Long Schott

The San Diego Chargers are playing russian roulette with their latest move. One week before the scouting combine and a few weeks before free agency, the Chargers are coachless. And in more ways than one.

By firing head coach Marty Schottenheimer, the Bolts are missing some key pieces of their staff. Both coordinators, Cam Cameron and Wade Phillips, are head coaches now. Tight end coach Rob Chudzinski is the offensive coordinator in Cleveland. Linebacker coach Greg Manusky is now the defensive coordinator in San Francisco. On top of all this, Cameron took strength and conditioning coach Matt Schiotz with him to Miami.

Oh, the holes they have dug.

With the majority of the appealing candidates hired elsewhere, the Chargers will be scraping at the scrap heap. Besides Chicago defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, not many high profile candidates are available. Even if they hire Rivera to be the head coach, they'll still have to fill the coordinator spots and other holes. On top of all those changes, the new leader will likely want to bring in some of his own guys as well.

This is definitely what a 14-2 team with a solid base for a Super Bowl run should be going through. No doubt.

I agree that if somebody were to be fired, it should've been Marty. A.J. Smith has proved himself to be a brilliant G.M., a position where such skills are rare. Marty, on the other hand, can be replaced much easier than Smith. That's not saying anything against Marty. He's a great coach and whoever gets him next year will be lucky. That said, finding a G.M. like A.J. Smith is like finding the needle in the haystack. Finding a coach like Marty is like finding a cow on the farm.

But they fired Marty. And whats done is done. So let us move on to the larger picture. What will happen to this 14-2 team with one of the all-time greatest runners, an up and coming defense and a young QB?

I'll tell you what will happen. There will be a setback. A major one at that.

Whoever comes in is going to want to implement their own system. They're going to want to get rid of some players and add some new ones. Phillip Rivers is going to have to learn a new offense. The new coaching staff is going to have to learn the most effective way to use LT. The defense will have to go through an adjustment period. The team is going to struggle with inconsistency throughout the season.

What becomes of Marty? Well, Bolts owner Dean Spanos is giving him $4 million not to coach this season. But in 2008, look for many suitors to come calling. He managed to completely reverse the clubs fortunes from 2003 to 2004, going 4-12 in '03 to 12-4 and division champs in '04. Teams looking for this titan of turnarounds should be numerous, including the perennial Raiders, Lions and Browns. Other teams with the potential to enter the conversation could be the Vikings, Panthers, Texans and Redskins.

So who is next in the bay? Well the top two candidates, Phillips and Cameron, have already been whisked away by other suitors. Rivera seems to be the most obvious choice as of now. Pete Carrol's name will inevitably pop into the conversation, and with good reason to. If Carrol is looking for vengeance after being fired twice in four years of NFL head coaching jobs, the Bolts would be his best bet. Dennis Green is a name to be thrown around to. To my knowledge, he is living in the bay right now. Green would be a good fit for an accomplished team needing that extra push.

With the fire burning in the bay right now, there is alot of smoke. And where there is alot of smoke there is alot of haziness. The Chargers will remain a force to be reckoned with, but we won't know how forceful until the smoke clears.