If you don’t like your NFL team, wait a week. It will change. That’s the perception in a volatile business, but it’s not always true.
New Bears coach Lovie Smith cited the Carolina Panthers as an example of “how things change from year to year.” He added: “I don’t believe in rebuilding. I’m looking for us to win right away.”
Building comes before rebuilding. The Bears are still in the building stage. While quick turnarounds capture the imagination of demanding owners and fans, time and patience remain necessary virtues.
Only Carolina among the four teams in Sunday’s conference championship games is an overnight sensation. The Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts have been working overtime for years to climb near the top.
It gives pause to teams like the Bears, who think they are only a player or two, a touchdown or two or a coach or two from the Super Bowl.
Just because crazy things happen from season to season doesn’t mean it’s easy to become playoff competitive. The Bears thought they had arrived in 2001 with their surprising 13-3 record, only to be brought back to reality rudely by the Eagles in their first playoff game.
That crushing defeat of the Bears at Soldier Field launched the Eagles on their three-year tour of NFC title games. The Bears have gone 11-21 since, so they obviously weren’t ready to sustain any level of excellence approaching the Eagles’.
Philadelphia fans will flip out if the Eagles fall short for the third year in a row. But at least their team is knocking on the door; the Bears are still trying to find the door.
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Two of the final four coaches are only in their second seasons–the Colts’ Tony Dungy and the Panthers’ John Fox. But Dungy inherited a Super Bowl-ready offense the way his Tampa Bay successor Jon Gruden inherited the defense that won it all last season.
Colts receiver Marvin Harrison arrived in 1996, drafted by former Colts boss Bill Tobin three coaches ago. Quarterback Peyton Manning was the No. 1 draft pick of 1998. Running back Edgerrin James arrived in 1999. These guys are as good as they come–maybe as good a trio as has ever played–yet they remain underdogs to get to the Super Bowl this year, an indication of just how hard it is.
As great as Manning has played in his last two games, he is only two games removed from wearing an 0-3 playoff record around his neck like a millstone. Success is not serendipitous in Indianapolis.
In Carolina, it only appears easy. The Panthers got to the 1996 NFC title game in their second season of existence, providing a false sense of accomplishment. They hadn’t been back to the playoffs since and fell to 1-15 two seasons ago.
The arrival of Fox along with the drafting of pass rusher Julius Peppers last season and offensive tackle Jordan Gross this season, plus the free-agent signings of quarterback Jake Delhomme and running back Stephen Davis and maturation of receiver Steve Smith, all came together to bring a 1-15 team to 7-9 to 11-5.
The Panthers are an example of what can happen in a short time provided everything goes right. The Bears ignored Delhomme because he had started only two NFL games, 78 fewer than fellow free agent Kordell Stewart. The Panthers rolled the dice and won. Smith and the Bears are banking on everything going right.
The Patriots are trying to get to their second Super Bowl in three years. Bill Belichick is in his fourth season as coach. The Patriots were a Super Bowl team in 1996 under Bill Parcells and a playoff team in 1997 and 1998 under Pete Carroll, so they have been a consistent contender for years.
They are an example of how much good coaching and astute personnel moves mean. They are a team virtually without superstars, relying on old-fashioned teamwork and shrewd coaching. Carroll was fired because he fell short of Super Bowl expectations, but he has proved at Southern Cal that he’s an effective coach.
Eagles coach Andy Reid arrived in Philadelphia in 1999, a few days before Dick Jauron came to Chicago, making Reid the longest-tenured of the remaining coaches. The Eagles drafted McNabb the same year. Safety Brian Dawkins, guard Jermane Mayberry, running back Duce Staley, defensive end Brandon Whiting, tackle Tra Thomas and cornerbacks Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent were already there.
Reid gained power over personnel decisions along the way and has built a solid team around an extraordinary quarterback, much the way the Green Bay Packers have stayed competitive around Brett Favre.
After losing their second NFC title game in a row last season, it was believed the Eagles would drop out of contention this season because their so-called “window of opportunity” had expired. But their resilience now suggests they are poised for a longer haul. Like the Packers and Colts and anyone else with a franchise quarterback, they are likely to remain a step ahead in the process as long as they have the key ingredient throwing the ball.
Of the 12 teams that made this season’s playoffs, eight were new from last season. Only the Colts, Eagles, Packers, and Tennessee Titans were repeaters. But that is a little misleading because not all of the eight newcomers arrived out of nowhere. They include the Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams and Denver Broncos–all recent Super Bowl champions who happened to miss the playoffs last season. They were reloading more than rebuilding.
The Panthers were joined by the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs as the so-called playoff surprises. But take a closer look. The Seahawks, Cowboys and Chiefs all are coached by former Super Bowl winners–Mike Holmgren, Bill Parcells and Dick Vermeil. The Seahawks have compiled records of 9-7, 6-10, 9-7, 7-9 and 10-6 over the last five seasons. The Chiefs were 9-7, 7-9, 6-10, 8-8 and 13-3.
Only the Cowboys (33-47) and Panthers (34-46) have five-year records similar to the Bears (35-45).
The Bears keep arguing they are close. Maybe so, but certainly no closer than most others.
Good coach missed: The Bears missed out on one of the best offensive line coaches in the business when fired Jim McNally of the New York Giants signed with the Buffalo Bills. After offensive and defensive coordinators, the offensive line coach is third in importance on a coaching staff.
Hard labor: If you think head coaching is a tough job, there will be at least 14 teams with new defensive coordinators in the league next season, a 44 percent turnover.
Six coordinators were fired along with seven head coaches. Buffalo retained Jerry Gray. Two–Smith from St. Louis and Jim Mora from San Francisco–became head coaches. Minnesota’s George O’Leary became a head coach in college.
Green Bay fired Ed Donatell, the New York Jets fired Ted Cottrell, San Diego fired Dale Lindsay, Pittsburgh fired Tim Lewis and Kansas City fired Greg Robinson.
Robinson was not fired, technically, but Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil decided there was no way he could bring back a coordinator whose defense ranked 32nd last season and 29th this season and was embarrassed in losses to Denver (allowing 45 points) and Minnesota (45 points) in December before last week’s 38-31 loss to the Colts.
“It would have been very tough,” Vermeil said. “The attention of the media would be on Greg Robinson’s defense. The first scoring drive [against the Chiefs] would have been because he’s an idiot and he can’t coach the defense. Any failure of the defense would automatically go toward him. That creates doubt in the players.”