Check this out, Chicago. Out here they get rid of football coaches for winning.
Remember George Seifert? He’s now on his way to Carolina after lounging amongst his Super Bowl memorabilia for a couple of years. Seifert replaced Bill Walsh, who was sent on his way after creating the 49ers’ dynasty.
As someone told me here last year, the 49ers are not much interested in silver medals, and here they are hoping to stay in position to get a bronze in the NFL playoffs. These lowered expectations mean bad news for the incumbent coach, Steve Mariucci.
In the less demanding world of the Bears, what are those McCaskey rules? Play hard and show improvement? I would take a 49ers coach in a minute, any of them. But a better deal would be to swap owners. And it isn’t even clear who owns the 49ers anymore.
Eddie DeBartolo is in limbo, a victim of wealth and legalities, but he plans on getting his team back from his sister. Personnel architect Carmen Policy is reinventing the Cleveland Browns and, in one of those bits of circular nostalgia, Walsh is set to return and work for whoever ultimately signs his checks.
The Bears’ concession to nostalgia is to consider Mike Singletary a savior. This will work only if Singletary has Dan Hampton giving him a clear shot at the ballcarrier.
Walsh will be back to run things again and has an eye on Green Bay’s Mike Holmgren. Holmgren has deflected the speculation by absorbing it. He is not against the idea, just the timing. The very strong buzz is, it’s going to happen.
Eying another team’s coach does not seem to fit the official league definition of tampering, so what I am suggesting to the Bears’ Mark Hatley is he stare very hard at Mariucci.
Mariucci is Seifert’s successor, and if he doesn’t beat Green Bay on Sunday, or maybe even if he does, Mariucci could be casting about for fresh employment after taking the 49ers to the playoffs each of his two years in charge.
“The way this organization has been built is personal accountability,” quarterback Steve Young explained. “That’s the reason for success over the years. At the end of a season, if we haven’t won a Super Bowl, it becomes a mantra for each person.
“And when you win a Super Bowl, I’m not sure it absolves you. It’s, `How can I do it again?’ “
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The 49ers are figuring out how to build a new trophy case, and the Bears are trying to figure out how to beat the Packers, although, come to think of it, so are the 49ers. End of comparison.
Mariucci’s chief flaw, as was Seifert’s, seems to be that he is not Walsh, in the way that Young is not Joe Montana, though Mariucci is as sharp, personable, inventive and complete a coach as anyone would want.
These credentials would disqualify Mariucci for the Bears, I am guessing, though if I were Hatley, I would be standing at the locker-room door with a contract, or at least my business card.
This wild-card fracas between the 49ers and Packers–sort of the NFL’s version of George Foreman versus Larry Holmes–should have no bearing at all on the Super Bowl, but what a wonderful little melodrama it is.
It’s not just the coaching thing (On second thought, why don’t we just do this: Winning coach gets the 49ers, losing coach gets the Bears). It is all the filigree that comes with fading dynasties and changing marquees.
“When your goal is the Super Bowl you bump up against the best, and that’s what we’ve done,” Young said. “For years it was Dallas; now it’s Green Bay. They’ve been a thorn in our side.”
When the Packers were climbing, they stepped on and over the 49ers. Now that they are descending, there the 49ers still are, ready to help them down as they helped them up.
Or to use the words of Packers defensive back LeRoy Butler, “These are two teams who have been there and done that.”
The last game for Reggie White? That’s known. The last game for Steve Young? There is that suggestion too. If Young can’t beat the Packers–and he has yet to do it–why go on?
If you want to see a game between two quarterbacks, and if you are watching the NFL that is exactly what you want to see, you want to see a game between Steve Young and Brett Favre.
We’ll get to Vinny Testaverde and Randall Cunningham eventually. For now, let’s savor this last battle. And root for the Packers. It may be the best way the Bears can get a winning football coach.