SAN DIEGO, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- San Diego fired Coach Marty Schottenheimer on Monday even though the Chargers had an NFL-best 14-2 record in the regular season.
The Chargers' 24-21 home loss to the New England Patriots in the playoffs, combined with a strained relationship between Schottenheimer and General Manager A.J. Smith, led to the ousting of the head coach.
The move comes less than a month after Schottenheimer turned down a one-year extension for 2008 but agreed to stay with the team through the 2007 season. Schottenheimer reportedly decided against accepting a one-year, $4.5 million contract for the 2008 season.
"When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact," Chargers President Dean Spanos said..
"Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager," Spanos continued.
