A.J. Smith knows what people are saying about him. He knows that people are questioning him.

“They want to know,” said the Chargers’ general manager, “how I could hire a ‘loser’ like Norv Turner and fire Marty Schottenheimer, who has 200 career wins.”

The people who are wondering about that are probably the same people who wondered why Smith and the late John Butler passed on Michael Vick in the 2001 draft instead trading the top pick to the Falcons, and then selecting LaDainian Tomlinson with Atlanta’s pick, fifth overall. The Chargers later added Drew Brees with the first pick in the second round.

The same people who now are questioning Smith probably also are the ones who wondered why, on Draft Day, 2004, he took Eli Manning, who insisted he wouldn’t play for the Chargers — a move that resulted in a deal with the Giants that brought San Diego its current QB, Philip Rivers, along with all-pro linebacker Shawne Merriman (taken with N.Y.’s first-round pick in ’05) and kicker Nate Kaeding.

Smith’s current doubters are probably the same people who wondered why, when he was director of pro personnel in Buffalo, Smith advocated so strongly to bring Doug Flutie back from Canada for the 1998 season. Flutie led the Bills to the playoffs that year and the next, and played in the NFL through 2005.

When you think about those deals, you have to wonder why people still second-guess Smith, a highly knowledgeable football man with the courage to act on his convictions.

“I’m not afraid to fail,” he said in the days before the Chargers, with not only a new head coach, but also new offensive and defensive coordinators, won their season opener by beating the defending NFC-champion Chicago Bears, 14-3. “My personality is: ‘If you believe in something, go for it.’

“Even if you have confidence in your ability,” he said, “but are unwilling to cross the line because you’re thinking: ‘What if this doesn’t work?’ then you’re going down a negative path. I don’t think that way.

“If you’re going to win a championship, you’ve got to be aggressive. People who are afraid to fail are the ones who are sure to fail.”

Smith has been an amazing success story. A native Rhode Islander who played high school football for Bishop Hendricken, Smith began his NFL career as a part-time film grader for the Patriots when he was teaching physical education in middle school in Providence.

The problem with Schottenheimer, Smith felt, was that he never was going to lead the Chargers to a championship.

Although he compiled an impressive record of 200-126-1 in 21 NFL seasons as a head coach in Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and, from 2002 through last season, San Diego, Schottenheimer was only 5-13 in the postseason.

The Chargers won a franchise-record 14 games last season but lost their opening playoff game at home, in the conference semifinals, to the Patriots — their opponent tonight in Gillette Stadium.

And the thing was that Schottenheimer — who hasn’t won a postseason game since 1993, going 0-6 since then — was only a figurehead coach last year. Cam Cameron was calling the shots on offense for the Chargers, while Wade Phillips was in charge of the defense.

Either of them would have been an excellent candidate to replace Schottenheimer as head coach. But by the time San Diego’s ownership finally agreed to pull the trigger and get rid of Marty, Cameron had already signed on as head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Phillips had been named to replace Bill Parcells in Dallas as coach of the Cowboys.

“Once the coordinators were gone,” Smith said, “I said to myself: ‘Now what can we do? We have such a good football team. And it’s taken us a few years to get where we are.’ I didn’t want a new coach, with a new plan and a new playbook.”

“Norv Turner put in our (offensive) system in 2001 (when he was coordinator). When he left, we got one of his lieutenants (Cameron) to carry it on.”

In nine years as a head coach, Turner won just one division title. That was in Washington, in 1999, when the Redskins went 10-6 and lost in the conference semis. Turner was fired in December of the next year, when the Skins were 7-6. Overall, his record in Washington was 49-59-1.

That was better than he did in his second stint as a head coach, with Oakland in 2004 and ’05. He went 5-11 his first year with the Raiders, 4-12 his second, and never had a chance at a third.

But that didn’t stop Smith from giving him another chance.

“I know what his record is,” Smith said. “I know some people think he’s a ‘loser.’ I think the opposite. I look deeper than just a won-lost record. I think Norv’s a very bright guy who makes the proper decisions at tough times in the game.”

Smith obviously didn’t think the same way about Schottenheimer.

“Marty’s views and my views on how to win a world championship were galaxies apart,” he said.

That’s not the case with Smith and Turner.

“It’s important in a working relationship,” said Smith, “to have people on the same page. I know how Norv thinks. He’s outstanding at evaluating talent. He’s intelligent, and a sound football man.”

“I think we’re a better team than we were last year,” Smith said. “We’re older and wiser. We’re relatively injury-free. I hope we’ve learned from our mistakes. And I hope the pain of those playoff losses to the Patriots and Jets stays with us.

“We want to win enough games this year to go to the ‘tournament.’ I don’t care if we have to go on the road and play in a parking lot. I believe that, with the head coach we have now, we have a chance to win it all.”

jdonalds@projo.com