Did Schottenheimer Get Fired on Purpose?

Jim Trotter of the San Diego Union-Tribune thinks that Marty Schottenheimer might have engineered his own firing.

[Schottenheimer] had grown tired of his "dysfunctional" relationship with [GM A.J.] Smith and believed that, win or lose in 2007, he would not be back with the team the following year. Spanos had made it clear by his actions that his allegiance was with Smith, so Schottenheimer decided it was time to throw in his cards.

According to Trotter, Schottenheimer didn't want to resign because he would lose his $4 million salary. He also knew team president Dean Spanos was against head coaches hiring relatives -- Spanos explained as much during Schottenheimer's 2002 interview -- and maybe that's why the head coach asked the team to interview his brother Kurt Schottenheimer for the defensive coordinator's job.

After going back and forth on this issue, Spanos eventually canned Schottenheimer, telling the head coach that "he had changed" and that "he had never seen Schottenheimer act in such a manner" and he "wasn't dealing with the same coach."

Trotter makes a good point when he suggests that Smith and Schottenheimer had not spoken in more than a year, so why would their relationship come to a head now? But why would the head coach want out?

Maybe Schottenheimer was looking past 2007 -- when his Chargers contract expired -- and like his chances at landing one of the jobs sure to come open next year (Cleveland, Jacksonville, Washington, New York).