Dave McGinnis finally got to be a head coach in the NFL Monday and he didn’t really want that job either.
McGinnis was named to replace Vince Tobin, whom the Arizona Cardinals fired after a 48-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. McGinnis, 49, was the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator and was named interim coach for the rest of this season. Longtime associates Tobin and McGinnis were assistants under Mike Ditka with the Bears.
In January of 1999, McGinnis was announced as head coach of the Bears, succeeding Dave Wannstedt, but had not finalized contract terms with then-Bears’ president Michael McCaskey. McGinnis backed out of the offer despite the encouragement of team owner Virginia McCaskey and husband Ed, Michael’s parents who had approved the hiring of McGinnis. McCaskey then turned to Dick Jauron.
McGinnis returned to Arizona, where he had been Tobin’s defensive coordinator since 1996. Under Tobin, the Cardinals made the NFC playoffs for the first time since 1982 as a wild-card team in 1998, but slipped to 6-10 last year and are 2-5 now. When the Cardinals upset the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas in the 1998 postseason, it was their first playoff victory since winning the NFL championship in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals.
Tobin’s tenure ended on the same field after the lopsided loss to the Cowboys. The Cardinals had defeated the Cowboys Sept. 10 in Arizona. It was Tobin who recommended McGinnis to Ditka when both were hired for the Bears’ defensive staff in 1986 after Buddy Ryan left to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. When Tobin was named head coach of the Cardinals in 1996, he brought McGinnis with him. Tobin, 57, had a 29-44 record on a team that has changed coaches during six other seasons in their history–more than any other NFL franchise. Under owner Bill Bidwill, the Cardinals are playing in their third city, having moved from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960 and to Phoenix in 1988. When Phoenix balked on promises for a new stadium, Bidwill changed the franchise’s name to Arizona.
Tobin’s firing came with the Cardinals in last place in the NFC East and two weeks before a vote in Maricopa County on a proposed $331 million stadium. The Cardinals are the only team still playing in a college facility, Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.
The mild-mannered Tobin, nicknamed “Coach Beige” by the Phoenix media, also was defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts. His older brother, Bill, was personnel director of the Bears when Tobin was hired to replace Ryan. When Ditka was fired, Bill Tobin recommended his brother for the job, but Vince withdrew from consideration because of public and media pressure.
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Tobin was in the final year of a contract after Bidwill refused to grant an extension, leaving his coach as a lame duck.
Walter knew it: Walter Payton said in 1997 he was surprised his record 275-yard day had lasted for 20 years. So he wouldn’t have been surprised when Cincinnati’s Corey Dillon broke the record Sunday with 278 yards, 23 years after Payton’s performance against the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 20, 1977.
Payton, who died last Nov. 1 of a liver disease, also wouldn’t have been surprised Dillon was the fourth running back to go above the 200-yard barrier this season, following Philadelphia’s Duce Staley, Indianapolis’ Edgerrin James and St. Louis’ Marshall Faulk.
But it was not because Payton thought running backs are better than they were in his day.
“It’s because people don’t tackle,” Payton said. “People try to knock people down. [Running backs] are too agile for that kind of stuff, have too much balance for that. Instead of hitting and wrapping up and grabbing, [tacklers] are just throwing their shoulder pads with their heads down to the ground.
“Defensive backs don’t want to tackle, they just want to knock people down. You see guys break away now and people come up and try to use their shoulders and knock them out. You never see anybody grab anymore. Defensive backs want to try to torpedo people instead of wrapping them up. If I had guys doing that against me, I would have had 18,000 yards.”
He meant for a career, not a game. Payton’s career rushing record of 16,726 yards still stands.
Payton was reminded that his record was set against a Vikings defense that included safety Paul Krause, notorious for playing too deep to be a factor in stopping the run. Krause made the Hall of Fame for his career record of 81 interceptions, not for his tackling.
“Yeah, but he reached and grabbed. They get hold of you and that slows you down and everybody else comes up. That’s tackling,” Payton said.
Payton recalled he wasn’t keeping track of how close he was to breaking the previous record of 273 yards set by O.J. Simpson in 1976.
“I didn’t care about that,” Payton said. “I just wanted to get that game over with. I was sick. I had the flu.”
Dillon added Payton’s record to the rookie record he set of 246 yards, breaking a mark held by the great Jim Brown. But Dillon began this season as an unhappy member of the Bengals, threatening to sit out before signing a one-year deal for $3 million that will make him a free agent in February.
Dilfer for Banks: As offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick resurrected the career of Randall Cunningham and helped develop Brad Johnson. In Baltimore, his reputation is facing a severe test. After going four games without a touchdown with Tony Banks at quarterback, Billick decided Monday to turn to Trent Dilfer.
The former underachiever with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dilfer’s career passer efficiency rating of 69.4 was below Banks’ rating of 72.6 heading into this season.
Banks threw five touchdown passes against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2 and said he “felt like Kurt Warner,” the quarterback who replaced Banks in St. Louis.
But Banks became so uptight trying to operate Billick’s offense that he failed to get the Ravens into the end zone against Cleveland, Jacksonville the second time, Washington, and Tennessee. The Ravens beat Cleveland and Jacksonville, but lost the last two.
This Bud’s for you: The St. Louis Rams were desperate before giving up 54 points to the Kansas City Chiefs in their first loss of the season. Under defensive coordinator Peter Giunta, they were giving up an average of 29 points a game. Even though they were scoring 43 points on offense, head coach Mike Martz figured that was too generous to repeat as world champions.
Martz wanted to lure Bud Carson out of retirement to help Giunta. Carson, 69, turned the job down originally because of heart problems, but team vice president Jay Zygmunt prevailed upon the architect of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense of the 1970s to return. This was Giunta’s first year as sole defensive coordinator. He shared the position during their Super Bowl season with John Bunting, who left for Jim Haslett’s staff in New Orleans, where the Saints currently boast the league’s No. 1 defense.
Carson is a former defensive coordinator of the Rams, once as late as 1997. He has had two angioplasty procedures on his heart since July. Carson plans to do more than study film and make suggestions. Martz said Carson would get “final say” over Giunta when changes need to be made.
“Bud’s coming back is a sign things aren’t going too good,” said defensive tackle D’Marco Farr.
Kurt out, Faulk in: The Rams got better news on offense when Faulk refused an MRI because he thinks his bruised shoulder is nothing serious.
Quarterback Warner expects to have pins inserted in the little finger of his broken right hand and will miss at least three weeks. He will be replaced by Trent Green, who was hired for the job last year before injuring his knee, opening the door to league MVP Warner.
Green completed 15-of-21 passes against Kansas City Sunday in relief of Warner during the Rams’ 54-34 loss, even though Green did not get any repetitions in practice during the week. Green has taken an estimated 15 snaps all season as the backup, a situation similar to the Bears’ decision to prepare starter Cade McNown exclusively and leave no practice time for backup Jim Miller.
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