rah type coach and that doesn't work anymore, maybe in the 80's and 90's but the culture is different now. (I still think Marty would have been one of the greatest college coaches ever, cuz he treats his players like children, not men) Just look at the Chargers offense, there is no other offense as explosive in football right now and its all because of Norv. Also the blossoming of Philip Rivers is due in large part to Norv. I really think Rivers is a special player who could go down as one of the all-time greats. Marty wouldn't have given Rivers the space he needed to get his career moving the way it has. In some ways Norv reminds me of Phil Jackson. Like something bad happens and the team is falling apart and you see Norv and he's not really showing any emotion, but his mind is going a million miles an hour. I think that's what the team needs. The bolts have a tought road this year but watch out NFL, the Norval express is starting to load up and head down the track.

John McIntire from 29 Palms, California: Bill, always a great sound-off and blog that you do to keep us informed of the AFC West. My comment is Norv Turner is a great offensive mind, and he runs a good system. Somehow and someway he is not going to take them over the top. I think that he might be in trouble just like Marty Schot was because he is not taking the team above and beyond the managements expectations. The owners and city is being pressured with a new statium, and winning is everything. What do you see with this team if they don't win, with all that talent. Pressure in San Diego has got to be huge, he is the senior Head Coach in the AFC West too. Thanks.

Jesse Kemp from Chula Vista, Ca: Sound off Response: Norv TurnerTurner has gotten a bad name over the past couple of years for not be effective early in the season. I tend to think that it's not really his fault. Two years ago the players were still adjusting to an entirely new system under new coaches (including that idiot, Ted Cottrell). This last year, LT, Gates, McNeil, Hardwick, Buster Davis, Merriman, and Williams were all hurt coming into the season, or got hurt early on. When you couple that with the fact that our biggest inside presence, Stephen Cooper, was out on a four game suspension, it's easy to understand why Norv struggled early on. That's a total of seve
n starters who either could not play, or were not 100%. Also, there was a lot of complaining about not running the ball. But those complaints should have been directed towards out defense, who could never keep a lead for us to run with. The last three games (esp. Denver when the team set a new single game rushing record), we ran the ball often and effectively because we were controlling the pace of the game. I think this year, with an improved D, people will see that Norv is about balance on the offense, not just airing it out.

JB from San Diego: I think Norv is a great Coach. All the stuff about him being a bad motivator is B.S. I think his biggest downfall is his clock management. We lost a lot of games in the final seconds last year and that is on him. I think the hiring of the assistant head coach will hopefully take a little off his plate and solve some big issues.

Julien Bortz from San Diego, CA: After a couple years with a coach like Schottenheimer who can get it done during the season but falls apart in the offseason, Turner is definitely refreshing in the fact they he can get the job done when the Chargers play in games that matter. However, he doesn't show much emotion or fire to motivate the players and it seems that when they were behind in a game last year they were all but done. I think this season will tell us a lot about Norv's and the Chargers' future.

Billy G: Hey Bill, Love the blogs, thanks for all the updates! I believe that Norv is gradually making a believer out of most of the Charger faithful, he has already shown he is a capable HC from the Chargers record in December/January. My only knock on Norv is that I sometimes get the impression that the team is taking his identity as a passive guy, which at times makes them look like they don't have the same fire to win as they did when Marty was coach. No doubt in my mind Phillip Rivers would not have been able to develop into the QB he is today with Marty still around, but I think its gonna take a Superbowl ring for the critics to finally go away.