San Diego ? Rodney Harrison is playing for one of the NFL’s best teams, a hard-hitting safety so respected by his teammates that they asked their coach to make him a captain after the season started.

Junior Seau’s team has a shot at the playoffs, too.

Obviously, they’re not with the San Diego Chargers anymore. Harrison is with New England, Seau with Miami.

The Chargers, who dumped their longtime defensive leaders in the offseason, are a wreck. Their defensive-minded coach, Marty Schottenheimer, is feeling as blue as the Chargers’ home jerseys.

“I’m as miserable as I’ve ever been,” said Schottenheimer, whose team plays host Sunday to AFC West leader Kansas City. “This is frustrating.”

This defense could be the ugliest in Schottenheimer’s 17 full seasons as an NFL coach.

The Chargers made Harrison and Seau the scapegoats after ranking 30th of 32 teams in total defense by allowing an average of 377.1 yards last season, Schottenheimer’s first in San Diego. They got younger, particularly in the secondary.

With five games left in this wretched season, the Chargers (2-9) are in the same place — 30th in total defense at 377.2 yards per game. The NFL average is 319.5 yards. Before coming to San Diego, Schottenheimer’s previous 15 teams, with Cleveland, Kansas City and Washington, allowed an average of 301 yards and never ranked lower than 19th in total defense.

What’s more, the Chargers have allowed an NFL-worst 314 points, or 28.5 a game.

Do the Chargers miss Seau and Harrison?

“You’ll have to ask Marty that question,” said Donnie Edwards, a former Chief who moved into Seau’s spot at weakside linebacker.

Schottenheimer is sticking with the company line.

“We as an organization made a decision that it was time to move forward. And I’m not going to look back and second-guess it. We’re in the process of developing some young players. Their development, which I’m reasonably confident can be achieved, will put us in a position in the future to be better than we were a year ago.”

So, was that a yes or a no?

Schottenheimer laughed and dodged the question again.

While admitting that Seau and Harrison were team leaders, Schottenheimer said other players needed opportunities to emerge.

“We tried to create an opportunity for leadership, at the same time,” Schottenheimer said. “These younger players, I never dreamed that it would be as difficult as it has been.”

With a weak pass rush and porous secondary, the Chargers have allowed an NFL-high 26 touchdown passes.