Will history repeat in San Diego?

I bring that up because Beathard, who hired Ross in 1992, replaced him with then-Jacksonville assistant Kevin Gilbride -- with the idea that Gilbride and he would communicate as Beathard and Ross did not. Maybe they did. All I know is the club started losing, and the talent that was there when Ross was taking the Chargers to the playoffs began to decline.

Result: The team that Ross led to the playoffs in three of his five seasons -- including its first Super Bowl -- pulled an abrupt U-turn, going 9-23 the next two years, and failed to win more than it lost until Schottenheimer produced a 12-4 finish in 2004.

By then, Gilbride was long gone. So was Beathard, stepping down after the 1999 season. But that's not the story. This is: In five years with Ross, the Chargers never suffered a losing season; but in the seven years that followed they never had a winning season.

OK, so the talent wasn't as rich as it is now. I concede that. And Beathard made some egregious draft gaffes (Ryan Leaf, come on down) that Smith has avoided. I concede that, too. But my point is that you better be careful what you wish for. Beathard wanted a coach with whom he could communicate, and he got one.

But it wasn't without a cost.

I'm not saying that happens here. What I am saying is that just because an organization that Spanos last week described as "dysfunctional" seems to have straightened itself out at the top doesn't necessarily mean that things will be better on the field. They weren't when Beathard was calling the shots.

Smith is right when he said the Chargers don't have to win 14 games again to prove this decision was a good one. All they have to do is win enough to reach the playoffs, then go beyond their first postseason game -- something Schottenheimer failed to accomplish.

Some people think that doesn't sound like much, but look what happened when San Diego was in this situation in 1997. The Chargers didn't reach the playoffs, period. For seven years.

Sometimes keeping the peace is more difficult than winning the war.