FanHouse MartySchottenheimer

In February, the Vikings sent a fourth-round pick to the Texans, and in return, got quarterback Sage Rosenfels. He's penciled -- and I can't stress this enough -- in as the starter, what would be Minnesota's fifth in six years.

But like recent offseasons, there's talk that Brett Favre is mulling a comeback, even though, at this point, everybody just wants him to go away. (I mean, seriously, when Peter King writes in his MMQB column that "I know you're sick of this story. We all are...", it might be time for Favre to permanently retire to the ole fishin' pond.)

It usually takes weeks or months to find out the real reason why a player gets traded or a coach gets fired. Sure, some PR hack will undoubtedly trot out some version of "Player X was looking for a change," or "Coach Y wanted to spend time with his family," but nobody actually believes such statements, no matter how vehemently they're delivered.

With Jon Gruden, it only took a few hours to find out why the Glazers decided to, as they say, go in another direction: everybody hated him. It was that simple, apparently. And in the new, touchy-feely world of the NFL, there isn't much room for and in-your-face, coach-doesn't-have-to-respect-his-players approach.

Guys just don't respond to the Bill Parcells-types like they once did. That's not an indictment of Gruden so much as it highlights the fact that, like most things, coaching styles are forever evolving.

Norv Turner might not be the flashiest or the smartest or, hell, the best-looking coach in the league. But the guy knows how to finish games. At least since coming to San Diego, anyway.

Hired prior to the 2007 season to replace general manager A.J. Smith's nemesis, Marty Schottenheimer (who was coming off a 14-2 '06 effort), Turner and the Chargers stumbled to a 1-3 record last year, and weren't much better this time around.

And it's not an exaggeration to suggest that FanHouse was pretty hard on Norval Eugene. Okay, really hard on him. Luckily, he doesn't know now to operate an Al Gore Machine so he had no idea. (From a recent San Diego Union-Tribune Q & A: Are you familiar with the Web sites nomorenorv.com and firenorv.net? Norv: "I know they're there, but I haven't had my kids teach me how to log on to them." Classic.) But we know and, frankly, we feel very guilty about it. Hence this post.

Also, as Brinson pointed out previously, Norv's 9-0 in December since coming to San Diego. And now he's 3-1 in the postseason, too. The guy he replaced? Bupkis in five years with the Chargers, and his last playoff win came in 1993 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The holiday season doesn't bring good tidings for everybody. Just ask those head coaches who are spending the New Year cleaning out their offices.

With Romeo Crennel out of the picture in Cleveland, seemingly all eyes turned to former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. He's been the talk of Cleveland since the Browns all but eliminated themselves from postseason contention, and the rumor that he may have purchased a house in Strongsville, Ohio only dumped gasoline on the inferno. Because, after all, it's just a short drive to not only downtown Cleveland -- roughly 20 minutes -- but also the Browns' practice facility in Berea, Ohio.

Well, sorry, Browns fans, but once again your dreams have been smashed, as Cowher informed Browns owner Randy Lerner that he has zero interest in coaching anywhere in 2009, and unfortunately for them, anywhere includes the city of Cleveland. From Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"I got word that he was available for an informal conversation because he was very aware I had him at the top of the list, getting involved with the Browns," Lerner said. "He wanted to tell me personally that he did not anticipate coaching in 2009. I wouldn't say Bill Cowher was the first choice, but I would say Cowher was the clear, no-questions-asked, guy you wanted to ask where he stood."

On Wednesday, Gretz mentioned that the 49ers were giving Mike Singletary an early Christmas gift: the head coaching gig for next season.

The club canned Mike Nolan after a 2-5 start, but the team has been 5-4 since. And next year, Singletary will have the pleasure of trying to win football games without offensive coordinator Mike Martz sabotaging everything. This comes as shocking news to, well, nobody, really. Not even J.T. O'Sullivan.

With Martz one-and-done in San Francisco, who should take over the play-calling duties? The San Francisco Chronicle's Gwen Knapp has a suggestion:

If, however, [Norv] Turner is available and Singletary is interested, nothing should get in their way. When Turner left San Francisco two years ago, he put the 49ers in a terrible position. The 49ers had already responded to the Cowboys' interest in Turner by promising to pay him a salary commensurate with his status as the coordinator who had given the breath of life to a moribund offense. Then San Diego came along with a late offer, and Turner went, taking the 49ers' future with him.

For all the knocks on Turner the head coach, he's the anti-Ron when it comes to coordinating up an offense. Norv had a lot to do with Alex Smith's progress in 2006, and before that, he was a coordinator for the Dolphins, Chargers and Cowboys. And in virtually every stop, he was successful. There's no reason to think he wouldn't be able to revitalize the 49ers' moribund offense, particularly if you think Shaun Hill is a more viable option than Smith.

Of course, there's the little issue of Turner still having a job.

Kendra Wilkinson is a pretty good catch (actually, no, it wasn't intended) for Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett. I say that because, well, she's really attractive. Also, because he's Hank Baskett. And I suppose, after listening to a recent interview she did with FOX Sports, it's not because she's really, really, really smart.

There's any number of reasons why you should think that (and I recommend taking Daulerio's advice and DO NOT LISTEN to the podcast, unless you really love killing brain cells) but here's a few, in bullet form:

Hank blows her kisses after catches 'every game'.

They are NOT getting married at the Playboy mansion anymore. Presumably because Hank hasn't met Hugh.

When the Eagles play the Chargers next year, Kendra will NOT wear an Eagles jersey in Qualcomm.

'Play-calling' and 'Norv Turner' are to blame for the Chargers stinking it up this year.

Fire Norv and bring back Marty Schottenheimer would be her first move as owner.

She finds John Madden funny. Wow.

She is ADD. NO. WAY. OMGLOLZ.

Hank Baskett does not have the Sunday Ticket. Most likely because he's working then.

She asked Donovan McNabb to throw Hank the ball more at the Eagles' Christmas party.

But, surely you get the point. She's an attractive lady, she's been in Playboy, she's been on television many times and she's married to an NFL player. So she's going to get lots of attention (guilty as charged here) but good gravy ... I'm not entirely sure that any amount of sex appeal can overcome what Hank has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Of course, on the other hand, no one else in America has seen his wife-to-be naked, so there's that.

Apparently Clinton Portis isn't the only person fed up with first-year head coach Jim Zorn. Redskins fans have had enough, too, it seems. So, naturally, with three games left in the season and Washington, after a 6-2 start, now staring at 7-6 and very slim playoff hopes, the discussion has turned to ... who should replace Zorn.

Makes sense.

The DC Examiner's Rick Snider writes that Zorn "may be vying for his job over the final three games," which, frankly, sounds like a huge stretch, although owner Dan Snyder has a history of impetuousness.

Earlier, my superbly awesome colleague Will Brinson offered up some rumors about Romeo Crennel's future, which obviously will no longer include being the Browns' head coach. After all, we are fully aware that he is to blame for the Browns' myriad of injuries, as well as Braylon Edwards' inability to catch a football.

You're bound to hear interesting rumors at this time of year, as we get closer and closer to the NFL coaching "silly season" (apologies to NASCAR for use of their term there). Sunday's juiciest nugget came from ESPN's Chris Mortensen. He reported that the Browns have their eye on a familiar face to take over the team after they fire Crennel.

Yeah, that guy.

Obviously, the speculation continues to swirl around Bill Cowher making a return to coaching with the Browns. However, Mort says the Browns aren't stupid. They know it's not a mortal lock that Cowher will want to coach again. Clearly, they want an experienced coach.

Hopefully, if they go the way of Marty Schottenheimer, they let him hire his own staff. I'm not a big fan of retread coaches. Marty's regular-season record is amazing, and his playoff meltdown in San Diego was gripping. I understand he has experience, but how many chances is he going to get to prove he's not what we all think he is?

(By the way, major props to our boy Michael David Smith, who called for this move in February of 2007. Simply amazing.)

Romeo Crennel is probably going to get fired from his job in Cleveland. Sure, maybe all of the FAIL isn't is fault -- there have been injuries, certainly -- but he's taking the fall and he's probably not going to be around next season. Actually, as Chris Mortensen scoops reports on ESPN today, there's a rumor that Cleveland could be ready to replace Romeo with Marty Schottenheimer.

So, yeah, "rumors swirling" is an understatement. So much so, in fact, that there is already discussion of where Romeo might work next year. Ridiculous, I know.

Crennel, likely to be fired as the Browns' coach, is a proven defensive coordinator who goes way back with Eric Mangini. They coached together with the Jets (1997-1999) and the Patriots (2001-2004), where they won three Super Bowls on Bill Belichick's staff.

The Jets are ranked 19th in total defense under Bob Sutton, but they've been leaking oil the last three weeks. The last three quarterbacks they've opposed, Matt Cassel, Kerry Collins and Jay Cutler, have passed for a combined 1,000 yards.

Or perhaps not ridiculous. This is, after all, a legitimate article in a legitimate newspaper and frankly, the rumor (which is total speculation) makes a ton of sense for everyone involved. We almost certainly know that the Browns will dump Romeo and we can most certainly assume he would rather have a job next year than not have a job.

And if Mangini can convince his bosses that Romeo's defense can take the jets to the next level, well, there's a pretty decent chance that this could actually happen. And let's not forget -- failing in Cleveland hasn't, at least to this point in history, created any sort of permanent taint on a coach's career.

Two weeks ago, when the Chargers were 4-6, team owner Dean Spanos told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Norv Turner would be back next season. Predictably, fans weren't all that enthusiastic about the news, and presumably they're less so now that San Diego is 4-8. But there's some good news, faithful Bolts followers: Vegas ain't convinced.

"Although A.J. Smith has publicly stated that Turner's job is not in jeopardy, we firmly believe that someone will lose their job in regards to this season and we believe that to be Turner," said Richard Gardner, Bodog's sportsbook manager.

"[General manager] A.J. Smith may have to remove Turner, if only to save his own job, as surely management will question some of the moves he made this season. ... If it comes down to it, Turner could take the fall for some of Smith's failures."

It's not much, but it's something. The Union-Tribune's Tim Sullivan writes that Spanos and Smith owe Norv for his run to the AFC Championship game last season. And one reason the front office might stick with him in '09 is that Turner was the guy picked to replace Marty Schottenheimer, who was canned after winning 14 games in 2006.