Marty Schottenheimer, as a regular season head coach in the NFL, had his teams dominate. Maybe one of the best regular season coaches of all-time. Schottenheimer is in the top ten in regular seasons with wins as a head coach. Number 8 all-time with very highly respectable names in front of him. In post season it was the tales of two cities. Schottenheimer was haunted by some of the most epic playoff games in the history of the NFL coming out on the wrong side every time. People still talk about those games today. His football philosophy was simple: “One play at a time.” His teams ran smash mouth football, what they called Marty Ball. The recipe for Marty Ball was simple: a strong running game and a tough as nails defense. In 2014, Marty Schottenheimer had a new battle to deal with instead of the gridiron. Schottenheimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Marty lost his battle recently and passed away at the age of 77.

Marty Schottenheimer was born in a small town in Pennsylvania, and as you might guess, he played the linebacker position. Schottenheimer was good enough to play college ball going against other tough as nails Pennsylvania warriors that ended up in the steel mill or the coal mine. Schottenheimer would attend the University of Pittsburgh. His play in college professional teams took notice as he was drafted twice in the NFL and the AFL. Schottenheimer would play six seasons in the AFL with the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. In 1966 he played for the Bills in the AFL Championship versus the Chiefs and came out on the losers side of that contest. The Chiefs was Marty’s future at the time that he did not know until decades later. The Chiefs would go on the next season and play the Packers in the very first Superbowl when both leagues merged. After Marty Schottenheimer hung up the spikes, he took up coaching the game he’d loved since he came out of the womb. First job he got was in the World Football League in 1974. Schottenheimer was on his first rung of the ladder as an assistant with a team called the Portland Storm.

Eventually Marty Schottenheimer climbed the ladder in coaching and landed his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1984. Schottenheimer’s first coaching job had Cleveland rocking to two AFC championship games with a regular season record of 44-27 from 1984-1988. When you lose big championship games that are coined “THE DRIVE” and “THE FUMBLE,” either you or the town is jinxed. Both losses occurring from horse teeth of John Elway and his Denver Broncos. In 1986, during “THE DRIVE” John Elway and the Broncos went 98 yards down the field on 15 plays to tie the game with 37 seconds left. Then the Browns fell in Overtime. The following year the Browns are driving down the field on the Broncos. With 1:12 left, the Browns were down 38-31 on the 3 yard line to tie the game. They call it the FUMBLE. Running back Earnest Byner coughed up the football as the Broncos would prevail again.

Marty Schottenheimer’s teams won 10 or more games 11 times as a head coach. In 1989, Marty Schottenheimer was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs where he had a record 101-58-1 from 1989-1998. Schottenheimer clinched home field advantage twice with the first round bye to fizzle out in the second round in the very first game as a number 1 seed. In 1993, Schottenheimer had Joe Montana at the end of his career and he had the Chiefs on the door step to the Superbowl in the AFC Championship versus the Bills in Buffalo. But the Bills will prevail knocking the Chiefs out and pretty much ending Montana’s career in the process. Marty Schottenheimer left the game after the 1998 season and would resurface in 2001 with Washington. Marty Ball lasted one season in DC. Schottenheimer had the Redskins in the lone season at 8-8 which was not good enough for the owner.

Marty Schottenheimer then worked his magic in San Diego and with a young Drew Brees, the team broke an 8 year playoff drought. Once again the Chargers and another Marty team fell in the divisional round to the New York Jets in overtime. In 2006, the Chargers were the number one seed with Phillip Rivers in the driver’s seat this time. With a 14-2 record the Chargers earned a bye. Then what Tom Brady did to so many teams came into San Diego with his Patriots and beat the Chargers in a another close game on Marty’s record a 24-21 loss. Marty Schottenheimer on one play went for it on 4th down and 11 on the 30 yard line which resulted in a strip sack by Mike Vrabel off Rivers. Patriots recovered it. Then late in that game with six minutes left, Chargers leading 21-13 Marlon McCree intercepts Tom Brady. If McCree would have just went down to the ground, the Chargers would have probably moved on. The Patriots forced a fumble and like that, Patriots step on the throat of the Chargers and put them away. Schottenheimer’s playoff record would be disastrous at 5-13 all-time. Schottenheimer would end his coaching career at the end of that 2006 season. From 2002-2006 Schottenheimer went 47-33 with the Chargers. Marty ball would never be tested in the Superbowl. The closest Marty Schottenheimer came to being part of a championship team was that AFL Championship he was on as a player for the Bills in 1966.

You could say Marty Schottenheimer played for a Buffalo team and coached the Browns and the Chargers – all teams with no Superbowl wins. You could say about the Redskins job that Dan Snyder was a bad owner as you can say the same thing about the Chargers ownership. Throw them under the bus, roll over them again, and then back over them again. Schottenheimer had some great quarterbacks like Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Bernie Kosar and Phillip Rivers. Remember the Nigerian Nightmare?

The running backs like Christian Okoye and Marcus Allen, whose mission as Chief was to be the Raiders worst nightmare. By the way Marty, Schottenheimer hated the Raiders. Marty Ball in San Diego featured Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson. Marty ball defense had the late Derrick Thomas during his Chiefs days.

Then Marty Ball had Junior Seau during his Chargers days. Both Seau and Thomas passed away too young. Both players were guys you build your defense around. At the time when Marty Schottenheimer was hired by the Chiefs, it was kind of the same story as when Andy Reid arrived from the Philadelphia Eagles. Schottenheimer and Reid had problems in those championships. Reid did get the Eagles to the Superbowl to end up losing. Plus it took him awhile but Reid cemented one Superbowl with the Chiefs in multiple playoff appearances. Andy Reid just lost last weekend once again to Tom Brady. Reid is now 1-2 in the big game as a head coach. A few key plays and Schottenheimer could have gotten a team to the Superbowl. I respected Marty Ball because you knew they were getting off the bus running. No one uses that old school recipe anymore. Football has changed with the way the game is played nowadays. The passing attack and lack of the running game are the way most offenses roll. The defenses are handcuffed with one hand behind their backs. The running game is starting to come back. It would be good to see teams start going back to the tomato soup and grilled cheese combo called Marty Ball and win games like that. Schottenheimer right now has drafted Derrick Thomas and Junior Seau for his defense as he looks for a bad ass running back to get his Marty Ball to prevail in the heavens. Marty Schottenheimer’s son Brian is still coaching in the NFL today. Football runs in the Schottenheimer family as Kurt Marty’s brother was coaching at the same time as his brother. Not too shabby for a coaching tree. That’s a family coaching tree that is still growing and the rooting is all Marty Ball.