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!

After seing all of the crazy sports news which has gone on in the last few days, I just couldn't resist putting this edition of the Random Crap Rant on the presses.

THE RANDOM CRAP RANT

Football time!

Let me just start by saying this last weeks Monday Night Football game was just insane. My god, the Bears, who looked unstoppable to this point, were being absolutely flattened offensively by a weak Cardinals defense. The Cardinals lead 23-3 heading to the end of the 3rd Quarter, a score that no one imagined, and I went to sleep figuring the Bears had no chance of putting any offense together to make a comeback.

I was right.

The offense continued to suck, Grossman did so bad that I ended up winning a fantasy game against someone who was AHEAD of me. Grossman's game was Leaf-esque, and they couldn't run to boot. But right at the end of the 3rd quarter, the Bears D got a fumble for a TD. Then late in the 4th, they got another defensive touchdown. Even then, the Bears were still down by 6 points...but they get a punt return TD? My God. Then Neil Rackers, who was perfect last year, missed a game winning 40 yd FG?

I have no idea what to think anymore about this NFL season...

The Cardinals choked this game away. They've never had a lead like this, and they sat on the ball. This team has a horrible offensive line, Edge James couldn't gain a yard to save his life. And how about the Dennis Green rant?

But look at all of the teams in the NFL, and can you find a "flawless" team? The Colts have a horrible defense, the Broncos and Ravens have terrible offenses, and the Bears looked like total crap last night. Maybe the Chargers are the best team in football, but this last week was crazy. The Redskins lost...to The TITANS! Cinci lost to the Bucs, the Chiefs got mauled by Pittsburgh, and the Saints beat the Eagles.

Once again, it proves that ANYTHING can happen in the NFL.

YOU'RE FIRED
Lots of people fired the last few days. Sticking with the Cardinals, they fired offensive cooridinator Keith Rowen. Maybe he is the reason for that terrible offensive line. Another season and the Cardinals are disapointing...and the coaches are always the scapegoats.

Sticking with the Fired theme, the Ravens fired offensive coordinator Jim Fassel. Now Fassel is a talented coach, but once again, when a unit struggles, the coach is to blame. But it isn't Fassel's fault they are bad. They have a offensive line that only has one player that is good, and they have a burnout back in Jamal Lewis. Mike Anderson is also a guy who was really only successful because he was in the Denver system. If the Ravens want an offense, they need to aquire a talented running back.

But wait, more people are fired. Steve Lyons, an announcer for Fox got fired for "Racist remarks." or something. Alrighty then.

But it continues, Ken Macha was fired from his managers job. After he took his team TO THE ALCS! Makes me wonder how high the expectations had to be, last time I checked, getting to the ALCS is pretty good.

THE CUBS....

So now Lou Pinella is the Cubs news manager. I have no problem with this, and I think a smart veteran manager like that could do this team some good.

But some of the rumors about getting A-Rod concern me. Not that I have any problem with the Cubs getting A-Rod, but the rumors are that they would trade Carlos Zambrano.

Now for those of you who aren't Cubs fans, here's the story of Zambrano. He plays for a team with underachieving batters, and constantly hurt pitchers. With all of this, Zambrano each week would pitch great, and he's the guy they would get rid of? Hey Cubs, Pitching wins championships remember? Getting rid of your one good pitcher would be about the stupidest thing you could actually do.


But being a Cubs fan...everything that can go wrong....will go wrong...

JERRY! JERRY!

Jerry Springer reference, back when the show always featured fights. I was saddened to see the Miami/FIU brawl that I am sure you have all seen by now. It is the one of the most pathetic things I have seen, right up there with Haynesworth's stomp, and the Malace at the Palace.

I personally think, the punishment should be that both programs forfeit their remaining games. Not all of the players participated, but the ones that didn't should have tryed to stop this madness, and I don't think many did. Stomping on downed players, and using helmets as weapons is just pathetic and cowardly. NCAA, do the right thing...

 

 

And Finally, will they ever actually finish that Mets/Cardinals series?  How many times is it going to rain?  At this rate, that series will last to November.

THAT"S ALL I GOT

I am offically announcing that I will be no longer posting blogs for an undetermined amount of time.

Why?

Well there are multiple reasons. One, eventually school will greatly limit the time I have for these blogs.

And two, I'm honestly kind of saddened by what has happened here over the last month. All of these blogger on blogger attacks, spamming categories, politics, and much more have really turned me off of this website.

I will still comment time to time on some sports posts that are written well. But I really have no desire to post any more here for the time being.

I will still be active in the pick'em group, and my fantasy leagues. But for now, I am done posting any blogs.

THAT'S ALL I GOT.

Also, breaking news from ESPN. In the plane crash that hit a NY building earlier today, Cory Lidle was in the plane, and has died. Lidle was a pitcher for the Yankees and Phillies this season. He was 34 years old. Rest in peace Cory...