2012 NFL Coaching Carousel

The Game Room
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Well, folks, for 20 of the NFL teams the season is over and the hot stove is heating up. There’s 3 major components to the NFL offseason, the draft, free agency and the coaching carousel.

With the big news today that the Polians are out in Indianapolis I figured it was time to start a thread to focus on the latter drama which will include GMs, head coaches and assistants.

This announcement about the Polians in Indy is pretty big news and is somewhat unexpected. Everyone expected Caldwell to be canned and the discussion about Manning vs. Luck probably has a ton to do with the decisions. It’s curious, my gut tells me that Polian probably wanted to draft Luck and bid Manning adieu and Irsay wasn’t on board with that. Perhaps this is a Manning power play as much as anything. Lost in the drama is the fact that the Polians have been utterly atrocious at drafting for nearly 5 years. The nepotism probably didn’t win them any support either.

Caldwell isn’t officially out yet, but it seems like a likely scenario.

To be a little provincial, the Bears have yet to make any official announcements regarding Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith, Mike Martz, Mike Tice or Rod Marinelli. The local buzz is that everyone is possibly returning. Martz seems like the least likely, and the rumors of him getting a college coaching gig can’ be discounted completely. Lovie is saying all the political things and being generally complimentary of everyone and the team talks a lot about continuity. We shall see. In some very troubling news however, Special Teams Genius and all around revered guy Dave Toub, the architect of the league best Special Teams unit for nearly a decade, will be given permission to interview with the Miami Dolphins for their Head Coaching gig. If he’s offered the job I fully expect him to take it, and I suspect he’d be great at it, however the Bears will be willing to pay big bucks to keep him as a Special Teams Coordinator. You might see him get an Assistant Head Coach title if he stays though they already have one of those in Marinelli.

Following that thread, the Dolphins fired Tony Sparano a few weeks ago and are also interviewing Jeff Fisher according to reports.

Fisher is also heading to St. Louis to interview for the job vacated by Steve Spagnuolo this week. The Rams canned their GM as well and would be likely to be offering that title to Fisher along with that of HC. Fisher’s agent is the father of the Rams COO which probably gives them a leg up coupled with Fisher’s ties to the vicinity during his time in Chicago and Tennessee.

In some somewhat interesting news not related to GMs or Head Coached Dave Wannstedt was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in Buffalo. Might be a good move for the Bills since Wanny can coach defense, but after a series of disasterous HC gigs his credentials are pretty well tarnished. The Gailey/Wanny connection to Dallas is somewhat interesting too, if immaterial

In Tampa, Raheem Morris is out after a nearly complete collapse this season. They are keeping their GM supposedly, which is probably wise considering the apparent talent on the team. I haven’t really heard anything about who might replace him, it’ll possibly be a pretty attractive job.

No news yet on Norv Turner in San Diego. Jerry Jones has given Jason Garrett every possible vote of confidence. There is an interim coach in Kansas City with Romeo Crennell who has gotten some positive feedback for his efforts there, but the track record of interim coaches who have been retained is pretty shabby. There’s an interim coach in Jacksonville after Del Rio was canned, however he doesn’t seem like a candidate at all for that full time gig. There have been questions about Andy Reid, Leslie Frazier, Tom Coughlin and Pat Shurmur but no news yet about changes. Some Coordinators are also on the hot seat, Martz, Brian Schottenheimer, Juan Castillo and the empty seat in New England.

Let’s hear it.

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I’d be surprised if Martz goes to coach in college. There may be some desire if he had a team of athletes that could give him the athletic advantage his offense needs, but he really doesn’t strike me as a patient coach, a dedicated recruiter, or a teacher of not-great players that would make him a good coach. I think he, or more likely his agent, floated those rumors to try and build up his rep so he could get a few interviews or offers in the NFL.

I also don’t think he’s the one responsible for the collapse of the Bears. I thought he did a much better job of adjusting to his players’ strengths and weaknesses this year, including making the most of a bad line/WR crew. I know blaming the OC is the thing to do in Chicago, but I don’t think he’s to blame for their struggles this year.

3

There’s absolutely no reason that Jerry Jones would want to change anything in Dallas. He’s making megabucks from that new stadium and Crackboys merchandise sales. As long as he’s the self-appointed GM of that team, any major changes other than the shedding of a little payroll would be the most sincere form of self-criticism, and he’s simply not going to do that. He’ll happily settle for a .500 ballclub and a head coach that ices his own field goal kicker. I believe every word Jones says when he claims that Jason Garrett has his full confidence and isn’t going anywhere.

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I agree with you regarding his prospects as a college coach. He’d be a terrible hire for a university. That said, I don’t for a minute think Martz harbors any of these same doubts. I think he’d love the opportunity to build a little fiefdom of his own at a university. The autonomy over football decisions would be just the type of scenario he’d relish. And while I think he’d be a terrible recruiter and teacher of fundamentals, his system would probably work well enough. In college offenses are generally way ahead of defenses and his system would probably clean up against mediocre college defenses that lack a NFL caliber pass rush and cover men. His issues are mostly with protection, and against most programs you can give a QB the time he needs. Plus as these kids would be starting from scratch so they would have nothing to unlearn like NFL players do. In the NFL it seems like “buying in” is as big an issue as anything for his teams and the kids in college will buy in automatically.

I really don’t know if he’s to blame for the Bears issues. 75% of the Bears issues are associated with scouting and player development. Martz in 2 years hasn’t done shit to help on that count. Of course, it’s impossible to know how much if any input he has on that stuff with Jerry and Lovie so entrenched and set in their ways. Also, the play calling has been really inconsistent in his time here. There are long stretches where he seems to forget what personnel he has and what works and what doesn’t. Then, after a couple humbling ass beatings he adjusts. The skeptic would say that he’s forced to adjust by Lovie after a scolding, and the plays he’s forced to call aren’t his plays. I often wonder how much input Mike Tice has on the game planning and playbook and if it’s Tice’s plays which become the fall back when Martz’s wacky ways go pear shaped.

Martz might not be to blame, but he also doesn’t really appear to be much of a solution either. Tice getting a lucrative extension last year while Martz’s contract was allowed to exipire at the end of this season could be telling though.

All these things were true when Jones was burning through the Campos, Gaileys, Switzers and Parcells of the world too. Hell, it was true last season when Phillips was replaced. If you’re going to troll Cowboy fans at least be consistent about it.

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Apparently he knew that Caleb Hanie sucked, which was the kind of information that, if listened to, could have gotten the Bears into the playoffs this year. Even a QB who is just competent (ala McKown) would have won at least two, maybe three of those games during the Hanieskid.

A very valid complaint. Last year. I thought this year he did a lot to help out hide the deficiencies of the team. I think he was a big part in making Forte a higher production back and Cutler be more comfortable as a QB.

I always thought he was a bad choice for the Bears, and that they had gotten themselves into a problem when they couldn’t get anyone else to take the job and went with him instead. With that O line, those receivers, and that QB, his offense never really had a chance. When he changed his offense last year, and made more adjustments this year, I thought he may have turned a corner. If they keep him around, they may think he has too.

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This is perhaps the biggest feather in Martz’s hat. As much as I might complain about Martz, he was right about perhaps the biggest question of the offseason. Of course he’s also responsible to some degree for Roy Williams too.

The O line doesn’t get enough credit. The guys they have are very good run blockers. Martz’s system requires pass blockers. I’m of the mind that Martz didn’t help Forte advance, it was the new guys on the O line that Tice has advocated for and some begrudging dedication to the ground game.

As for Cutler, it might be Martz or it might just be Cutler maturing and buying into the Lovie conservative mantra. Either way it’s not the garbage fire that some people feared.

He might not have been a good fit. Unfortunately he still may not be and that’s a criticism leveled squarely at the feet of Jerry. Not Martz’s fault, and he’s adjusted passably well, but I have to wonder if this square peg/round hole situation is better than another reboot. Firing Jerry and getting a new GM who can get Martz some weapons to pair with Forte and Cutler might be a successful solution, but if Jerry goes Martz probably does too.

My speculation is that Martz might be given a marginally insulting contract offer to stay. Martz will either take it in absence of better offers or he’ll leave and Tice will be promoted. It’s a halfway solution, as is typical for these jagoffs, but I’m not horrified by the thought of a Tice system. He’s a Coryell guy like Martz but favors the run more and would probably protect Cutler and the line better than Martz. We might trade some explosiveness and playcalling savvy for security. Either way, it won’t matter without some better pass catchers.

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Not trolling anybody, friend. Just telling it the way it is. He already got Lombardi Trophies III, IV and V so he’s ahead of the game.

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Bears release GM Jerry Angelo

Halle-fucking-lujah! Will be interesting to see how this impacts the coaching staff and the Forte situation.

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Please please please let Spags find his way back to where he belongs – the Giants’ D interior might be lighting it up right now, but that secondary needs him back.

Unfortunately, he’ll probably be scooped up before the Giants’ season ends next month…

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Only way that happens is if Fewell gets a HC gig, which isn’t that much of a long shot.

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The idiot parade is already pimping Polian as a Angelo replacement. This almost entirely on the basis of Lovie and Dungy being buddies. Does no one remember that the Colts are perhaps one of the few teams who have actually drafted worse than the Bears over the past 4 seasons or so?

12

Some very interesting speculation on Angelo’s possible replacement.

I don’t know much of anything about the guy, but McKenzie sounds utterly perfect assuming Lovie is sticking around.

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McKenzie sounds like a good candidate to me as well – raiding the more successful conference opponent may be the best idea. Maybe he knows how to draft and get the right players through free agency.

As for Martz, I’d say let him go. Sure he was right about Hanie (slow, sarcastic clap), but who would listen? I certainly wasn’t listening because his credibility was shot by then. Hanie showed some competence last year, so who wouldn’t think he could do it again?

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This announcement about the Polians in Indy is pretty big news and is somewhat unexpected. Everyone expected Caldwell to be canned and the discussion about Manning vs. Luck probably has a ton to do with the decisions. It’s curious, my gut tells me that Polian probably wanted to draft Luck and bid Manning adieu and Irsay wasn’t on board with that.

If God is mericiful, Omniscient, Caldwell is out.

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Unless you’re a fan of the Texans, Jaguars, or Titans, in which case, you’d love to see that dumbfounded expression across the sidelines for another decade.

I’m wondering what’s taking the Chargers so long to dump Turner.

Edit: Well, never mind. San Diego is holding onto Turner for another season. Some guys get all the luck.

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NFL.com just posted that Martz resigned from the Bears.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d825aedee/article/bears-oc-martz-leaves-chicago-after-two-seasons?module=HP11_headline_stack

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Meanwhile, Lovie will be sticking around.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-jerry-angelo-out-as-bears-gm-20120103,0,3365211.story

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QB Coach Shane Day was also let go. Will be very interesting to hear how Cutler fits into all of this. I don’t have a good impression of how Cutler and Day got along, but I never felt that Day had the credentials to do the job in the first place. He was a Martz guy brought from SF and probably won’t be missed.

These next few days will be very intriguing. Hopefully George McCaskey is doing all of this with a plan already in place and isn’t just reacting. So far I’m feeling good about it, but the replacements will be very telling as is the process.

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Some of my Bear fan friends are clamoring for Tice to be promoted and to allow Cutler become the ad hoc play caller/OC. I’d certainly approve of that, if for no other reason than it will (hopefully) limit the excuses that can realistically be made for Cutler.

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I’m open minded on Tice as OC. It’d at least maintain some continuity and Tice’s teams in Minny were offensive powerhouses, though he didn’t call plays. But, I’d prefer the Bears to hire a good GM first and let him make the call on Tice. Letting Cutler audible and have some input isn’t something I’d be opposed to either. Fixing the flow of talent is my only concern at this point. Another John Shoop experience would be an improvement if it came with a skilled player evaluator. We’ll see. Presser in 40 minutes.