The Consistent Mistake Made By The McCaskeys

At the top of an NFL team we have three entities:  Owner, GM and HC.

Let’s look at ownership.  The NFL has a salary cap, both minimum and maximum.  Even if an owner wanted to hoard all the TV money, they couldn’t.  A large percentage HAS to be paid out in player salaries.

The GM.  It is often said ( and I agree) that the talent level is spread pretty evenly throughout the league (except at the QB position, where only about 1/3 of the teams have excellent QB’s).  All GM’s have their hits and misses.  All of them.  The draft always has been and always will be somewhat of a crapshoot.  Beyond that, with all the national scouting bureaus and information available to teams (and fans) every team is almost guaranteed of getting at least a few quality players year after year.

Would it help a team to have an ownership group that spent as much money as possible and/or a GM who is above average when it comes to drafting talent?  Absolutely. However,  I live in Phoenix.  No owner has a cheaper reputation that Bill Bidwill.  As far as talent goes, they almost ALWAYS pick in the top 10.  Sooner or later you have to acquire talent picking that high.  That helps explain how the woeful Cardinals finally made the SB.  It wasn’t cause of great ownership or even great drafting (their draft mistakes in the last decade are startling.  The only thing that saved them in any manner was how high they always drafted and Dennis Greens three drafts while there).

Now the HC.  This is the position where we have the widest variance regarding quality. Remember, even the worst owner has to spend X amount of money.  Even the worst GM has to pick a certain number of good players.  It would be almost hard not to year after year.  The HC?  He could be terrible or great.  I’m sure each of you can think of recent great HC’s and recent terrible HC’s.

The number one job of the HC is to squeeze the very most out of all of his players.  Some coaches, through leadership and motivational skills, can do this.  Most can’t.  The Bears had two of the very best when they had Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan.  A GREAT HC can do more with average players than a mediocre HC can do with better players.  That’s just the way it is.  Look no further than Dallas and San Diego. Two of the most talented teams in the league who did almost nothing in 2008, thanks to having glorified coordinators as HC’s.  One missed the playoffs and the other just squeezed in.

This is the greatest area of weakness with the McCaskey’s.  Michael replaced the fired Ditka with the hot assistant Dave Wannstedt.  Not only that, he gave this guy control over personnel.   I guess McCaskey thought he was getting a chip off the old block (Jimmy Johnson) when he hired Wannstedt in those dual roles.  WRONG!  Wanny was a mediocre (at best) HC and a terrible GM.  Case closed.

Next, we have Dick Jauron.  But first we all know about the McGinnis fiasco that preceded the hiring of Dick Jauron.  But you know what the best part of that was.  McGinnis was a CRAPPY HC.  I know.  I live in Phoenix.  Oh, everybody loved Mac here.  He was one of those always optimistic guys who loved life.  The players loved him.  He always had those great sayings like “One for all and all for one” or “This team beats with one heart” and so on.  He was a great cheerleader.  However, he was a pretty crappy HC.  When he was finally (and reluctantly) fired, everybody in the media and on the team and the fans said how much they were going to miss old Dave.  Of course nobody objected to his firing. Losing wears on a team and it’s fans.  They were all sad to see Mac go, but they (deep down) wanted him gone nonetheless).

In comes Jauron.  In his book (Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline), Steve McMichael gives Jauron the kiss of death.  Says he’s a nice guy like Neill Armstrong, the guy Ditka replaced.  McMichael (on page 23):  Neill was a lot like another Bears coach, Dick Jauron.  He was laid back, he wasn’t a volatile guy, and all the guys liked him because he let them loaf and get away with SHIT.  (Hmm, almost like Mac in Arizona).  See a pattern here?  I sure do.

And then, to add insult to injury we have this.  A true Leader of Men” and one of the all time great Bears in history (Mike Singletary) tried to get a job on Jauron’s staff in 2002 and the McCaskey’s (in their INFINITE stupidity) turned him down (more on this later).

We then move to JA and Lovie.  Lovie and Dungy sell them selves as the “Anti-Lombardi” types, both in skin color and in temperment.  All I know is that when Vince Lombardi went to GB, they were the WORST team in the league.  They were so bad that other teams threatened their players by telling them that “if they didn’t shape up, they were going to be sent to GB). With basically the same players, Vince Lombardi MADE those  players play at a level most never dreamed they could play at.  That’s EXACTLY the kind of guy I want on my sideline.  I don’t want the “Anti-Lombardi.”  I want a guy as close to real Lombardi as I can get.

I would grade these HC’s like this:  Wannstedt - D to F.  16 games under 500 and his STUIPIDITY regarding player personnel (like a 1st for Rick Mirer)

Jauron…..C.  10 games under 500.  One playoff appearance.

Lovie Smith……B minus.  10 games over 500.  SB appearance.  Overall more talent than any other coach since Ditka/Ryan IMO.  Caught lightning in a bottle when Hester had the greatest season ever by a kick returner.  That team rode Hester to the playoffs.  Grossman?  He was offensive player of the month in September.  He personally light a fire under that team and led them to a 4-0 start in that month.  Teams that start 4-0 are almost assured of making the playoffs.  Later on, perhaps Lovie should have done a better job of coaching.  Instead of robotically saying “Rex is our starting QB” over and over again maybe, at some point the should have threatened Rex with his job.  

In one of Mike Singetary’s first public announcements to his team he listed a few “items.”  One was this gem “WE are not a charity.  We cannot afford to GIVE the game away.”  He didn’t exactly say those words . . . He kind of yelled them.”  Maybe, just maybe Lovie should have pulled Rex aside and said that “if you keep giving the ball away, you’re going to have to start watching Kyle under center.”  That might have gotten Rex’s attention, instead of constantly hearing “Rex is our starting QB.”

Regardless, I see Lovie as a slight improvement over Jauron, who was an improvement over Wannstedt.  That said, I wouldn’t grade any of these coaches with an A or even a B.  It sure wouldn’t hurt if the Bears had a grade A HC walking the sideline.  Instead, the Bears have a definite pattern of hiring “nice guy” defensive coaches as HC and none of them are worthy of walking the sideline once walked by guys like Ditka/Ryan.

In closing watch Mike Singletary.  In the next couple of years, this Bear great, who couldn’t get an assistant’s job with the Bears, will be considered one of the great young HC’s in the game.  In that same time, we will probably see Lovie fired  and replaced with (yawn) another in the line of progression that is Wanny, and Dick and Lovie.

The inability to hire a great HC is the biggest failure of the McCaskey regime.