NFL - Are you Ready For Some Football?! Super Bowl Hunting

[Lord Avalon]

Nah, he'd just get a 5-yr contract extension.

[snoopy369]

I'm fairly sure he'd have to outperform their pythagorean wins from this year at least (2.6) to win COTY.

[SlowwHand]

I really disagree... He is in the perfect spot. He can NOT have a worse record than the previous year in his first year The only direction is up. If he has a bad season (assuming he wins a few games which should be easy), he will be seen as improving the team. Everybody knows the team sucks now. Any problems will be attributed to the previous management. If by some chance, he turns the team around in a year or two, he will be considered a genius. In a way, it's a no lose situation for him.

I wish him the best of the luck... except when they play the Bears

You're exactly right. I'd much rather take over a project that sucks than one running perfectly. Not so much because of worrying I would screw the team up, it's just less challenge. The guys stepping in want to show that their ideas work.

[Donegeal]

Humor or Sports?

[Ben Kenobi]

Better then taking over from Schottenheimer.

I'm actually shocked the Lions didn't hire him. He'd be the medicine they need to get back up to respectability.

It worked for the 1-15 Chargers.

[snoopy369]

I'm fairly sure Marty has more respect than to take over in Detroit.

[Lord Avalon]

May the Schwartz be With You

The Detroit Free Press compiled a list of Lions coaches & records. I'll start with the last winning coach of significant tenure:

• Joe Schmidt, 1967-72, 43-35-7, .547
• Don McCafferty, 1973, 6-7-1, .464
• Rick Forzano, 1974-76, 15-17, .469
• Tommy Hudspeth, 1976-77, 11-13, .458
• Monte Clark, 1978-84, 43-63-1, .407
• Darryl "What does a guy have to do to get fired around here?" Rogers, 1985-88, 18-40, .310
• Wayne Fontes, 1988-96, 67-71, .486
• Bobby Ross, 1997-2000, 27-32, .458
• Gary Moeller, 2000, 4-3, .571
• Marty Mornhinweg, 2001-02, 5-27, .156
• Steve Mariucci, 2003-05, 15-28, .349
• Dick Jauron, 2005, 1-4, .200
• Rod Marinelli, 2006-08, 10-38, .208

William Clay Ford has been the owner since 1964.

[Zopperoni]

Major breaking news out of Tampa: Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen have both been fired:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80e29923&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Buccaneers fire Super Bowl-winning head coach Gruden

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired coach Jon Gruden on Friday, as was first reported by NFL Network's Adam Schefter.

General manager Bruce Allen was also dismissed. After the team collapsed following a 9-3 start and failed to make the playoffs, the organization decided to go in a different direction.

"We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise," said Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer. "However, after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward."

The Buccaneers were tied for first place in the NFC South heading into December, but finished with losses to Carolina and Atlanta on the road and San Diego and Oakland at home, where they had been 6-0. One more win would have landed a NFC wild-card berth.

The 9-7 record this season left Tampa out of the playoffs for the fourth time in six years.

Gruden went 60-57 in seven seasons as head coach of the Buccaneers, including the playoffs. He was the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl when he led Tampa Bay to a 48-21 win over the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, his first season with the team.

Gruden was Tampa Bay's coach for seven years before being dismissed. Allen was general manager for the last five seasons.

Gruden's firing means that there will be 10 new head coaches next season, the most since the 2005-06 season.

[Ben Kenobi]

And none of the 10 are named 'Norv Turner'.

Who would have thought that when the Bucs were 9-3 and Turner was 4-8?

[snoopy369]

Probably a good idea... he was a good coach but he'd been there too long, and they need fresh blood. He'll go coach somewhere else shortly, or perhaps he will be a DC for a year and then coach somewhere else.

edit: And I am not talking about Norv Turner.

[Zopperoni]

Gruden would more likely be an OC than a DC.

Coincidentally, the Patriots are looking for an OC and a GM

[Ben Kenobi]

Losing to Norv Turner is hazardous for your job!

Chargers 4-8

Oakland (w) -- Coach fired
KC (w) -- GM fired, Herm might be fired too.
Tampa (w) -- Coach AND GM fired.
Denver (w) -- Coach fired
Indy (w) -- Coach retires.

Plus

NY Jets (w) -- Coach fired

So far the only 2 coachs who survived losing to Norv Turner are Belichick and Herm Edwards.

[snoopy369]

Well, losing to lousy teams you shouldn't lose to usually is hazardous to your job.

[Zopperoni]

And Herm may be forgiven since he only lost by a single point in both contests

[reismark]

*shakes head*

The Glazers are idiots, and WILL regret this. Who is out there that can come in, maintain continuity and keep the team playing at the level it was at? Shanahan and Cowher aren't going to coach this year. A newb will want to throw out the entire playbook on both sides of the ball and remake everything in his image. I fear a return to the days under Dungy when we had a new offensive scheme every year and the result was mind-numbing utter inconsistency. Gruden & Allen had a solid plan, and blowing all that up just because of a December that was NOT either of their faults is downright stupid.

I'm officially writing 2009 off at this point.