Pin Chargers’ loss to Ravens on the head coach

The end of Sunday’s game came down to Norv Turner vs. Ray Lewis. Take one guess who won that matchup.

Lewis, the future Hall of Fame linebacker, wasn’t the least bit fooled by Turner calling for a fourth-down run from the Baltimore 15-yard line with 37 seconds left and he tackled Darren Sproles for a 5-yard loss to preserve the Baltimore Ravens’ 31-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

It was simply an outstanding play by Lewis, who easily shot through a huge gap between two linemen (center Scott Mruczkowski and guard Brandyn Dombrowski) who usually are spectators when an NFL game is on the line. At least they had a nice view of Lewis’ backside as Sproles was easily brought to the turf.

“He made the greatest football play I’ve ever seen,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said shortly after the game ended.

It wasn’t Lewis’ only great play. Another one of his game-high 12 tackles occurred late in the first half when he darted to the right flat and saved a touchdown by tackling Sproles for a 1-yard loss after Sproles caught Philip Rivers’ pass.

The Chargers eventually settled for a field goal — an occurrence that happened repeatedly. The Chargers went 0-for-5 in the red zone and settled for field goals all four times they had a goal-to-go situation.

Since Turner doubles as the Chargers’ play-caller, look no further then the Chargers head coach to pinpoint why the Chargers will awake Monday morning with a 1-1 record.

Counting the final-drive folly, the Chargers tallied just 12 of a possible 35 points after venturing into the red zone. That equates to very poor execution.

In fact, the Chargers might have been attempting a possible game-winning field goal on that fourth-down play in the final minute if Turner hadn’t again fallen victim to poor clock management late in the first half.

The Chargers were trailing 21-13 and reached the Baltimore 1 after Rivers teamed with Vincent Jackson on a 24-yard pass play with 19 seconds left. However, the Chargers were called for a delay of game and then Rivers threw two incompletions over the next nine seconds.

So with 10 seconds left on the clock, there was certainly more than enough time for Rivers to take one more shot at the end zone. He wisely threw the ball in the stands on first down when nobody was open and could’ve done that again on third down only if Turner hadn’t opted to be a modern-day Chuck Knox.

Yes, you got it, Turner brought in the field-goal unit and settled for Nate Kaeding’s 23-yard field goal. So why not take one more shot at the end zone?

Those four points sure would have come in handy at the end of the game if Turner and the Chargers score a touchdown there.

On the other hand, it was Turner who called those other plays that came up empty in the red zone all afternoon on Sunday so perhaps Turner feared coming up empty.

Coaching scared seldom works, particularly in the big-boy league that is the NFL.

I also didn’t understand Turner’s third-down call just prior to the bizarre fourth-down run stuffed by Lewis. Nothing was open on the third-and-2 play and Rivers threw the ball away.

If Turner wanted to try to surprise the Ravens with a run, third down was the time to do it, not fourth down.

Rivers had the highest passing-yardage game of his career (436 yards) but he will be beating himself up over his two interceptions that led to 10 Ravens’ points.

His first mistake was the glaring one. While being chased by a blitzing Lewis (there’s that guy again), Rivers carelessly flung the ball upfield instead of throwing it over to the sidelines. Baltimore’s Dawan Landry intercepted the errant throw and the Ravens scored a touchdown four plays later to stretch their lead to 28-16.

A $93 million quarterback needs to do a better job in that situation.

With LaDainian Tomlinson sidelined, the Chargers had no running game against the Ravens. They finished with 53 rushing yards.

With Jamal Williams sidelined on defense, the Chargers were manhandled in the middle by Baltimore’s offensive line and struggled against the run.

Still, the Chargers had a chance to pull out the victory. But on this day, their head coach wasn’t operating at a high enough level to get the job done.