SAN DIEGO - Three days after the Chargers' season ended in heartbreak, the team opted Wednesday not to make a break with head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Team president Dean Spanos decided Schotteheimer's successful regular-season track record outweighed the two postseason defeats he has suffered with the Chargers - including Sunday's painful 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional playoffs. Ultimately, Spanos refused to lay all the responsibility for the error-filled loss to the Patriots at Schottenheimer's feet.

"You saw the game on Sunday - you can't blame that on the coach," Spanos said. "That is baloney."

Schottenheimer will coach the Chargers in 2007, the final year of a contract extension he signed after the '04 season. But the 63-year-old turned down the opportunity to sign a one-year, $4.5 million extension for '08 that included a $1 million team option to buy out the contract.

"I'm excited to continue to be a part of this organization," Schottenheimer said. "We're looking forward to the upcoming season. There's been a lot of discussion about the possibilities of this thing, but I signed a contract and have every intention of fulfilling that contract.

"We talked about another opportunity within the framework of another year - I just wasn't comfortable with that particular arrangement."

He declined to elaborate on his reason for declining the extension, but Chargers tackle Roman Oben said the coach's lame-duck contract status for the upcoming season will not be a hindrance to the team.

"What it does is that it shows he's got a lot of confidence in himself and that we will be back (in the playoffs) next year," Oben said. "The team has to rally around him."

After the game Sunday, several Chargers players did just that, saying publicly that Schottenheimer was not to blame for the latest defeat.

Oben said Wednesday that the decision not to fire Schottenheimer will be well-received by the players.

"I think the right decision was made," Oben said. "That game was not lost on Sunday because the coach mismanaged the game. We as players made a lot of mistakes, and I think anyone who watched the game can note the four or five mistakes we made."

Spanos mentioned maintaining continuity on a team that has won 35 games in the last three seasons as one of the main reasons he opted to stay the course with Schottenheimer. But his popularity in the locker room also factored in.

"Everyone loves Marty," said Oben, who noted that Schottenheimer's coaching philosophy became more player-friendly during his tenure with the team.

Recently, the coach known for his hard-nosed mentality during his stays in Cleveland, Kansas City and Washington has limited the time his players spend practicing in pads during the season in order to keep them fresh.

"He wants to win and he loves his players," Oben added.

Chargers general manager A.J. Smith, who has long had a chilly relationship with Schottenheimer, said he supported the decision to bring back the coach and was pleased with how the situation played out.

Wednesday's announcement ended days of speculation fueled by silence from Chargers brass about whether Schottenheimer would be jettisoned after five years at the helm of the team.

Schottenheimer's 200 career victories are the most for any coach not to reach the Super Bowl, but he has long been dogged by his lackluster postseason record - it fell to 5-13 on Sunday.

Nevertheless, he is credited with helping turn around the fortunes of the once-moribund franchise. The Chargers are 47-33 since his arrival in 2002. They went 23-57 in the five previous seasons.

For now, the Chargers - and Schottenheimer - seem content to ride that wave.

"I live vicariously through the performance of these players," Schottenheimer said. "It's a treat when you get a chance to work with them and then watch them go play in a winning fashion.

"What I'm anxious to do is find a way - notwithstanding the record - to get over that hump."

- Contact staff writer Michael Klitzing at mklitzing@nctimes.com.