After Dean Spanos fired Schottenheimer (with one year still left on his contract) and let go just about all the other coaching staff, because of a "dysfunctional situation" between the coach and general manager A.J. Smith, he showed the team and the fans that winning was and is not his priority. Sort of reminds me of the Los Angeles Kings' owners, richer than dirt, and yet fielding year after year after year mediocre teams, even when they had the best of the best, Wayne Gretzky.
Dean Spanos released a statement saying "Our fans deserve to know what changed for me over the last month. When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact. Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager. In short, this entire process over the last month convinced me beyond any doubt that I had to act to change this untenable situation and create an environment where everyone at Charger Park would be pulling in the same direction and working at a championship level. I expect exactly that from our entire Charger organization in 2007."
Hiring Norv Turner -- a coach with an incredible losing record, was and is an obvious mistake. Never mind last year's record, because with that team, even I could have coached the Chargers to their 11-5 record in 2007 (after going 14-2 under Shotsie). This year, 3-5 going into a game with a 1-7 Kansas City team, and coming down to the wire (would have been tied if Kansas City did not decide to go for the two pointer instead of the extra point kick) -- well, I think it's safe to say the fat lady has sung this year for them, despite their win.
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