Sometimes the best way to get an idea of how good a coach can be is to see how they operate when circumstances weren’t ideal. Were they ever able to produce top tier results with mid or lower tier tools? Every Chicago Bears candidate this 2018 off-season no doubt has faced at least one such situation in their tenures around the NFL or college.
Is any more or less impressive than the others. This article aims to review those moments for each candidate. Sometimes it involves a season. Others just a single player. All have the same thing in common. Uncanny success when all the signs hinted at total failure. This is what good coaching is supposed to be about.
Josh McDaniels – the Brady-less 2008 Patriots
The bulk of McDaniels’ success is almost exclusively tied to Tom Brady. That was the case during his first offensive coordinator stint in New England and again when he came back. However, for a brief window the young coach got a chance to show that it wasn’t all about Brady. That came in 2008. During opening day the Patriots’ star quarterback tore his ACL on a low blow to his knee against the Kansas City Chiefs.
As a result the team was forced to turn to backup Matt Cassel. The catch? He had not started a football game since high school. It would’ve been easy and more than excusable for the Patriots to fold their tent offensively. Instead McDaniels embraced the challenge. After a slow beginning things began to pick up steam. New England scored at least 30 points in six games with Cassel at quarterback, who finished with 3,693 yards passing and 21 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. They also rushed for 2,278 yards as a team.
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John DeFilippo – JaMarcus Russell in 2008
It’s universally agreed that former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell may be one of the two or three biggest busts in NFL history. He was a total disaster of a #1 overall pick who suffered from weight and motivation problems. Yet somehow in 2008 DeFilippo managed to turn that heap of spoiled meat into something halfway edible. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch, but considering what happened later it’s a minor miracle.
Russell played 15 games that season. He threw a total of 368 passes. All told he finished with 2,423 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Now of course those aren’t good numbers compared to modern QBs. Then again one need only look at what happened after DeFilippo left the next year. Russell played nine games, threw 11 interceptions and just three touchdowns. So yeah, maybe Johnny D knew what he was doing.
Matt Nagy – Reviving the 2017 Chiefs
It can really pay dividends to have the best coaching moment of your career happen right as the head coaching buzz is taking off. The Kansas City Chiefs offense roared to a great start in 2017 but by midseason the wheels had begun to come off. November was their bottoming out, scoring just 17, 9 and 10 points respectively. At that point head coach Andy Reid made a bold decision to hand play calling duties to Nagy.
It proved to be a season-altering choice. Nagy revived the Chiefs offense instantly. Over the past five games they’ve averaged over 28 points per game with the quarterbacks throwing seven touchdowns to just two interceptions. They finished the regular season as only the second offense in NFL history with a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher, a 1,000-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard tight end.
Pat Shurmur – Nick Foles
Everybody will point to Case Keenum this year as undoubtedly the best work Pat Shurmur as ever done. It’s a valid argument considering the circumstances. However, it’s almost impossible to top what Shurmur pulled off in 2013. That year he was made offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles under new head coach Chip Kelly. The plan going into the season was to start Michael Vick.
That lasted six games before he bowed out with an injury. This forced backup Nick Foles onto the field who’d had a very pedestrian rookie year in 2012. What happened after that was pure insanity. Over the next 10 games Foles threw an astonishing 27 touchdown passes to just two interceptions. He was elected to the Pro Bowl and Philadelphia rallied from a 2-4 start to make the playoffs.
Vic Fangio – The expansion Panthers
There are plenty of highlights in the career of Vic Fangio that deserve praise. His work on the 2015 Bears unit was not nearly appreciated enough. His transforming of the 49ers into a powerhouse in 2011. His best accomplishment though came in 1995. That was the year the Carolina Panthers came into existence as an expansion franchise. At that point the general belief was expansion teams would struggle given no immediate access to elite talent.
However, extra salary cap space and profitable position in the NFL draft that year allowed the Panthers to at least assemble a roster of intriguing veterans. Fangio though went above and beyond. The defense finished 7th in the league in yards and 8th in points allowed. Carolina went 7-9 as a result. He did this despite not having a single Pro Bowler on the depth chart. One could say that started his rise to eventual stardom.
George Edwards – Reviving the Vikings in 2014
People likely don’t remember what a disaster the 2013 Vikings defense was. In fact one could say their atrociousness was a huge reason why Mike Zimmer was hired as head coach. They finished that year ranked 32nd in points allowed, giving up a whopping 30 points per game. Suffice to say George Edwards had a monumental task ahead of him when he took over the reins in 2014.
Under the circumstances he did a phenomenal job. Minnesota improved in every conceivable category. They went from 32nd in points allowed to 11th. That’s an improvement of 21 spots in the space of a year, almost unheard of for a brand new coaching staff with largely the same personnel available.
