The Washington Post on Tuesday sparked outrage over the way its online article reported the death of legendary NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer, declaring its teams “wilting in the off-season.”
Schottenheimer, who is widely respected in the football community, is one of the best coaches in NFL history. However, Jeff Bezos’ newspaper reported his death, ‘Marty Schottenheimer, NFL coach whose teams withered in the post-season, dies at 77’.
The Washington Post on Tuesday sparked outrage by reporting the death of legendary NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer by stating in the headline that his teams “wilted in the off-season.” (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld / Getty Images)
MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER, LONG-TIME NFL COACH, DEAD AT 77 AFTER SUBSTANCE WITH ALZHEIMER DISEASE
The widely criticized Schottenheimer obit is far from the infamous Washington Post headline that describes ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a ‘strict religious scholar’.
Schottenheimer’s headline caused an immediate setback among prominent NFL reporters and personalities, who felt the headline was insensitive, given Schottenheimer’s overall success.
‘Show a little respect @washingtonpost. Obituaries are not the place for cheap recordings, ”wrote CBS reporter Will Brinson.
The podcast of NFL player Ross Tucker wrote that the Post headline “makes me really angry.”
“How about ‘Who turned FOUR separate franchises into winners,'” Tucker added.
“It’s just a cruel decision that is completely unfair to Schottenheimer. You absolutely must be able to mention it in the obituary, but to put it in the headline and determine it as if that is what defined his life and career is wrong, said Big. Lead’s Stephen Douglas wrote.
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The Post finally changed its headline to ‘Marty Schottenheimer, one of the NFL’s best winning coaches, dies at 77.’
“The initial headline should never have read like that, and we quickly changed it,” a Mail spokesman told Fox News.
However, the main paragraph still mentioned its play-off losses from Tuesday afternoon.
“Marty Schottenheimer, one of the most successful coaches in the National Football League, whose teams have been successful in the season regularly, but have often struggled in the play-offs and failed to reach the Super Bowl, is in a hospice center on February 8. Charlotte died. He was 77, “Death Writer Matt Schudel wrote.
Many others took to Twitter to condemn the Post’s first headline:
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Schottenheimer has a 205-139-1 career playoff game and a regular season record during his time as coach of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and Los Angeles Chargers (then in San Diego).
Schottenheimer set a 44-27 record during his time in Cleveland while suffering some devastating playoff losses in the 1980s against the Denver Broncos and former fullback John Elway.
After that, he coached the Chiefs for ten seasons and won six or more games six times, but never the conference title.
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Schottenheimer spent a single season as head coach of Washington (8-8) before taking over as coach of the Chargers, where he scored a record of 47-33. His 2006 team, led by LaDainian Tomlinson, was 14-2 in his final year in San Diego.
He has the eighth most wins as a coach in NFL history.
Schottenheimer’s son Brian has served with the Seattle Seahawks as Pete Carroll’s attacking coordinator for the past three seasons before being sacked by the team earlier this year. He was recently signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as a passing game coordinator.
Schottenheimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.