Chris Chambers Believes Team's Knowledge of Personal Problems Cost Him His Job

Unlike Mike Leach with his players, Chris Chambers doesn't want to pin the blame on a woman for his diminished output during the two years he spent with the Chargers.

However, he is claiming that the Chargers might have used a tumultuous personal relationship as a pretext for letting him go.

But, in a phone conversation after he was released, Chambers (who is recently divorced) said he believes some off-field issues played into his release -- specifically a relationship with a woman sources on the team believed may have had a negative impact on his performance. Chambers thinks any such determination would be unjust.

"I thought the team gave up on me a little quick for factors that don't have to deal with football," he said. "I guess it created a distraction upstairs. I kept my head on straight. We all go through things. I did my best to not have my personal life and football clash. They know a little too much of my life, and they used it against me."

Neither Norv Turner nor A.J. Smith would go on the record to back the claims about the toxic personal relationship having a bearing on the team's decision, citing a team policy not to discuss off-field issues publicly. But players of Chambers's caliber are seldom cut mid-season just because of a dip in their stats, especially considering that the team was willing to swallow the remaining $2.4 million owed to him this season.

Chambers only hinted that the team had expressed concern over his personal situation in the past, but not how often or if they felt it spilled over into affecting the rest of the players. Clearly, the Chargers' actions indicate as much. You obviously can't let your personal life spill over into the job, but that's a bizarre reason to give up on a player who fared well in the recent past for the team and has had numbers slip mostly because of injury.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.