The Management Passed On Nick Saban Over Money Back In The Day And I'm Angry Again (And Angry At People In My Mentions)
This little trip down memory lane absolutely INFURIATED me. Time is flat circle. We've talked about all the mistakes made in coaching hiring. Trestman, Fox, Nagy, and now Eberflus. Bad decisions. No logic. No money. Just Mickey Mouse shit all along the way. In my head Lovie was the only time they got the coach right. And now we learn that the Bears essentially lucked into a good era of Lovie, but the process of outsourcing, meddling, and going cheap pre-dates even the Lovie Smith hire. That shouldn't have been surprising, but it knocked me on my ass. The Bears just can't get out of their own way and it's always been that way and probably always will be which is why this next coaching search is so scary.
The internet FREAKED out of that quote tweet I did above. You guys are really something else sometimes. Here is a little taste of the replies
Real cave man shit from the reply guys.
"Saban bad. Lovie good. You dumb"
I remember the Lovie Smith era as fondly as the next guy. The thing that made me most angry was the process. HOWEVER…this idea that Nick Saban was a bad NFL coach is ludacris.
Nick Saban coached for two seasons in the NFL. He went 15-17. 9-7 in his 1st year and 6-10 in his second season. His QBs that started games…Gus Ferrotte, Sage Rosenfels, Joey Harrington, Dante Culpepper, and Cleo Lemon. Not exactly Dan Marino down there.
Lovie Smith's first two seasons as an NFL head coach…16-16. One game better.
Nick Saban was set to sign Drew Brees and bring him to Miami. The Dolphins doctors wouldn't medically clear Drew Brees after his physical. The Dolphins instead traded a 2nd round pick for Culpepper and after a year of frustration Saban went on to become the greatest college coach of all-time at Alabama. This is one of those sliding doors moments in football history. If Saban gets Brees he probably stays in Miami. Brees finished 2nd in MVP voting in 2006 after doctors told Saban that Brees had a 25% chance of making a full recovery from shoulder surgery. Brees is a going to be a 1st ballot HOFer and is one of the greatest QBs of all-time. We could've had a decade+ of battles between Brady/Belichick and Brees/Saban in the AFC East. The SEC may not become the arms race behemoth that Saban forced.
Again…I love Lovie. His all-time record is 92-100-1. He got us to a Super Bowl. Maybe wins that super bowl if Grossman had bigger hands or if it wasn't raining. Let's not pretend that he was Chuck Knoll or Bill Belichick though. I promise you that Nick Saban also would've had success coaching Urlacher, Briggs, Peanut, Mike Brown, Tommie Harris, etc. And maybe…the offensive side of the ball wouldn't have been a cluster fuck.
Yes, it largely worked out with Lovie, but let's not pretend like the Bears did the right thing, had the right logic, the right process, and got the best coach available because Saban went 6-10 in year 2 with Joey Harrington starting 11 games. They don't get credit for passing on Saban and if you think Saban would've been bad coaching the Bears with those names I listed above, well, I don't know what to tell you.
Let's pray that they get this next one right.