Remember the article I wrote here? About how the Chargers were right to keep Marty Schottenheimer?
Scratch that last. Egos got in the way.
Well, now Marty is free to go to some other horrid franchise with a cultural footprint of losing and save their bacon. Quick! Name the last time a 14-2 franchise fired the head coach. Never, that’s when. See ya Chargers. Enjoy your free fall to third place in the AFC West.
Meanwhile my Steelers are stuck with Mike Timlin. Good heavens! A 4-3 defense guy with a rock solid 3-4 team he doesn’t need to do a darn thing with to be competitive and he’s gonna flush the Steelers just like he led the Vikings to nowhere.
I’ll bet Oakland is furious right now.
Marty Shottenheimer is a terrible coach. As a witness to his son’s (Bill Cowher) “coaching” for the past 15 years, I can attest to the many, many ways in which both Cowher and Shottenheimer do less with more talent than a LOT of other coaches. How many rings does Shottenheimer have? Zip. How many playoff choke jobs and massive failures does he have? Too many to list (just like Bill, except for that one ring… finally).
And Jay, the Chargers waited until all the coaching jobs were filled before firing Marty, making darn sure he won’t find a coaching job this coming year. Good! Nobody should hire Marty or – if they’re smart – Bill Cowher in a year either.
And if by “stuck with” you mean “are absolutely overjoyed with and will likely be incredibly happy with” then I agree. If you mean it in the classical sense – that Mike Tomlin is a poor choice – then I couldn’t disagree more vehemently. 8-8 isn’t a “rock solid” team, and he’s already said that the personnel are most important, not blindly sticking to a 4-3. Furthermore, his Vikings defense led the league in stopping the run and – despite a dearth of talent – ranked 8th overall in the NFL last year. Under his tutelage, a SAFETY won the MVP award the year the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. He didn’t “lead the Vikings to nowhere” – quite the contrary. And at every stage of his career, he’s impressed Pro Bowlers. He talks about fundamentals – an approach everyone would do well to emulate, especially the Steelers, who have become incredibly sloppy under the slack-ass attitude of Bilbo Cowher.
If Marty Shottenheimer is ever the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I – as stout a Steelers fan as any – will find a new team for which to root.
Erik, good to hear from you. I just have to disagree. Success in the NFL is measured in rings and how deep you get in the playoffs. The Steelers finally got their ring…and had some cmany close calls to boot. The Vikes went to the NFC Championship in 2000-01…and then haven’t been seen or heard from again since…except for boat cruise day. They also play in the seriously down cycle NFC.
I don’t want Marty as my coach of the Steelers either. Nevertheless, my Pittsburgh sportswriter sources say Tomlin will try a modified 3-4 and 4-3 hybrid. Which means seriously tampering with the personnel, schemes and playbook. That spells trouble. We lose Whis, Grimm and Cowher. Thats almost as serious as the Chargers losing four coaches. Bad craziness.
I hope I’m pleasantly surprised. It also always seems that just when the Steelers are going to stink, they play great. But the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and the AFC North is a much stronger division than even just two years ago.
I stand by what I wrote. Some crappy team is gonna take a chance on Marty. Maybe Detro, Maybe Minn y, who knows where. I’ll bet you a burger they start winning.
Jay, all due respect, but you called the guy “Timlin.” Success in the NFL is measured in rings, and Marty’s got none. Bilbo had one after 15 long years of having talented teams and losing to far weaker opponents in AFCCGs. His 2-4 record in those games alone is an indicator of his failures as a head coach.
Tomlin was only with the Vikings for one year. Who cares what they did in 2000-2001? Their defense improved _incredibly_ under Tomlin’s scheme. As did Tampa Bay’s.
Who cares what the Pittsburgh sportswriters said? One whole paper “broke” the story that Grimm was hired. Ooops. Listen to Tomlin himself – he says that he’ll implement whatever scheme plays to the strengths of the personnel. I’m not convinced a part-time 4-3 might not be good – how much pressure did the Steelers really apply to passers this year? Next to none.
The offensive line has declined in quality since Russ Grimm took over. Cowher said Grimm was largely responsible for the half-time adjustments the Steelers have made for the past two years. “WHAT half-time adjustments?” long-time Steelers fans wonder. Ya got me there – Grimm has never convinced me that he’s anything but a dolt. And Whisenhunt – despite having Willie Parker and Heath Miller – rarely or never saw fit to throw to them. He always put Ben in a shotgun on 3rd down. To say he did a good job as an offensive coordinator is stretching the truth.
Arians scrapped the playboook, which apparently was based on Ron Erhardt’s. Good. He’s been in the Steelers system and isn’t “new.” LeBeau is staying on – he’s not new.
[…] Remember how I wrote that the San Diego Chargers were right to keep Marty Schottenheimer, then two days later they reversed course and blew it by canning him? Then the lunacy continued by hiring (SCREAM OF HORROR!) NORV TURNER. Mr. .380ish winning percentage. Well This video shows how Norval Turner (that’s his real name) got the job… […]