Wake Me Up When Things Start Making Sense Again

So, I’m really trying to understand this but all I can think of is the theme to the Twilight Zone in connection with the San Diego Chargers. Less than a week after firing Marty Schottenheimer, who went 14-2 during the regular season, the Chargers replaced him with Norv Turner, who has a career head coaching record of 58-82-1 with the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders.

The third time needs to be the charm for Turner, who was fired from his first two head coaching stints, but you have to wonder how he could possibly do better than Marty ball did for the 2006 season. Only a play-off win in 2007 will make amends for not duplicating a 14-2 record but Turner has only won a play-off game once in his career.

People were quick to point out that the Chargers have been running Norv Turner’s offense that he installed during the 2001 season when he served as the offensive coordinator. Another thing Turner did today that will allow the Chargers to remain consistent was hire Ted Cottrell as defensive coordinator. Cattrell is already experienced and well versed in the 3-4 defensive schemes that the Chargers are currently running.

So the Chargers fired one coach and then hired another who looks to run the exact same offense and defense as the fired coach but has no where near the winning percentage of that fired coach. Raise your hand when you get confused because it appears to me that the Chargers best case scenario now for 2007 would be to duplicate 2006. Talk about exercises in futility; let me introduce you to the San Diego Chargers.

Here’s the thing to keep in mind when considering what the Chargers did last season. The Broncos sacrificed their season when they made the quarterback switch from Jake Plummer to Jay Cutler, the Chiefs had quarterback injuries along with the fact that they are coached by Herm Edwards and the Raiders are…well…the Raiders. There is no way the Chargers produce a 14-2 record next season!

As if the situation couldn’t get any stranger add Ron Rivera into the mix. Rivera put together one of the nastiest defenses in the league this season in Chicago. Under his leadership the Bears had a defense that literally won games for them and saved their season more than once.

Rivera has been interviewed eight times over the last two seasons for head coaching positions in the NFL, including the Chargers last week, but was cut loose by the Bears yesterday and wound up on San Diego’s coaching staff as a linebacker’s coach.

Curious question: Why would you name the guy who spent last year as an aide in the league office your defensive coordinator and name the guy who’s defense guided his team to the Super Bowl a position’s coach on defense. Here comes that Twilight Zone theme again.

Schottenheimer a Victim of Own Success?

I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a big fan of Martyball and I was more than relieved to learn that he would not be a candidate for the Miami Dolphins head coaching job. That said I also have to say this, Marty Schottenheimer was jobbed by the San Diego Chargers on Monday. They found just about every way to hose him over and did it. Why? That’s a great question and apparently the answer is that he was too successful.

Under Schottenheimer’s leadership the Chargers finished the NFL’s regular season with a league best 14-2 record. Following a play-off loss to New England both Schottenheimer’s offensive and defensive coordinators were hired as NFL head coaches, tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski became Cleveland's offensive coordinator, and linebackers coach Greg Manusky was hired as San Francisco's defensive coordinator.

All of those promotions are what caused Marty to get the boot from the Chargers. It now appears that if you are successful in the NFL and flood other organizations in the league with head coaches and coordinators then you get to wear the “dysfunctional” label.

"Events of the last month have now convinced me that it is not possible for our organization to function at a championship level under the current structure," team president Dean Spanos said in a statement. "On the contrary, and in the plainest possible language, we have a dysfunctional situation here. Today I am resolving that situation once and for all."

Assistants taking a promotion with another organization isn’t a new concept in the NFL and I guarantee that 14-2 is as close as the Chargers are going to get to a championship level for a long time.

If Spanos needs an example of dysfunctional then he should look no further than General Manager A.J. Smith. This is the guy who thought Drew Brees was done and watched him walk off to New Orleans. He’s the guy who refused to speak with the coach about personnel moves. In spite of all that Schottenheimer still put a winner on the field. No, that’s not dysfunctional that’s commendable. Spanos would have saved so much face if he would have just come out and states the truth. “We don’t like Marty because he is smarter than us so we are firing him.”

To make things worse not only did the Chargers fire Schottenheimer for an unjust reason, they waited until all the NFL head coaching jobs had been filled so that he has absolutely no chance of landing somewhere else. Now that’s a classy organization!

Blogging the NFL – Conference Championships

Hit of the Week
Kudos go out to Reggie Bush and the New Orleans Saints for reaching the NFC Championship Game but Bush paid the price to get there. After getting absolutely smoked by the Eagles’ Sheldon Brown Bush bounced back to rush for 52 yards and a touchdown.


Contest Standings

Name	Second Round Picks	Super Bowl Pick	Sleeper Pick	Total Points
true2osu	3-1	Philadelphia	#4 New England	118
ffnstuff	3-1	San Diego	#5 NY Jets	90
dolphinfan	2-2	San Diego	#4 New England	88
notafan	1-3	Philadelphia	#3 Philadelphia	73
rob	1-3	San Diego	#2 Baltimore	73
Matt Jordan	1-3	New Orleans	#5 NY Jets	70
chiefsfan	2-2	Baltimore	#6 NY Giants	70
Kenny	N/A	San Diego	#2 Baltimore	40

true2osu keeps the lead after the second round but Matt Jordan still has a Super Bowl pick alive and could have been in control of the contest had his picks come through. Two people, including myself, still have sleeper picks alive. Conference Championship Games are worth 30 points each. Make your picks here!

You’ve Got to Be Kidding
All the names of the five finalists for the Miami Dolphins coaching job have been released and there is a shocker as well as a possible exception. The shocker is that former Alabama coach Mike Shula was not only interviewed but remains a candidate.

My initial thought was that he was interviewed as a favor to his dad who still has a lot of pull in the organization. Obviously the legend is endorsing is son but so is Dan Marino. Having two hall-of-famers in his corner is enough to make him a finalist.

While I have tons of respect for the Shula family and don’t think that Mike was given a fair shake at Alabama I don’t see him being the answer in Miami. However, I wouldn’t mind seeing him as the offensive coordinator.

The other four candidates are former Atlanta Falcons head coach Jim Mora, Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, Dolphins defensive coordinator Dom Capers and San Diego offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

The exception is current San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer who could become an immediate candidate should he be fired by the Chargers. I say go ahead and interview him but do we really want a head coach who hasn’t won a play-off game in twenty years?

Should the Chargers let Schottenheimer go it would eliminate Cam Cameron as a Candidate as he would be the most likely choice for the Chargers. It also may be the reason why Marty's son, Brian, withdrew his name from the Dolphins.

Conference Championship Winners
NFC - New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears – Bears
AFC - New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts – Patriots