Eric Weddle Petty Fine?

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Chargers fine All-Pro Eric Weddle for watching his daughter perform at halftime - In one of the more bizarre bridge-burning events of the 2015 NFL season, the San Diego Chargers fined five-time All-Pro safety and soon-to-be free agent Eric Weddle $10,000 for missing the team’s halftime meeting because he went out to the field to watch his daughter dance during a halftime show. Then the team placed Weddle on injured reserve and announced that none of the players on IR would accompany the team to the season finale in Denver. So, uh, probably not the time to start negotiations on a new contract then?

The whole story is bizarre, beginning with Weddle, a consummate team player, not telling his coaches he was leaving halftime of the team’s Dec. 20 tilt with Miami for a few minutes in a meaningless game his team led 23-0. He evidently missed some discussions on adjustments. Then, the Chargers chose to make this a public issue by fining Weddle $10,000 instead of keeping the matter in-house. (The four-year-old twin daughters of punter Mike Scifres were in the same show, but he was allowed to go back on the field early, as specialists often do for second-half warm-ups.) And all of that culminating with the slap in the face of leaving Weddle, a nine-year veteran drafted by the Chargers, behind for the year’s final road trip was the cherry on top.

1. Weddle should have told the team and, if they had said no, should have heeded the order.

2. The team should have said yes, if asked, and then when it wasn’t, should have figured out a way to deal with their longtime defensive stalwart instead of publicly and financially reprimanding him.

Here’s what Kevin Acee had to say about Weddle’s “conduct detrimental to the team” (their words) in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Detrimental? How about completely alienating a player who spends as much time at the facility as anyone and has started 93 of the past 95 games through myriad injuries and taught younger players on and off the field and been like a coach during games. In addition to making plays that others screw up, this is one of the great family men and role models in the game.

Between 2011 and ‘14, Weddle played more than 98 percent of the Chargers’ defensive snaps and almost half (49percent) of their special teams snaps. No other player in the NFL played even 75 percent of his team’s defensive snaps and 49 percent of the kick team snaps in that span.

Acee’s right. The idea that you treat every player the same is preposterous. If an undrafted rookie bolted at halftime to see his daughter perform, you’d rightfully be angry and think it was a sign of low team character. When a 31-year-old veteran who’s busted his butt for the team and even played special teams the past two years, just because there was a void, does it, you let it go.

And now, an amicable split that didn’t even have to be a split has turned into a rift that can’t be fixed. So much for a happy holiday.