Welp, that oughta take care of the "worst 13-3 team ever" talk. Especially considering the way Marty Schottenheimer started coaching against his team in the fourth quarter of the Patriots-Chargers game, thus spoiling a
14-2 season.
There were a lot of things I thought the Bears could've done better, like roll Grossman out on playactions when they had early success with the running game to keep him from getting swallowed up by the rush. They still don't have a way to replace Tommie Harris -- the lack of up-the-middle rush makes the hole up the middle in the Cover 2 scheme even bigger. Bernard Berrian had a couple of piss-poor efforts in the second half with the false start and the weak one-handed catch attempt. Former Arena-leaguer Rashied Davis showed up Muhsin Muhammad, and Lance Briggs made Brian Urlacher look small.
Still, whatever complaints one might have about the Bears can't compare to the ones Chargers fans have against their head coach. Schottenheimer showed why his teams don't make it to the Super Bowl -- lack of discipline, lack of a game plan and a lack of clock management, all in the fourth quarter. I can't decide which one of the following three offenses were less inexplicable:
1) Where was LaDainian Tomlinson? He averaged better than five yards a carry, yet only touched the ball once on the Chargers' last two drives. In the penultimate drive, he took the first handoff for six yards, and Schottenheimer followed up with two pass plays -- both incomplete, of course. Punt.
2) Burnt timeout No. 1. Challenging hopeless plays is one of my signatures in Madden. If I take a sack that ends the game, I'll challenge it. The video game refs interpret it as I'm looking to change the spot of the ball, which is awfully nice of them. The refs treated Schottenheimer with the same respect, when they didn't even have to go to the booth. They could've just said, "Time out, San Diego. On a change of possession, nevertheless. Commence booing."
3) Burnt timeout No. 2. The Chargers had to take a second timeout despite having additional time to call a play since Ellis Hobbs got the wind knocked out of him defending a pass.
As badly as the Bears have played at times the last two months, it's been mostly due to underperforming players. I'd take that 10 out of 10 times, because I know for certain I couldn't do any better in that field.
At this point, I wonder if the Chargers are considering retaining Schottenheimer's services until the fourth quarter of their next playoff game. He obviously has no problems getting teams into excellent postseason positions, but after all the times he's screwed up, wouldn't it be something to see A.J. Smith tap Schottenheimer on the shoulder at the end of the third quarter of a tie game, tell him to hand over his headset and crown Dick Vermeil or Bill Cowher with it? I don't think he'd have any right to file a grievance.
There are already coaches for every imaginable position -- why not a closing coach?