Seahawks fire offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer
After a season that ended with disappointment and a dysfunctional offense, the Seattle Seahawks parted ways with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
The team announced the decision in a tweet on Tuesday, citing “philosophical differences.”
Brian Schottenheimer is a fantastic person and coach and we thank him for the last three years. Citing philosophical differences, we have parted ways.
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 13, 2021
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Schottenheimer’s exit came after a Monday night meeting in which the differences between Schottenheimer and head coach Pete Carroll were evident, leading to a parting of ways.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson later tweeted a goodbye to Schottenheimer.
Schotty... I’m grateful for how much you meant to me over the past three years. God blessed me with you, we won a lot of games, threw a lot of touchdowns and had a blast in meetings and our bible studies. The best days are ahead for you. Go be Great. God first.
Love. 3. pic.twitter.com/rMtDd7YJUt— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) January 13, 2021
The announcement comes three days after the Seahawks’ 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round, in which the offense sputtered against one of the NFL’s best defenses.
Schottenheimer had been working as the offensive coordinator in Seattle for the past three seasons. Before that, he was offensive coordinator at the University of Georgia, St. Louis Rams and New York Jets, and also worked as quarterbacks coach for several other teams.
It was Schottenheimer’s last season which might have been his most intriguing, however.
‘Let Russ Cook’ didn’t work out for Seahawks
Of all the ways you could describe the Seahawks offense this season, you can at least say Schottenheimer and Carroll tried something different.
After a year of fans calling for Schottenheimer to “Let Russ Cook” (i.e. allow the team’s future Hall of Famer to unleash his full playmaking and deep-passing potential), he ended up doing pretty much exactly that. And it worked ... for a while.
The Seahawks opened the season as the NFL’s most pass-heavy offense and opened with an NFC-best 6-1 record. Wilson averaged 307.3 passing yards and 3.7 passing touchdowns per game through Week 8, with 33.1 rushing yards thrown in as well. Second-year wide receiver DK Metcalf looked like an absolute monster, averaging 98.5 receiving yards and a touchdown per game.
However, that offense started losing steam, as did the Seahawks. Wilson averaged only 229 passing yards and 1.6 touchdowns for the rest of the season. By the end of the season, Carroll had seen enough and declared that the team would try to run the ball more next season.
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