Have the Chargers Wasted Philip Rivers' Prime?

Quarterbacks get the majority of the credit for carrying a team, whether it's a dud or a success. Most of the time, a great quarterback can carry subpar parts farther than you'd expect.

This premise doesn't always work, however, and at 2-7, the Philip Rivers' current Chargers squad is a prime example of that. Here is a chart showing how the Chargers performed shortly before new general manager Tom Telesco and head coach Mike McCoy took over and then after. Note the changes.

San Diego had an excellent year on offense in 2013, but Rivers was not any better than what we'd expect based on past performance. (2012 Philip Rivers is something scientists will study for years and hope to understand, beyond just saying, "Injuries," and leaving it alone.)

You can see the defense floundering, though. You can see special teams slowly declining. (Granted, with Jacoby Jones no longer contributing horizontal yardage, the Chargers should do better than what they've done so far this year.) You can see the offense leveling off despite Rivers still being a good quarterback.

Here's the fulcrum: under McCoy and Telesco, the Chargers have focused on the running game. You can see this in the time of possession statistics after McCoy's rookie season. The Chargers were 26th in situation-neutral plays per second in 2014, and 29th in 2013. The mindset behind this is understandable in the short term: prolonged exposure to Chargers defense has tended to result in a lot of points recently. That said, a Rivers-led passing game should be able to win, or at least keep pace in these sorts of shootouts.

The problem is that the running-game fixation doesn't just exist as a short-term philosophy; it is driving San Diego's player acquisition. The first free agent the Chargers signed once Telesco took over was running back Danny Woodhead. In 2014, early in free agency, San Diego went after the career year of Donald Brown and guard Chad Rinehart. This year, they lavished lineman Orlando Franklin with a five-year, $36.5 million contract.

The draft provides even more evidence. Look at some of San Diego's early picks:

They traded up for running back Melvin Gordon this year. He's been so poor at picking up blockers that he often couldn't be trusted on pass downs early in the season. He's been ineffective enough to fall far behind Woodhead on the depth chart.

Part of me wants to give San Diego a pass for how poorly they've run the ball because of injuries to the offensive line. San Diego had the most injured offense in 2014 per Football Outsiders Adjusted Games Lost metric, and they started more centers (five) that season than any team has since the merger. This year, the line has been similarly banged up. Franklin and big-money left tackle King Dunlap have each missed four games. Chris Watt was placed on IR for the second year in a row.

Even with all they've invested in improving the offensive line and the running back position, though, the Chargers ground game has gotten worse since Telesco and McCoy took over. The Chargers finished 12th in rushing offense DVOA in 2013. Then they dropped to 25th in 2014, and they're currently 29th.

The Chargers restocked heavily at inside linebacker, a position where you can find run-stuffers for cheap, over the last two drafts. Given that they also handed out a huge contract to Donald Brown (five years, $51.8 million), linebacker and the running game clearly have been the two areas of emphasis for the San Diego front office.

Neither strategy has worked. The Chargers run DVOA defense: 31st (2013), 15th (2014), 32nd (2015).

It's one thing for a new coaching staff and general manager to come in with fresh ideas to improve a poor team, but McCoy and Telesco had a franchise quarterback. They had the remnants of the great San Diego offenses of the late 2000s. And yet all they have to show for trying to improve the rush offense and the rush defense are those same aging pieces from the 2000s, and a perpetually injured Keenan Allen.

The reasoning behind trade rumors this offseason was that Rivers didn't want to play in Los Angeles. We don't know how much that was just posturing for a new contract, which he ended up getting. As the prime years of his career wind down, Rivers finds himself surrounded by less and less talent. Sure, he'll be a great marquee name in Los Angeles, should the Chargers move there, but there just isn't enough around him for the Chargers to be a playoff team anytime soon, no matter where they play. And the Chargers' front office is to blame.