Then the bottom fell out; San Diego dropped four straight, and much of the blame fell to quarterback Philip Rivers, who struggled with consistency all year, tossing 15 interceptions and enduring a whopping 49 sacks.
The Chargers did manage to win three of their last four to get to 7-9, but it wasn't enough to save coach Norv Turner's job. Mike McCoy took over and hired former Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt as offensive coordinator. And while both have confidence in Rivers, it may be something much more mundane that portends good things for San Diego's offense in 2013: hand wear.
Philip Rivers says there's a "good chance" he'll start season wearing gloves. Wore them to finish last year, throughout this offseason.
— Michael Gehlken (@UTgehlken) June 3, 2013
Seems like a useless piece of information but Rivers wore gloves on three occasions last season and three times the Chargers came away with wins. Put another way: 43 percent of San Diego's wins came -- coincidence or not -- with Rivers wearing gloves.
There's more. Here's the breakdown of Rivers' performance during the first 12 games -- all gloveless -- and the final four, when he wore gloves in the teams' three victories:
The most glaring takeaway: Rivers didn't throw a pick over those final four games and his passer rating was 20 points better than the previous 12 games. Yes, he completed fewer passes, and had a lower average yards-per-attempt, but that's a tradeoff worth making given the results.
(Oh, and the one time Rivers didn't wear gloves in December -- against the Panthers in Week 15 -- the team lost, scoring just seven points. In the three wins, San Diego scored 34, 27, and 24 points.)
Obviously, the Chargers' strong finish wasn't solely a function of Rivers' decision to wear gloves; it also had something to do with better performances from teammates, the quality of opponents (which included the woebegone Jets), and possibly even the realization that the games didn't matter since the playoffs were a pipe dream by that point in the proceedings.
But, hey, the NFL is as much about X's and O's as superstitions. And if Rivers thinks gloves will improve his game, then why not wear them? Plus, as Boltbeat.com noted back in April during voluntary workouts: "Who needs an offensive line when you have magic gloves?"
Last week, Whisenhunt spoke about Rivers' ability to play at a high level (though there was no mention of gloves).
"From the standpoint of having been in this league for a long time and having seen good quarterbacks," Whisenhunt said via the team website, "this guy is up there, as far as his ability to process things, his ability to make all the throws that he needs to make and his ability to be a leader and rally these guys around him."
There's also this: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was known to wear gloves when Whisenhunt was the Steelers' offensive coordinator, and gloves were a fixture in Kurt Warner's game when Whisenhunt was the head coach in Arizona. Those teams made three Super Bowl appearances from 2005-2008, with the Steelers winning two. Just saying.
