Let's ignore what the Chargers are up against next week for a moment — or a couple of hours, anyway — and reflect on what they pulled off yesterday. Their winning drive was engineered by Billy Freaking Volek. They overcome a cascade of ridiculous calls, a deafening home crowd and the depression that being in Indianapolis, even for a few hours, inevitably provides. And yet here they are.

The big discussion after the game was whether or not Tony Dungy will return to the Colts next year. (He might go be a minister to prisons, which is exactly the wrong place to start bashing gays, by the way.) We're not quite sure the Colts should want him back. As Peter King points out, this is now the second heavily favored Colts team to lose at home in the playoffs in three years. Bring in Cowher; he'll knock 'em into shape.

• Up until yesterday, you could almost have made a case for Chargers coach Norv Turner. (If you were trying really, really hard. The losses were to a dominant Patriots team and the surging Packers. But yesterday, Norv Turner lost at home — at home — to the Chiefs ... the Chiefs! Herman Edwards coaches that team! Even those with the anti-Norv sites can't believe this is happening so fast. One thing to enjoy about this, though; it will be the first and last times a stadium of people will ever be chanting Marty Schottenheimer's name.

• We had a grand time at the Bills game yesterday; that's the closest the NFL will ever come to the feel of small-town, mom-and-pop, college-football-esque home field experience. (Note: We've never been to Green Bay.) We even saw the beginning of the Trent Edwards era. Any stadium still quaint enough to play "Shout" every time the home team scores is A-OK with us. One thing, though: Bill Buffalo is a terrifying mascot. Not does he look like devil spawn ... but why he is blue? WHY???

• Aided by Pro Football Prospectus, we thought Tony Romo was going to collapse this year. This is what we get for doubting an Eastern Illinois Panther. And man, the Rams: Marc Bulger isn't quite the Daunte Culpepper fantasy disaster of a few years ago, but boy, has he destroyed some teams.

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• We have a feeling New York sports fans — though we're not sure what the Giants-Mets fan crossover is — would have traded a Giants win for a Mets win yesterday. And it's a good thing Phillies fans are so ecstatic right now, or they might notice how bad the Eagles looked (again) last night.

• Yes, yes, the Buzzsaw. As Steve Breaston celebrates, we cautiously point out that this Buzzsaw team looks like a "real" football team than we can remember. They're not gimmicky, they're not fluky, they're not stumbling around and staying in games because teams aren't used to being in the desert / confused by the maroon uniforms. The Buzzsaw looks tough, and that's the first time we can remember saying that in about 15 years. The next five games look winnable; 3-2 would be enough.

Well, the cackling folks at The Coach Is Killing Me have compiled a definitive collection of Norv Turner Reacting To Something Horrible His Team Has Done photos. There's some pretty gruesome ones, from Washington, Oakland and, of course, San Diego. This could get real ugly, real fast.

The Many Sad Faces Of Norv Turner [The Coach Is Killing Me]
Norv, Baby, Norv [Deadspin]

Yep, the Stop Norv Turner movement is already in full force. They even tie it to Shuler.

One of Norv Turner's biggest blunders as coach of the Redskins was his insistence on drafting uber-bust Heath Shuler and then mismanaging the QB situation for the next three years. He would never really name a starter, and just yank Gus & Heath in and out, seemingly on a whim. Well, when Heath Shuler was running for Congress last year, I interviewed him for my last side project: Stop Shuler. He very strongly intimated that it was Norv's fault that he never lived up to expectations — starting him too soon, yanking him too quick, and generally not knowing what he was doing. I tried to get Norv's side of the story, but the 49ers PR team deflected me.

Oh, yeah: This is going to be fun. Well, unless you like the Chargers.

The Coach Is Killing Me

• AOL Fanhouse. The Chargers hired a guy that flamed out so badly in Washington, he was replaced by Marty Schottenheimer. Think about that for a moment. The Turner ship was so out of control, with coaches fighting players and such, that the team needed Schottenheimer to come in and clean up Turner's mess. Now this guy is going to run the Chargers?

• That Guy Sports Blog. All AFC contenders should rest easier tonight, the San Diego Chargers will not be a factor this season, or any future season. I can't help but wonder if Chargers ownership is trying to lose next year so they can fire General Manager AJ Smith and completely re-tool the organization. Is now a good time to mention that Turner's career record as a head coach is 58-82-1? That's 24 games under .500 folks. TWENTY FOUR.

• With Leather. The San Diego Chargers have filled their coaching vacancy by hiring Norv Turner, a move that sends a clear message to San Diego fans, and that message is fuck you. The Chargers administration obviously hates the people of San Diego, because nobody could make such a foolish hiring by accident. It's simply a malicious act, one targeted at wasting a voracious defense and the transcendent talent of LaDainian Tomlinson.

• The Strange World. The Chargers are going to hire Norv Turner to be their head coach. What a way to stick it in the eye of Marty! Apparently, the Spanos family and AJ Smith have decided that even a monkey could coach the Chargers to a division title. That's a huge gamble, considering that while Norv is a fine coordinator, his experience as a head coach has been, shall we say, lackluster?

• Chargers Locker. One thing immediately comes to mind with the Chargers' coaching hire......is A.J. Smith nuts?

• 49ers News. The 49ers now must look for a new offensive coordinator. With the timing of this whole situation and the combine on the horizon look for Nolan to promote wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan as the next OC. Other candidate names that may arise are Ken Zampese (QB Coach Bengals), Jim Fassel (doing nothing right now) and maybe some other current 49ers coaches in Warhop and Hoerner. By the way I blame the Tuna for all of this. Now let's take a moment to laugh at the Chargers. They go from Schottenheimer/Phillips to Turner/Cottrell...

• Chargers Confidential. How does this happen? How do you hire a guy who just got beat out for the Dallas job by someone you apparently didn't think was good enough to push Marty out of the way for? Someone whose head coaching experience includes a decidedly negative won-loss record? This is our savior? Can Norv win a Super Bowl? Well, we're gonna find out.