San Diego ? Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer was fired Monday night in a shocking move by team president Dean Spanos, who cited a “dysfunctional situation” between the coach and general manager A.J. Smith.

Less than a month after San Diego’s NFL-best 14-2 season was wrecked in a home playoff loss to New England, Spanos cited the exodus of both coordinators and other assistants in firing Schottenheimer. The coach had a year left on his contract and will be owed more than $3 million.

“When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact,” Spanos said in a statement. “Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager.

“In short, this entire process over the last month convinced me beyond any doubt that I had to act to change this untenable situation and create an environment.”