Things went even further south for the Chargers on Sunday, with the referees stealing a yard from them and the Chargers stealing a field goal from themselves with a botched snap that led to their fourth loss of the season.
And now the finger pointing that comes with a snakebit team is starting to happen. The easy target is holder Drew Kaser, who dropped the ball on what would have been a game-tying kick. But kicker Josh Lambo is taking some heat now too, because he was seen yukking it up on the way to the locker room following the brutal loss.
Lambo didn't have a shot at tying the game because of Kaser's bad hold, but according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune, players are miffed after Lambo was caught on the CBS Sports broadcast smiling and laughing with Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski on the way off the field.
Here he's seen slapping Janikowski on the back while leaving the field.
Oddly, Janikowski doesn't appear in on the joke.
And then he was seen really guffawing on the way in, right before the rest of the members of the team -- including John Spanos (tie) walking very angrily and an assistant coach (blue shirt) who slammed his hat against a trash can.
Coach Mike McCoy, currently facing a nightmare situation where he could end up losing his job, confirmed some of the folks on the team didn't appreciate Lambo's laughing. The good news is Lambo has apparently apologized.
"Everybody on your team is looking at you and looking at everything you do at all times," McCoy said. "When a teammate sees you in a situation like this and you get caught, laughing it up, people take it differently. Everybody is different. Some players will look at it and say, 'It's not a big deal.' Other players, it pisses you off. You were involved in a critical play in the game, and it wasn't executed properly, and we lost. Just understand what it means.
"I think he's handled it the right way, talking to his teammates, talking to different coaches on the staff, apologizing and what he's learned from it."
It's not hard at all to imagine Philip Rivers -- who was seen mouthing "we're the 'Bad News Bears' following the missed snap and who took a resigned knee at midfield after the game -- being miffed that his kicker isn't beat up about the brutal fourth loss of the year.
Not saying he's one of the guys, but his window in the NFL is closing and a potentially good team is being undone by its own dumb mistakes.
The Chargers are by far the most snakebit team in the NFL and it's not really a laughing matter.
