SCHOTTENHEIMER JINX STRIKES AGAIN PLAY-CALLING, MISTAKES KNOCK OUT CHARGERS.

Byline: BILLY WITZ Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- The dominating defense? Lights out. The dynamic offense led by the league's reigning MVP? Left out. The Super Bowl plans for the San Diego Chargers, the best team in the NFL over the past four months?

Schottenheim-lich victims again.

If it seemed as if Marty Schottenheimer had exhausted all the excruciating ways to watch his team go out of the playoffs, the Chargers added a new chapter for the beleaguered coach Sunday, losing to the New England Patriots 24-21, leaving a sold-out Qualcomm Stadium somber.

Reche Caldwell, a former Charger, hauled in a 49-yard bomb from Tom Brady on third-and-10, setting up the game-winning 31-yard field goal by rookie Stephen Gostkowski with 1:10 left to win it for New England.

The victory was sealed when Nate Kaeding's 54-yarder was short with three seconds to play.

The Chargers, though, had plenty of other reasons to kick themselves. The team that had played so well all season, winning its last 10 games to earn home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, dominated the line of scrimmage for much of the afternoon. But they were doomed by a litany of dropped passes, foolish penalties, untimely turnovers and missed opportunities.

``We had everything going for us -- everything we could have wanted,'' said offensive tackle Shane Olivea. ``We're going to watch this film and get sick.''

It was the third time Schottenheimer has taken a team into the AFC playoffs as the top seed and failed to win a game. He also lost with Kansas City in 1995 and 1997.

Just as those defeats were marked by bizarre twists -- Lin Elliott missing three fourth-quarter field goals in a 10-7 loss to the Colts, and quarterback Elvis Grbac's headset malfunctioning as the Chiefs frittered away the final seconds of a 14-10 loss to Denver -- this turned on one, too.

The Chargers, nursing a 21-13 lead, had the Patriots facing fourth-and-5 at the San Diego 41-yard line with 6:25 to play. Brady's pass to Troy Brown was overthrown and intercepted by safety Marlon McCree at the 31, but as he started upfield, Brown reached in and stripped the ball from McCree.

Caldwell recovered, and fiveplays later, Brady found him with a 4-yard touchdown pass. Kevin Faulk ran in the two-point conversion, and the Patriots tied the score 21-21.

``That saved the game,'' said Caldwell, who was allowed to leave as a free agent after last season, of Brown's strip. ``It was fourth down, they had the momentum. That was the big play of the game.''

McCree dismissed any suggestion that he should have simply batted the ball down. ``If I had to do it all over again, I still would have tried to (catch) it,'' he said.

McCree was far from the only Charger to have a hard time getting a handle on the ball.

Safety Clinton Hart dropped an easy interception deep in New England territory after a ball had been deflected high in the air on the third play of the game. Receivers Eric Parker and Vincent Jackson dropped three passes in New England territory that stalled drives, and Parker muffed a punt that set up a Patriots field goal.

After turning the ball over just 15times in the regular season, the Chargers committed four Sunday.

``We seemed to be a little nervous today for some reason. We weren't ourselves,'' said Chargers linebacker Randall Godfrey, who may retire. ``We probably should have had a couple veterans get up and say a few things, but I didn't think anybody needed to stand up.''

The errors weren't all physical. Brady was sacked on third down after Parker's fumble to knock the Patriots out of field goal range. But cornerback Drayton Florence was whistled for a personal foul for taunting, allowing the Patriots to close within 14-13 on Gostkowski's field goal late in the third quarter. The Patriots' tying drive got a good start when Olivea was flagged for a personal foul on an extra point.

The question that will begin being debated now is how much of this loss is to be put at Schottenheimer's feet. He and general manager A.J. Smith, who assembled a team with nine Pro Bowlers, barely speak. When their feud went public last March, team president Dean Spanos called them both into his office and told them to cut it out, but not before saying he expected the team to make a deep run into the playoffs.

``There's going to be plenty of fingers pointed,'' said Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer. ``What was going on wasn't Marty's fault. He wasn't dropping balls, he wasn't covering guys, he wasn't fumbling the ball.

``You've got to look at this thing and think of what was really happening, and that was too many mistakes by the players, not the coaches. I think a lot of guys would like to see him back. That's not Marty's loss.''

Defensive end Luis Castillo said pinning the loss on Schottenheimer would be ``irresponsible.''

``As players, we failed this organization,'' he said. ``This had nothing to do with ownership, nothing to do with coaches. As players, we made mistakes that you cannot make in a game like this.''

Still, Schottenheimer will have plenty to answer for. He passed up a 47-yard field-goal attempt -- the edge of Kaeding's range at that end of the stadium, the Pro Bowl kicker said -- and tried to pass on fourth-and-11 at the New England 30 in the first half. The Chargers also wasted a timeout that would have come in handy as Rivers drove them down the field in the final minute.

And then there was the play-calling.

The Chargers' offensive line was dominating the Patriots' front seven and running back LaDainian Tomlinson -- the key tenet of their game plan -- was having an MVP afternoon.

Tomlinson rushed the ball 23 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a short screen pass and weaved 58yards through the defense to set up the other San Diego touchdown.

But much of Tomlinson's damage was done in the first half. In the second half, he didn't touch the ball on consecutive plays.

After the Patriots tied the score at 21, Tomlinson ran the ball five yards on first down, and the next two plays called by offensive coordinator Cam Cameron were passes to Jackson and Parker that were broken up.

Schottenheimer danced around questions about strategy, the mistakes and his future, coming back to a refrain that he hoped the successes of the season would be remembered amid the disappointment.

Asked if he would be back to fulfill the final year of his contract, at $3 million, Schottenheimer could only muster: ``I do.''

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Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) PATRIOT DAZED 

No. 1 seed Chargers can't overcome mistakes, fall to New England in AFC playoffs

(2) San Diego's Quentin Jammer can't keep Reche Caldwell from hauling in a fourth-quarter TD pass.

Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News