Marty Schottenheimer’s shocking firing from the LA Chargers remains a dark chapter in the team’s history. Despite leading the team to a 14-2 record in 2006, the head coach was promptly dismissed following the season, after losing in the divisional round to the New England Patriots.
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The 2006 Chargers were one of the best regular-season teams to never win a playoff game. Still, Schottenheimer’s firing came as a shock for how abrupt it was. Now, former Charger LaDainian Tomlinson says he always saw the writing on the wall.
Tomlinson, who played for the team from 2001 to 2009, recently shared that the well-known story of Schottenheimer and the GM not being on the same page went even deeper.
“There was tension leading up to that season between the GM and the head coach. Marty Schottenheimer and the late AJ Smith. And we heard all the speculation,” Tomlinson started on the NFL Players Second Act Podcast.
The former running back then shared that he heard the coach and GM didn’t talk much and often disagreed on draft pick decisions. While the wins helped ease the tension, there was still talk that Schottenheimer could be fired.
And in the end, Tomlinson says his former coach was made the scapegoat.
“We knew why Marty was the scapegoat, because those two could no longer coexist. And the owner, Dean Spanos, obviously had to make a decision… So, he made the decision to let Marty go,” Tomlinson shared.
The Chargers started the 2007 season under head coach Norv Turner and went 1-3 through the first month. But they rebounded, finishing 11-5 and even winning two playoff games, including an upset over the 2-seeded Indianapolis Colts.
Tomlinson experienced a bit of a dip in production under Turner, though that was mostly because Schottenheimer was known for running his backs into the ground. In ‘06, Tomlinson ran for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns, both leading the NFL. Then, in ‘07 under Turner, he ran for 1,474 yards and 15 touchdowns, which still led the league in both categories.
All in all, Schottenheimer may have been fired unfairly in the eyes of some, but choking in big playoff games was something he was known for. He’s one of the only coaches in NFL history with 200 wins and no Super Bowl rings or appearances. Because of his failures in the playoffs, he never made it into the Hall of Fame.
Schottenheimer often received criticism for his coaching style. He preached heavy running on offense and hard-nosed defense, preferring to play the chess game of field position.
That was great for Tomlinson’s stats, but it was also considered a safe strategy that ultimately never paid off. It earned him a ton of regular-season success, yet a 5-13 all-time playoff record, including three 1-seed divisional round losses, shows he was just never cut out to coach in big games.
