And even though Schottenheimer avoided the hatchet this time around, he's only got two years left on his deal.  If the team takes another step backward in 2006, ownership is more likely to listen to Smith -- especially since the buyout would cover only one year.

Finally, it's hard to feel sorry for Schottenheimer, given that he helped to create the current mess in which the team finds itself by starting Brees in a meaningless regular season finale against the Broncos.  We've heard that Marty was trying to get win number 10 on the year, which would have triggered a major incentive payment in his contract.

Instead, the team lost -- and Brees suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder.

Keep an eye on this one.  We wouldn't be surprised to see Smith take another run at dumping Marty, especially since the likely choice to replace him (defensive coordinator Wade Phillips) is already in the building.

KING SAYS VINCE WASN'T READY FOR TEST

On Monday, Peter King of Sports Illustrated told Dan Patrick of ESPN Radio that Texas quarterback Vince Young was completely unprepared for the Wonderlic test at the scouting combine.

King said (and we're paraphrasing) that Young had no idea that he'd be given the 50-question exam.

If so, then shame on agent Major Adams.  And shame on Young for not affiliating with an experienced agent who knows that one of the things that happens at Indy is that the kids take the Wonderlic.

We'd previously heard that agent Bus Cook was working behind the scenes with Young, but that Cook wasn't -- and wouldn't be -- front and center because Cook represents Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler.  We're now intrigued by the possibility that Cook might have generally clammed up as Cutler has inched toward a possible leapfrog over Young.

Regardless, someone should have had Young at least aware of the 50-question, 12-minute test that he'd be taking.  Hell, when he heard the word "Wonderlic," he probably thought they were serving ice cream for lunch.

Bottom line -- Vince, friends are friends but business is business.  It's time to cut the cord on Adams, because when someone doesn't know what they don't know, that's the worst kind of dangerous you can have, especially when you're dealing with a process that translates into millions of dollars for every spot that your name remains on the board. 

A league source tells us that the fallout from the Vince Young Wonderlic fiasco will include a pink slip for the person who initially leaked to NFL types attending the combine that Young scored only a six on the test.

The thinking in league circles is that the leaker won't be abruptly fired, but that the person gradually will be outplaced in order to avoid drawing any further public attention to an episode that entails layers of embarrassment for the NFL and the folks who run the combine.  (See John Collins, who took the fall for the Janet Jackson boob-drop by becoming the CEO of the Browns.)

It's not presently clear whether the leaker is an employee of the NFL, an NFL team, or the combine itself.  

The test results are confidential.  The teams receive the official numbers after the combine concludes.  The fact that anyone learned Young's score on Saturday is a clear breach of combine protocol, and we're told that the powers-that-be know exactly who was responsible for the information getting out.

Meanwhile, we continue to be troubled by the fact that Young was permitted to take the test again on Sunday.  He took it Saturday; that's the test that should have been graded and reported to the teams.

This whole "do-over" dynamic also has us wondering whether, unbeknownst to anyone not affiliated with the combine, other big-name players from big-time programs have gotten a second bite at the Wonderlic apple when generating bad scores in the past.  

Our guess is that it has happened.  Since the overriding goal apparently is to keep the colleges from looking bad when folks realize how little these guys have actually learned during their time there -- and since it's inevitable that the numbers will get out -- we've got no doubt that other guys whose names we'd all instantly recognize got another chance to take the test after scoring in the single digits the first time around.

With multiple different versions of the events now making the rounds, and with plenty of people firmly believing that the league is trying its best to massage the mess in order to mollify Mack Brown, we think it's high time for the NFL to offer a clear and complete explanation as to the events that resulted in rampant rumors and reports that Texas quarterback Vince Young scored a six on a Wonderlic test administered to him on Saturday.

Here's the sequence of events, in the order the info came to us.

1.  Word broke on Saturday afternoon of the test score.  We heard it from a league source in Indy who was "99 percent" certain that the score was accurate.  We later confirmed from another league source at the combine that Young had scored a six.

2.  Word of the score spread faster than a blister-causing virus at Ron Mexico's high school reunion.  By Saturday night, it was the talk of the town.

3.  By Sunday morning, other publications had reported on the score.

4.  By early Sunday afternoon, there were rumors that the combine officials were re-checking Young's test in order to determine whether it had been properly graded.

5.  By late Sunday afternoon, we heard that the guy responsible for grading the test had screwed the thing up.

6.  At about the same time, Texans G.M. Charley Casserly announced to 100 or so reporters that the report of the low score was inaccurate.  He offered no other details.

7.  By Sunday evening, we heard that some now believe the test was graded properly, and that someone had cobbled together the grading error excuse because Texas coach Mack Brown's head nearly exploded once he learned that the low score had been leaked.

The Monday morning news accounts do little to present a uniform version of the events.

PackersNews.com, a service of Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers, reports that several scouts have confirmed that Young's score was a six.

Jeff Darlington of The Palm Beach Post reports that two unnamed team executives "weren't willing to believe Young's score was incorrect, standing by the initial information that was given them."

Jim Wyatt of The Nashville Tennessean (who reported on Sunday that Young had scored a six) confirms that "coaches, scouts and officials from several NFL teams said they received word that Young scored a 6."  Said Titans G.M. Floyd Reese:  "I heard the 6.  I heard the test was improperly given and I heard they are going to try and correct it.''

Vinny DiTrani of The Bergen Record writes that "[s]everal team sources confirmed the low score Sunday." 

But perhaps the most bizarre news comes from The Houston Chronicle, which reports that Young got a "do-over" on Sunday, and that this time around he scored a 16.

Young's agent, Major Adams, told The Chronicle that the second test was personally administered by Jeff Foster, executive director of the National Scouting Combine.  "The combine officials assured us that score [6] was false and that the accurate score will be known when the combine results are given to each team," Adams said.

Okay, now we're really getting confused.  If the story is that the six was false and that the test was being re-graded, why in the hell does Young get to take it again in a one-on-one setting with the executive director of the combine?

This latest development will only feed speculation that the NFL is doing its best to keep Texas coach Mack Brown happy.  You see, the league has a weird relationship with college coaches.  The NFL tiptoes around them, and the college coaches periodically poop all over the NFL.  

It's all about access.  Every year, NFL scouts need to be able to visit campus and attend practice so that they can make observations regarding players in a non-game football setting.  Without such access, the NFL teams are limited to game films and pre-draft shirts-and-shorts workouts.

So with Mack Brown likely miffed about the implication that the University of Texas somehow put through the educational system a guy who could only muster a six out of 50 on the Wonderlic, it could be that it was time for the NFL and the combine officials to engage in some sweeping damage control.

And it's a specific effort to engage in damage control that often leads to multiple measures that seem to be logically inconsistent.  If the test wasn't scored properly, then re-score the damn thing.  Case closed.  When the powers-that-be opt to also re-do the test, the whole thing starts to smell, in our opinion.

Then again, it's not as if a 16 qualifies Young to have afternoon tea with Stephen Hawking.  

Bottom line -- it's time for the NFL to lay out in detail all of the facts on this one, embarrassing as some of them might be.  Because without a full and clear explanation, it sure looks to us as if someone was bending the rules for Young in order to keep Mack Brown happy.

Despite plenty of cap room and a clear need for an every-down tailback, word around the combine is that the Minnesota Vikings aren't interested in 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexander.

On Thursday, one of the hot rumors in Indy was that Alexander wants $22 million in guaranteed money as part of an $80 million contract.  With reports that they again have more than $20 million in cap room, the Vikings could get close to that amount, if they so desire.

They don't, we hear.

In the free-agency era, the Vikings haven't made any big-money signings on the offensive side of the ball.  Instead, they have grown their talent primarily through the draft.  

There's no word on whether the Vikings might take a look at other big-name free agents running backs, such as Edgerrin James and Jamal Lewis.  It's clear, however, that the team needs to do something to upgrade the position, given that Michael Bennett won't be re-signed and Onterrio Smith is on suspension until May at the earliest.  

Over the weekend, there were reports that the Vikings might be interested in Alexander's backup in Seattle, Maurice Morris.  Morris played well in the NFC divisional round win against the Redskins, after Alexander left early with a concussion.

ALL IS WELL IN SAN FRAN FRONT OFFICE

Despite a scathing Sunday column from Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News, we're hearing that the front office of the San Francisco 49ers is not in disarray.

Recent decisions by Seahawks exec Mike Reinfeldt and Falcons exec Ray Anderson to remove their names from consideration for a high-level gig in the organization could be viewed, on the surface, as signs of problems in the franchise.  But, as we hear it, coach Mike Nolan is running the show, and he's looking to beef up the administrative side of the operation with an experienced veteran.

The perception is that Nolan hopes to bring in someone who would render Director of Football Operations Paraag Marathe and Director of Football Administration Terry Tumey irrelevant.  The reality, we're told, is that Nolan genuinely wants someone who will work with them.

Really, it's hard for us to imagine a seemingly honorable guy like Nolan running Marathe and Tumey out of town a year after they partnered with owner John York to hire Nolan.  Moreover, there's a pragmatic aspect at play here.  Nolan likely won't be the head coach of the Niners for the rest of his career, so it's likely that at some point he'll be considered for the same job in another city.  If the guys involved in making the recommendation think that his first order of business will be to get them fired, Nolan never will get another sniff.

Meanwhile, we hear that Reinfeldt declined an offer to join the organization primarily because his wife wanted to stay in Seattle -- and that Reinfeldt wasn't inclined to override her unless and until he gets an opportunity to run the entire show somewhere as a G.M.

As to Anderson, he pulled out because, as we hear it, he didn't get an offer.

For now, the Niners are focused on the combine, free agency, and the draft.  With any of the potential candidates likewise doing the same thing, our guess is that the issue will die down until after April.

SCOUTS PISSED AT BLOOM

A league source told us on Sunday night that plenty of scouts were unhappy with the decision of receiver/kick returner Jeremy Bloom not to participate in position drills at the combine.

Bloom ran the 40-yard dash, notching an unofficial 4.49 and 4.50.  But then he refrained from the various route-running and pass-catching exercises.

On one hand, the kid deserves the benefit of the doubt, since he'd been in Italy for the Olympics until ten days ago.  On the other hand, if the kid is going to come to Indy and show what he can do with the caveat that he's not in prime football shape, why not do everything and rely on that same disclaimer?

LEE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN SCHOOL

That sound you hear off in the distance is Pitt receiver Greg Lee's name being scratched from the list of potential first-day draft picks.

Lee, we hear, ran a 4.67 in the 40-yard dash at the combine.

Lee came out of Pitt a year early, against the advice of coach Dave Wannstedt -- and against the advice of Lee's own father.  Wannstedt acknowledged last month that he shared his views on the matter with Lee's agent, Michael Huyghue.

"It was a difference of opinion," Wannstedt said.  "I'm going to take care of my guys, the players that committed to Pitt.  It is my job to help them achieve their dreams.  And I want them all to better themselves, but if I think they need more time, I couldn't in good conscience sit back and not voice my opinion."

Lee was a budding star for the Panthers in 2005, and with quarterback Tyler Palko getting another year in Wannstedt's system, Lee could have joined guys like Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald on the national radar.

Instead, Lee will now be scratching and clawing to make a roster somewhere, he'll likely get far less money to sign than he would have earned a year from now, and he's surely going to have to grind it out somewhere on special teams before he'll get a shot to take reps on offense.