It is true. ESPN.com is reporting that the Chargers have fired Marty Schottenheimer from the head coaching position.

What is most surprising to me about this is that they waited this long to do it. Every other head coaching spot has been filled. To do this now is just makes no sense. Perhaps there was an agruement between the Chargers GM and Marty, two guys that don't exactly see eye to eye.

Do the Chargers really think they are going to get a better coach? I mean, before Marty came there the Chargers were horrible, and he turned them into a contender. They went 14-2 this year. 14-2!!! Marty had tough luck in the playoffs, but anyone with half a brain wouldn't fire a 14-2 coach.

Maybe they were just waiting for Bill Parcells to resign so they can get him? Parcells and Cowher are the only guys I can think of who could possibly be a upgrade from Marty. They already lost both coordinators, as Phillips took the Dallas job, and Cameron took the Miami job.

According to Yahoo, the Chargers president sited a "dysfunctional situation" between Marty and GM A.J. Smith, two guys who have never seen eye to eye.

Apprently, the loss of the core of the coaching staff is a big part of this. As you likely know, Wade Phillips, the former defensive coordinator, is now the Cowboys' head coach. Meanwhile, the former offensive coordinator, Cam Cameron, is the head coach of the Dolphins.

Not only that, but the Chargers tight ends coach and linebackers coach both took better jobs at different teams. Apprently, the debate over who the new members pf the staff cause more dysfunction between Smith and Marty.

So obviously in this feud, the owner thought that he had to get rid of one. Marty, I suppose is easier to make the scapegoat. He can't get a head coaching job now that the other spots are filled.

14-2, and you lose your job. It doesn't get tougher then that.

Seeing this, a lot of scenarios have aroze. First, seeing how Marty was treated even after great success, many coaches may not want to coach there just because of lack of job secruity. But of course, this team is good enough to win it all, and what coach wouldn't want a Super Bowl ring?

A lot of names have already been thrown around here at FanIQ for the next head coach. Here are some of them.

Bill Parcells. At the end of the season, Parcells looked very tired and seemed serious about retirement. But Parcells came to Dallas in the first place because he was hungry for the ring. Maybe that hunger will lead him to San Diego?

Bill Cowher. Cowher seems very content about taking this year off. However I highly doubt Cowher thought an opportunity this huge would ever come up. If the Chargers give him the offer you can't refuse...

Pete Carroll. USC is in the midst of a lot of scandals. The Reggie Bush ordeal, as well as the recent recuiting controversy. Plus, San Diego isn't very far away from SoCal where he is now. He didn't want to leave a great college job for a bad pro job, but the Chargers team is great. Maybe he will be tempted?

Nick Saban. This is mainly meant as a joke, but who knows from the King of Flip Flop.

Ron Rivera. He did a great job with the Bears defense, but just couldn't get a job as a head coach. I'm sure he wants it, but do they want HIM?


Considering this move, I highly doubt they will take someone without serious credientials. You really can't just hire some no name to take over after what just happened.

Well, now we at least have something to talk about in this useless month. Schottenheimer gone...wow.

Now, many of you who are still here may remember the "MrNFL's NFL PREVIEW EXTRAVANGANZA" which created the Flawed System and the Flawed Predictions.

Before the beginning of the NFL Season, I had created what I call the "Flawed System"  Basically, I ranked each team by position, and put it against the actual schedules.

Now obviously, getting these type of predictions right are hard to do, but I want to see how wrong I was.

Red = Dead on

NFC

NFC NORTH
Bears 13-3 (1 seed) My prediction 11-5 (3 seed)
Well I was somewhat close. I may have undervalued the offense slightly, and I didn't expect Gould to be good, or Hester's crazy year, so they likely didn't get all of the ST points they deserved.  

Packers 8-8 My prediction 2-14
Ok, I didn't expect anything from the Packers. Whoops.

Vikings 6-10 My prediction 8-8
I thought the D would be solid, and the O decent. The D couldn't stop the pass, and the O was crap.

Lions 3-13 My prediction 3-13
DING DING DING! I CALLED IT!!! WOOOO!! (Not that tough to predict the LIONS)


NFC SOUTH
Saints 10-6 (2 seed) My prediction 2-14
Wow, swing and a miss here. I thought the offense could be good, however I didn't trust their O-Line. Proved me wrong. Plus, I thought they could have the worst defense in football. But I think they surprised everyone.

Panthers 8-8 My prediction 8-8
I'm really proud of this one. Everyone had the Panthers in the Super Bowl, but I had them out of the playoffs. I got that right.

Falcons 7-9 My prediction 9-7
Injuries killed the defense, which I thought would be improved enough to win 9. The offense did what I expected, which was very little.

Buccaneers 4-12 My Prediction 10-6 (4 seed)
Whoops. Well they were in the playoffs last year. The strong D from last year got old very fast.  And so much for Cadillac Williams being great, he was average, they needed big things from him in that offense.


NFC EAST
Eagles 10-6 (3 seed) My prediction 11-5 (3 seed)
When it spit out Philly as the division winner, everyone called me a complete fool. Most didn't give the Eagles 6 wins. People forget that last years Eagles D had tons of injuries that killed them, and they still had a great team.

Cowboys 9-7 (5 seed) My prediction 10-6 (5 seed)
Only one game off again, and got the seed right again. I figured them out pretty well.

Giants 8-8 (6 seed) My prediction 8-8
I got this one right, except 8-8 wasn't enough to get into the playoffs.

Redskins 5-11 My prediction 9-7 (6 seed)
Well....I suppose I can't get ALL 4 teams that close. This offense majorly underachieved.  Defense should have been better as well.


NFC WEST
Seahawks 9-7 (4 seed) My prediction 11-5 (1 seed)
Meh, if Alexander/Hasselbeck weren't hurt early, they probably could have hit that mark, that damaged the offense largely.

Rams 8-8 My prediction 7-9
Pretty close on the Rams

49ers 7-9 My prediction 2-14
I didn't expect Frank Gore to become what he was for me on Madden...a total beast. He alone made this team better offensively.

Cardinals 5-11 My prediction 8-8
Wait, wasn't this offense supposed to be good?  If the O-Line didn't totally blow.  Defense sucked as expected.


AFC

AFC NORTH
Ravens 13-3 (2 seed) My prediction 9-7
Well, I expected the D to be a bit weakened this year. Whiff. What's sad is that if they do win it all, the credit will ALL go to McNair, when that offense still stinks, and the D is the reason for the success.

Bengals 8-8 My prediction 9-7
Pretty close. Poor Bengals...their special teams killed them in the end.

Steelers 8-8 My prediction 15-1 (1 seed)
I thought the Steelers D would be great, boy was I wrong. Early they stopped running the ball, and it killed the offense completely, turnovers were their demise.

Browns 4-12 My prediction 3-13
Browns stunk, pretty easy to get that right..


AFC SOUTH
Colts 12-4 (3 seed) My prediction 14-2 (2 seed)
Well, the D was worse than I expected. Maybe if Bob Sanders could ACTUALLY PLAY A GAME SOMETIME THIS YEAR!!!!

Jaguars 8-8 My prediction 8-8
DING DING DING!!!

Titans 8-8 My prediction 3-13
Well, they surprised everyone with that second half of the year.  Defense came on very strong late.

Texans 6-10 My prediction 4-12
A bit better than I thought on D.


AFC EAST
Patriots 12-4 (4 seed) My prediction 12-4 (4 seed)
Wow, I couldn't have gotten the Pats more correct.

Jets 10-6 (5 seed) My prediction 1-15
Ok...so I had the Jets as football's worst team. My bad...

Bills 7-9 My prediction 5-11
Bills somewhat did better than I thought

Dolphins 6-10 My prediction 12-4 (5 seed)
Stupid Dolphins made me look like a fool. That offense turned out to be a total sham.  I bought the Ronnie Brown and Chris Chambers hype...bad choice on my part.

AFC WEST
Chargers 14-2 (1 seed) My prediction 12-4
Well, even though I predicted 12-4, they lost the tiebreaker with the Chiefs and missed. I got the record close though...

Chiefs 9-7 (6 seed) My prediction 12-4 (6 seed)
Got the seeding right, altough they didn't do nearly as good as I thought they could've.

Broncos 9-7 My prediction 13-3 (3 seed)
Perhaps Shanahan is now on the hot seat?  That team underachieved big time.

Raiders 2-14 My prediction 5-11
Wow, I can't believe I was that generous to the Raiders...

In the end, out of 256 games played, The flawed system's record was...

153-103

Actually, considering, that wasn't completely terrible. Altough it did predict a Super Bowl repeat...(Hey, Seattle could still shock everyone)

In a group of 44, the Flawed System finished 13th in Pick'Em. Not terrible. I shall seek ways to improve the system in order to make it more accurate for next year.

MrNFL

For more of MrNFL, go to my blog at sportingnews.com/blog/MrNFL

Thanks to ThePhoenix for mentioning Sportingnews.com in his last post, because I have found a new home. I've been looking to leave Foxsports and find a better place to continue my blogs, and I have.

My new blog is at http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/MrNFL

If you would like to continue reading my work, I suggest you go there.

(Plus, SportingNews it says modifys incorrect tags, so NO MORE SPAMMING CATEGORIES!, HONESTLY HOW HARD IS IT TO PUT YOUR DAMNED POLITICS IN THE "OTHER" SECTION INSTEAD OF SCREWING EVERYONE ELSE OVER?  THE NFL SECTION IS FOR NFL POSTS!!!)

I will be writing my random rantings from their for now on. I will occasionally comment on blogs around here, but don't expect any posts unless the spamming ends, or the next NGS allows my age to compete.

Goodbye everyone!