Charging on

HONOLULU – For a moment Thursday, San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman tried to put his best spin on the situation. Another day, another coordinator gone – this time his own, Wade Phillips – so Merriman had to stop and measure his words.

"I'm happy for Wade and, you know, the Dallas Cowboys …" Merriman said, before pausing and going in another direction.

"It will hurt us a little," Merriman admitted. "I can't say it doesn't. I just hope we stay home with the next guy, keep it inside the team. You always like to stay around the same group of guys as long as you can. We're going to miss Wade. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say I wish he wasn't leaving, but I guess we have to understand that he's doing what's best for him and his family."

It's been another bitter pill in an otherwise sweet Pro Bowl week. The Chargers have looked around at their strong presence in Saturday's game and wonder again why they fell short with so much talent. And now this, having to contemplate the loss of Phillips, and the reality that the Chargers will enter next season having lost both of their coordinators, two other valuable assistants in former linebackers coach Greg Manusky and tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski, and with a head coach entering the last year of his contract. Yet, Merriman says those realities – Phillips in Dallas, Cam Cameron coaching the Miami Dolphins, and Marty Schottenhiemer with one foot out the door – mean little to San Diego's Super Bowl aspirations. As Merriman said Thursday, it's about the players.

"Look around," he said, nodding toward the field, where the bevy of Chargers talent – 11 players named to the AFC squad – can't be missed at the Pro Bowl. "Those guys are still there. We are the ones who have to play the game. We're going to miss Cam and Wade. They were a big part of our team. But now we have to move on and get focused on the guys that are still here."

Added defensive tackle Jamal Williams "What we've got with the roster is rare. We're talking about a group that's going to have four or five years to play together."

But even with the talent, there's a gargantuan hole left from last year's staff. Consider that last season's roster of coaches has produced two new head coaches in Phillips and Cameron, and two new coordinators in Chudzinski (offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns) and Manusky (defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers). Manusky's loss now looks extremely troubling since he would have likely been Phillips' successor had the team known a month ago Phillips would be leaving.

San Diego installed running backs coach Clarence Shelmon to run the offense last month, but he's expected to ink only a one-year deal as the new offensive coordinator because of Schottenheimer's short-term status. And that contractual fact will likely complicate the defensive hire, too, since it will be hard to draw an outside candidate without the offer of stability.

Merriman and Williams said Thursday they would rather the defensive hire came from inside the current staff, with the likely candidate being long-tenured defensive line coach Wayne Nunnely.

Whoever steps into the role, the players clearly expect the schemes to be business as usual. Shelmon brings a full knowledge of Cameron's game plans, although it's not clear whether he'll have the full slate of play-calling powers that Cameron enjoyed. As for Phillips' replacement, Nunnely's familiarity with San Diego's 3-4 scheme gives him an edge. It also means fans can forget pipe dreams of a guy such as Ron Rivera, who has been running a 4-3 system with the Chicago Bears, joining the staff.

Clearly, both new coordinators have big shoes to fill – and even bigger expectations. Coming off a 14-2 season and a year when the Chargers were the odds-on favorite to run into the Super Bowl from the AFC, the bar has been cemented. Even now, San Diego's stars have spent the week at the Pro Bowl talking about how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts rose to their Super Bowl wins the last two seasons, recounting that each rebounded from tough playoff losses in the previous seasons to win a championship.

That's the new battle cry. Anything less than a Super Bowl will be a huge disappointment, and surely foreshadow a new head coach and another retooling of the coordinator spots.

"The way I look at it, every team that wins the Super Bowl, they have to go through something," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. "Look at the Colts this year. Go back a little further and look at the Cowboys in the 1990s. Great teams and even dynasties had to learn from disappointments. We've got to learn how to play in the playoffs."

"And as far as Marty's contract situation goes, that's a motivation. I know people always say that about wanting to win for somebody, but I know Marty, and he deserves a championship. As long as he's been coaching and as prolific a coach as he is, to me, it's kind of sad that he hasn't won a championship."

What the Chargers do have going for them is some roster continuity. Unlike some of next season's other AFC Super Bowl contenders, San Diego goes into the offseason without the fear of losing a marquee player. Other teams aren't so fortunate, with the New England Patriots worrying about cornerback Asante Samuel, the Baltimore Ravens dealing with possibly losing linebacker Adalius Thomas and Indianapolis trying to figure out how to keep defensive end Dwight Freeney and linebacker Cato June.

"That's our big bright spot," tight end Antonio Gates said. "I think about last season now and maybe it's even more disappointing. We knew we had the team. And obviously we must have had the right coaches, because so many of them are gone to other teams. But at least we know the players are in place. We may not know who's coming and going, but we're together. LaDainian is coming back. I'm coming back. Jamal is coming back. (Philip) Rivers is coming back. Merriman is coming back. (Shaun) Phillips, too.

"That's the nucleus of this team and when it comes down to it, that's what matters most."