SAN DIEGO – San Diego Chargers President Dean Spanos has decided to keep coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith despite the team missing the playoffs for the second straight season amid increasing fan discontent.
Spanos made his decision Tuesday, two days after the Chargers finished 8-8 by beating Oakland to keep the Raiders out of the playoffs.
San Diego went 4-1 at the beginning and end of the season but was undone by a six-game losing streak in the middle. One more win would have earned the Chargers the AFC West title.
Turner is 49-31 in five years in San Diego but only 3-3 in the playoffs. He is 107-113-1 in three stints as a head coach, including with Washington and Oakland. Both of those teams fired him.
Smith has come under fire for the erosion of talent from a roster that at one time was considered among the NFLs best.
Fisher interviewing with Dolphins
A person familiar with Miamis coaching search says Jeff Fisher is interviewing for the job.
Fisher is believed to be the Dolphins top choice, but competition from other NFL teams may be fierce. The Buccaneers and Rams fired their coaches Monday, increasing to five the number of top vacancies.
Fisher coached the Titans franchise for 17 years and led Tennessee to a Super Bowl. After stepping down, he sat out the 2011 season.
Vikings find new GM inside organization
Minnesota has promoted Rick Spielman to general manager. Spielman became the Vikings vice president of player personnel in 2006. He also has worked for Detroit, Chicago and Miami during 21 seasons as an NFL executive.
The Vikings say Spielman will oversee all football-related activities for the team.
NBC sells all spots for Super Bowl
NBC says it has sold all the commercial airtime for the Feb. 5 game in Indianapolis and even has a waiting list of advertisers hoping to get into the game. The average cost for a 30-second spot this year is $3.5 million, with some time slots costing as much as $4 million.
Around the league
New Orleans placed rookie running back Mark Ingram (toe) and linebacker Will Herring (knee) on injured reserve. The Saints have signed guard Eric Olsen and linebacker Nate Bussey.
The NFL is looking into an obscene gesture Jets linebacker Bart Scott made toward a photographer in the teams locker room. The league is reviewing the incident that occurred as the players cleared out their lockers at the teams facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Monday after failing to make the playoffs. Scott, who could be fined, gathered items from his locker, walked past reporters and then turned, stuck out his middle finger and used an expletive while telling a photographer to get the camera out of his face.
That’s all the news for today.