Marty Schottenheimer might be fired by the time I wake up, and I’m not sure how I’ll feel about that. If you’d have asked me a couple of weeks ago, Marty would have been, in my mind, bulletproof. He’s been phenomenal for the Chargers through his tenure, even as the GM made moves that Marty didn’t want him to make… but I may be changing my mind on that.

And it’s not that I blame Marty for the loss yesterday… I don’t. The first half 4th-and-11 seemed a little bit goofy, maybe, but I’m certainly not pinning the loss on one play call. I just feel an awful lot now like I felt when it was rumored that the Pistons were about to fire Rick Carlisle. You’ve got a coach who’s solid, and who has accomplished a lot, and is a great coach in a lot of ways… but sometimes, one guy takes a team as far as he can take them. I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but… I’m not convinced that it isn’t.

So if Marty is gone… I don’t know, I haven’t completely made up my mind on that. For the time being, I don’t think I’ll despair or celebrate, no matter what happens.

Anyway, I wasn’t planning on posting anything tonight, but what the hell, it might be therapeautic. In the end, it just came down to mistakes. And that’s not luck, it’s not coincidence… down the stretch, the Chargers made mistakes, and the Patriots made plays.

The Chargers had things like Reche Caldwell muffing a punt in the third quarter, then muffing the attempted recovery. Drayton Florence picking up a 15-yard penalty after a third-down sack that would’ve left Steven Gostkowski with a 53-yard attempt, instead of the eventual 34-yarder that he hit. Marlon McCree fumbling after coming up with a big interception.

And the Patriots had things like Tom Brady lofting a ball over reasonably tight coverage to Reche Caldwell on a 3rd and 10 from the 34 yard line.

That’s not luck, and it’s not coincidence. Even if you feel like ramming a concrete dildo into Tom Brady’s earhole, it’s not a coincidence that he keeps coming up with these plays.

In things like the actual running, and blocking, and throwing, the basics of the game… the Chargers were probably better. Even after the Patriots abandoned their ineffective run game and switched into “spread the field and throw every play” mode, the Chargers acquitted themselves pretty well. Brady had 280 passing yards, which seems like a lot… but for 51 attempts, that’s pretty decent for a defense, especially when you consider the three interceptions. Tomlinson ran well… Rivers wasn’t great, but I don’t think he was terrible, either. He certainly wasn’t the reason for the loss.

Just a couple of mistakes by San Diego, and a couple of plays by New England. That was the difference. It’s not coincidence that Tom Brady and the Patriots keep doing this. And maybe it’s not coincidence that it keeps happening to Marty Schottenheimer either. I don’t know.

The silver lining, though, is that I went to see “Children of Men” last night after the loss, just to stop thinking about football for a while… and it more than served its purpose. I’m not even into futuristic, sci/fi type things, but the direction and cinematography in that thing… off the charts. Was glad I saw it.