Marty Ball is too defensive

As an offensive philosopher, Marty Schottenheimer, who coaches the San Diego Chargers, has a defensive mind-set so destructive that he’s always trying to win every game by a 6-3 score. Or so it looks. Thus on any given Sunday, the score is generally well against the Chargers before they start playing football, often 14-0 against. Last Sunday it was 21-0 against.

The Chargers eventually won, this time from the Cincinnati Bengals, 49-41. And possibly, that kind of comeback experience was good for the young Chargers quarterback, Philip Rivers, but he didn’t need it.

Had Rivers been allowed to come out throwing, he might have routed Carson Palmer, who did come out throwing.

The Chargers are good enough, one of the NFL’s best.

Somebody in San Diego has put together a whale of a team.

But the odds are against defense-minded pros. This is a league of aggressive people, on both offense and defense, and winning takes more than talent. It takes a willingness to put that talent into action -- early as well as late. The best way to make the playoffs is to play as if every quarter of every game depended on that.