SAN DIEGO - General manager A.J. Smith has repeatedly stated that the Chargers' recent playoff woes eat away at him. He's not the only high-ranking team executive who agonizes over the postseason futility.

Team president Dean Spanos sees the high expectations all over the county as the regular-season opener against the Chicago Bears approaches. Spanos definitely feels good about the team's transition from laughingstock to elite NFL squad, but he can't feel ecstatic about the 35 wins over the past three seasons for one simple reason.

All those victories have come during the regular season.

"I think this team has proven in the last three years that it can play with any team in the National Football League," Spanos said in a recent interview. "I think we have the third-winningest record, and that's great, but you really are judged by what you do in the postseason, and we really haven't done anything. We're 0-2.

"I think the expectations of this team is just get back to the playoffs and win the first playoff game and see what happens after that."

Anything that happens with the Chargers leaving the field victorious at least once in the postseason will be an improvement to Spanos. Even if the regular-season record suffers.

"I'd take 8-8 and win that first game," Spanos said. "That's better than 14-2 and out."

That 14-2 mark last season was the best in Chargers' history. Yet the enjoyment of the accomplishment dissipated quickly after a highly frustrating mid-January home playoff loss to the New England Patriots.

Think it was painful for the diehard fan? Imagine how it felt to the team president, who said the beginning of this season can't get here fast enough.

"It was a great accomplishment, and I think it said a lot about this team," Spanos said. "But really, if you can't do anything in the postseason, it really doesn't matter."

The Chargers haven't won a playoff game since the 1994 season and will try to end the drought this season with Norv Turner as head coach. Turner was hired after Spanos fired Marty Schottenheimer about a month after last season ended.

Spanos originally decided to retain Schottenheimer despite the coach's well-publicized rift with Smith.

On the night Spanos fired Schottenheimer, he termed the relationship between Schottenheimer and Smith as "dysfunctional." More than six months later, Spanos describes a situation in which his coach and general manager are now pulling in the same direction. He almost sounds bewildered that the lofty record was achieved despite such discord between two of the most important figures in any football organization.

"You can some ways say it was maybe an anomaly for us to go 14-2 and not having a general manager and coach necessarily agreeing on how to do that," Spanos said. "Not to dwell on it too much, but I think they're both good at what they do; they just had different perspectives on how to do it.

"There within lied a lot of the problem.

"With Norv and A.J., it's been a great relationship. It's nice to have everybody on the same page, obviously."

A big part of the Chargers' current success has been fueled by Smith's philosophy of securing players to long-term contracts. Not counting this year's rookie crop, the team has 28 players signed through 2009.

That involves a hefty financial commitment. Certainly, locking up players before their free-agency year arrives saves money in terms of emerging stars, but there's also the risk of overpaying for a player who doesn't pan out.

"If I didn't agree with the philosophy here, we wouldn't be doing it," Spanos said. "But I think it makes absolutely good sense and good business sense. It's part of building your team and something A.J. and I talked about four years ago.

"It's critical that we keep our best players here, and we're a step ahead of the curve. A lot of times, we're signing players two years early and making judgments and evaluating players where maybe a lot of teams wait until the last year.

"There's a risk involved in that, but I believe in today's world, if you want to build a team, you have to keep the same players here as long as you possibly can."

The biggest unknown regarding the Chargers is where they will be playing their games in the future. The team wants to vacate aging Qualcomm Stadium as soon as possible and is talking to the cities of Chula Vista and Oceanside.

The city of San Diego, in deep financial peril, isn't currently an option. But Spanos wants Chargers' fans to know that he and his family badly want the team to remain in San Diego County.

"We've worked six years now trying to get something done with the city of San Diego," Spanos said. "They have their own issues, obviously. Their financial situation is really bad. It's a serious situation.

"They've really taken the perspective that, right now, they can't do it. They don't have any interest in doing it. That's why we're working elsewhere.

"It's a difficult situation, obviously. But I think people understand that we want to be here and we will continue to try to be here."

Chargers notes

Rookie LB Anthony Waters was excused from part of Wednesday's practice and will miss today's practice because of the death of his grandmother. Waters said he will travel to Lake View, S.C., for the funeral and will return in time for Friday's practice. … RB Michael Turner (ankle) and C Cory Withrow (foot) both saw limited action in Wednesday's practice. Coach Norv Turner said he was optimistic that Turner would be fit to play Sunday. The only Chicago player to miss practice Wednesday was rookie TE Greg Olsen (knee). … Waters reports that his surgically repaired left knee is feeling fine after he played approximately 40 plays in last Thursday's preseason finale against San Francisco. It was his most extensive work since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Clemson last September. "I'm not going to say I'm fully 100 percent," Waters said, "but it is coming back to me each day. I feel like I'm about 90 percent."… Chicago's stellar returner, Devin Hester, is no longer a defensive back. He's playing receiver in addition to returning kickoffs and punts. "I'd rather take my

chances with him catching the football than coming up trying to make tackles and things like that," said Bears coach Lovie Smith, explaining the switch.

Shot of Norvocaine

Marty Schottenheimer couldn't win in the postseason, but can Norv Turner win enough in the regular season to get back there?

LT has hardware, no rings

As his trophy case at home becomes more cluttered because of his record-setting career, LaDainian Tomlinson's ring finger is feeling awfully lonely.

Development of a go-to receiver

Chargers hope Vincent Jackson can catch a football like "Action Jackson" and not Michael Jackson.

Lights Out

Can Shawne Merriman continue to turn the "Lights Out" on opposing quarterbacks and make a run at the NFL single-season record of 22 1/2 sacks by Michael Strahan?

Secondary thoughts

The defensive backfield sprung a few leaks last year - remember Reche Caldwell's big catch in January - and needs to tighten up if the Chargers are to make a playoff run.

- Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.