I'm certainly not trying to defend McCree, let me make that clear, but I'm not going to crucify him for the actual interception. Running with it, however, was inexcusable.
Marty has got to go... Great regular season coach... can't do dick in the playoffs... How may playoff games does he have to mismanage?
He never wins in the playoffs, which is most important. And they clearly had the best/talented team in the NFL.
ok, you're all talking about the INT or whatever. It was challenge!! He challenged NOTHING!!! They would have had 40 more seconds if they had that TO. He lost them that game.
all season I have been defending Schottenheimer to my Charger friends out here in LA who despise him, but I can't after this game. when your team makes as many mistakes as the Chargers did today to give away a game they dominated, that is a direct reflection of coaching. he has to be gone next year. Mike Martz, anybody? he's a prick, but imagine what the evil genius could do with that talent if he could convince Wade Phillips top stay on as D Coordinator.
That 4th and 11 decision was asinine. If it's 4th and 3 maybe but you have a good Kicker you have yo attempt the kick. Thta last drive was an awful job by Rivers, he wasted way too much time after the 1st dwon pass, they wasted about 30 secs on the next 2 plays moving a player to the other side of the field then completing a 3 yd pass and that cost them a shot at the tie. YES Marty should be fired, how many times can a team lose at home in the playoffs? under Marty it happens all the time. He's taken the team as far as he can it's time to move on but I am scared Miami will hire him and take his Son w/ him.
i voted no because Schotty will give u enough wins in the regular season for another bye. just keep him on a leesh come playoffs. what about the dropped passes though? i mean there were alot of passes dropped in critical situations. although challenging the McCree play was completely idiotic and ascinine. i agree. and yes it prolly couldve taken them to OT. but where were his assistants or anyone else telling him to not throw the flag? i could see it going either way to be honest. and i could understand both cases. i just dont think firing a coach who brings such consistency in the regular season is the thing to do with a championship team. a year more developed rivers, and the talent on this team. its up to them to win these playoff games.
C'mon...anyone who says no really, in my opinion, did not watch the same game I watched. I watched Marty come out immediately with a bonehead play, going for it on 4th and 11 instead of kicking a 48 yard field goal. Ummmmm, I don't even know what to say about that. I don't think any coach in the history of football would have done that. What the hell was he doing? That is probably a 60% field goal, but a 4th and 11 is like a 10% play. It didn't have anything to do with giving up good field position, because if they don't get it they are basically in the same spot anyway. No idea what he was thinking with this play. Next, I watched countless assinine penalties on the Chargers. That screams bad coaching. Guys were jittery, dropping passes, not running correct routes, running out of bounds with 10 yards of green in front of you (what was that Antonio?)not getting two feet down, all of these things. The biggest one was the fumbled interception. You HAVE to remind your players before the play that they should just knock the pass down, or if you somehow end up catching it, just fall and don't risk anything. I know how Charger fans feel watching Marty screw up the clock management...I've seen Herm do it far too much!!! First off, what the hell was with that challenge? He clearly had picked it off and he clearly lost the ball before hitting the ground. It was like burning a time out for no reason (one that would be critical eventually)! Next, he calls a time out off of an injury timeout that had just happened. WHAT?! You just had a time out you don't waste one again! Just...wow. He could've had 2 timeouts going into that drive attempting to tie it...but instead he had none. How about with :8 left, kicking the field goal. This one was completely stupid to me. You should have enough time to run a 5 yard out pattern and get the hell out of bounds, and if no one is open to just throw it away. That was retarted as well. Make the 54 yarder become a 49 yarder. That increases Kaedings chances by a whole lot. Overall, Marty Schottenheimer did not have his team ready. He did not have them ready for playoff football. And, he did not know how to keep timeouts that he knew would probably be crucial in a tough game. How can you not fire a guy for such a horrendously coached game? I have never seen a more poorly coached game IN MY LIFE!!! Marty is the king of chokers. He had by far the more talented team and probably the MOST talented team in the NFL...but somehow he found a way to lose. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Yes, he should be fired. As a veteran head coach who's been through it all, it was his job and only his job to discipline his very young talented team. He couldn't even do that. Coaching beats talent. Always.
I think that the reason he challenged was to get his defense to regroup and calm down. Instead of calling a timeout, challenge the play and you get a timout and the possibility of MAYBE it being overturned. With that being said Marty Schottenheimer needs to be fired.
"It's My Marty And I'll Cry If I Want To" Marty is a loser. Always has been. What owner, in their right mind (many are old, therefore...they are not), would hire Marty again? His son would be a more credible hire because at least you don't know what your getting out of Brian. You already know what you're getting from Marty: immunity from playoff wins.
Is it Marty's fault that Mccree fumbled? Eric Parker cost them the game as much as McRee with the muffed punt return and his dropped passes (there were at least 2, both in big spots), and his idiotic slippage on the field on the end-around play (which should have gone to LT, since he was shredding the Patriots D to that point). I just don't see how you fire a guy who went 14-2 and bottom line, was not the reason they lost the game. Belichik got lucky as always, and now he gets to act like a football deity for at least another week while the media and press gives him continual fellatio.
lets see... He comes to one of the worst organizations in football. Perrenial losers. (Remember Archie not letting his kid go to such a horrible place.) He does his part in turning them into an elite team. He loses by 3 to this decades dynasty. Fire the Bum.
"Belichick got lucky as always." Gee, you think maybe when someone always gets lucky it's a little more than luck? Like he has his team prepared to play and doesn't do stupid things like give away a timeout immediately after an injury timeout, go for it on 4th and 11 when you have a good FG kicker, make an idiotic challenge that costs a crucial timeout in the 4th quarter of a close game, and stop giving the ball to the best player in the league in the second half of the game? When one coach is consistently successful in the postseason, even when his team doesn't seem that great, and another is consistently unsuccessful, even when he has teams that are viewed as the best in the league, eventually it stops being luck. There's no question that if you want a team that will win in the regular season Marty is as good as anybody. But if you're going to give him credit for his long string of successes in the regular season, you can't just dismiss his long string of failures in the postseason. A team with the talent the Chargers have can overcome the many boneheaded decisions Marty made yesterday when they're playing a mediocre team, but when it's the second round of the playoffs, and you're playing against a good team, these kinds of things kill you.
You don't have Marty's regular season record if you don't have sound football knowledge and the ability to apply it. Marty in the playoffs is the equivalent to a paid casino cooler. SD had a better team than the Jets in 04 home field, facing a QB with a torn shoulder and lost. Last year he had the most talented team in football, went into IN stopped the undefeated Colts and than proceeded to not make the playoffs. This year they unload the wrong QB, end up with the best team in football anyway, get home field and a bye, have their all world RB run wild, stop Tom Brady and make him look bad and still find a way to lose. I don't know if Marty should be fired or not, I would try an exorcism and if that didn’t work burn him at the stake.
Just to add to the debate. Here are some comments from Mortensen on Marty. (I asked the second question and he actually answered it.) ----- bill: why do people say marty gotta get fired, but tony dungy, if he loses against the patriots, HAS to be in the discussions of possibly losing his job, right? Chris Mortensen: (11:49 AM ET ) No, because it's embarrassing that we're even talking about Marty being fired. Our industry, our sports culture, is walking down the wrong path. Mark (Manhattan Beach): Why is it "embarassing" that people are talking about firing Marty? The goal of the team is to win championships. Marty has been outcoached on multiple occasions in the playoffs, plain and simple. I read your column the other day trying to blame everyone else, but ultimately the HC is responsible for how his players act, play calling and performance. The Chargers beat themselves last Sunday and that falls on the HC. If you keep Marty as the coach at this point your are saying that very good regular seasons are good enough. Chris Mortensen: (12:00 PM ET ) Say hi to my old South Bay stomping grounds. Mark, my point was not that you should blame those coaches or AJ Smith but that you can always find someone to blame when there's a tough loss. Ultimately these million dollar players have to make game-defining plays. The coaches put them in position to do that. And there's no shame in losing to a 12-4 Patriots team that has won three Super Bowls...and no shame in having a losing playoff record against John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Tom Brady - otherwise, Marty has a winning playoff record. As I heard John Elway this morning on Cold Pizza, the stars sometimes have to be aligned for the thing to come together, so to speak. --- I Mort's comment about no shame in losing to good/great QBs...what do you expect to see in the playoffs (except for this season)?
Completely aside from the Marty getting fired question (for which I've stated my opinion, but do recognize that there are good arguments on both sides), Mortensen should be embarrassed by his response. Oh, so now losses against Elway, Marino, Kelly, and Brady don't count? Why stop there? Losses against Ed Reed or Ray Lewis shouldn't count, since they're great defenders. Losses against Michael Strahan shouldn't count, since he holds the sack record. And obviously the loss in 2004 against the Jets doesn't count, since the Jets had the guy who led the league in rushing and is 4th overall in league history on their team, right? I can't imagine that even Marty's strongest supporters (including Brian) would dream of making such an asinine statement. Guess what, Chris - if Marty's teams had won games occasionally against those guys, then they would be considered less immortal, wouldn't they?
Yep, that comment was absurd. Marty is 5-13 in the playoffs. I haven't looked back at the games, but Mortensen is basically saying that most of his losses can be chalked up to playing against great players and he shouldn't be expected to win those games.
