New Coach Better Than The Last, Not As Good As The Next One.
Jan 12, 2018 7:24:51 GMT -6
AlexM and GrizzlyBear like this
Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 7:24:51 GMT -6
Column: New Bears coach always better than the last one, and not as good as the next one
Bernie LincicomeBernie LincicomeChicago Tribune
Link: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-lincicome-20180113-story.html
And so … the new guy. Another clay pigeon at the carnival.
Is this the guy, or just another guy? This guy with a one-ply resume and a three-day beard? Is this the guy who can make a gawd-awful football team into a mediocre one?
Generously, the tenure of the fresh Bears coach already is being referred to as an “era,” a Chicago designation usually saved for mayors named Daley and basketball players named Jordan.
The rose hidden in the heart of every Bears fan needs only the lightest fertilizer to bloom.
These things are always more about optimism than expectation. As is the case with both Bears coaches and Bears quarterbacks, the next guy is always better than the last one.
History is not this guy’s friend. Every few years, the Bears rummage around in other people’s laundry until they find the cleanest shirt. Not one has fit since Mike Ditka, who came to a team already formed, and then managed to get the minimum out of it.
This guy’s credentials are similar to Ditka’s in that he never has been a head coach, or much of a coach of any kind until the last five games of a season that ended in a classic collapse, for which this guy took responsibility.
Taking the blame is seen as a character strength, as if confessing to professional inadequacy is the same as blushing at compliments.
The examples of boy wonders in football coaching are au courant, most notably the guy in Los Angeles and the one up in Buffalo.
Several, like this guy, come from the coaching tree of Andy Reid, himself more a patio plant than a tree.
But as these things go, according to those who study coaching trees as if they are treasure charts, this guy was, to re-mix the metaphor, the shiniest marble in the bag.
Understanding general manager Ryan Pace’s instant bromance with this guy is to know that new coach smell. And this one is shiny and unused, right off the showroom floor.
This all seems a bit impulsive, not that it won’t work out, but it may never be better than now as Pace and this guy face only tomorrow, with none of those yesterdays behind them, the good and the bad, emphasis on the latter.
What this guy might do for the Bears that the last guy could not do is no clearer than why the last guy, so full of real credentials, was excused from further failure.
In fact, considering the validity of both men, the only difference between them might be that this guy is young enough to be the last guy’s son.
It isn’t that the Bears are going in a new course with a great new football coach, it is that they again are trying to find one who matters. Let’s concede that a real attempt was made to sort out the endless line of guys who have all the same testimonials that come with this guy.
Quarterback coaches, offensive coordinators, working with great quarterbacks, wizards of the playbook. Only the ink is fresher on this guy’s resume.
The job that this guy did in Kansas City with Alex Smith, who had been an uninterrupted disappointment, is the part of his resume that is underlined. If this guy can turn a big bust into a competent performer, well then, what might he be able to do with a raw treasure like Mitch Trubisky?
What a nice little safety net for this guy. If Trubisky gets no better than he already is, which is to say alternately disappointing, the guy who drafted him gets the blame and this guy gets to start over. If Trubisky advances to all he can be, this guy is the wizard.
Little is expected of this guy, really. He is taking over a spotty bunch with the Bears, a classic franchise with second-rate results. The first job is to find his way around the roster, and Chicago’s is loaded with snares.
The Bears have slid backward on the improvement curve, the optimism curve and the logical curve, meaning the way back is harder today than it was yesterday.
Quite a task ahead for this guy. For any guy.
Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Bernie LincicomeBernie LincicomeChicago Tribune
Link: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-lincicome-20180113-story.html
And so … the new guy. Another clay pigeon at the carnival.
Is this the guy, or just another guy? This guy with a one-ply resume and a three-day beard? Is this the guy who can make a gawd-awful football team into a mediocre one?
Generously, the tenure of the fresh Bears coach already is being referred to as an “era,” a Chicago designation usually saved for mayors named Daley and basketball players named Jordan.
The rose hidden in the heart of every Bears fan needs only the lightest fertilizer to bloom.
These things are always more about optimism than expectation. As is the case with both Bears coaches and Bears quarterbacks, the next guy is always better than the last one.
History is not this guy’s friend. Every few years, the Bears rummage around in other people’s laundry until they find the cleanest shirt. Not one has fit since Mike Ditka, who came to a team already formed, and then managed to get the minimum out of it.
This guy’s credentials are similar to Ditka’s in that he never has been a head coach, or much of a coach of any kind until the last five games of a season that ended in a classic collapse, for which this guy took responsibility.
Taking the blame is seen as a character strength, as if confessing to professional inadequacy is the same as blushing at compliments.
The examples of boy wonders in football coaching are au courant, most notably the guy in Los Angeles and the one up in Buffalo.
Several, like this guy, come from the coaching tree of Andy Reid, himself more a patio plant than a tree.
But as these things go, according to those who study coaching trees as if they are treasure charts, this guy was, to re-mix the metaphor, the shiniest marble in the bag.
Understanding general manager Ryan Pace’s instant bromance with this guy is to know that new coach smell. And this one is shiny and unused, right off the showroom floor.
This all seems a bit impulsive, not that it won’t work out, but it may never be better than now as Pace and this guy face only tomorrow, with none of those yesterdays behind them, the good and the bad, emphasis on the latter.
What this guy might do for the Bears that the last guy could not do is no clearer than why the last guy, so full of real credentials, was excused from further failure.
In fact, considering the validity of both men, the only difference between them might be that this guy is young enough to be the last guy’s son.
It isn’t that the Bears are going in a new course with a great new football coach, it is that they again are trying to find one who matters. Let’s concede that a real attempt was made to sort out the endless line of guys who have all the same testimonials that come with this guy.
Quarterback coaches, offensive coordinators, working with great quarterbacks, wizards of the playbook. Only the ink is fresher on this guy’s resume.
The job that this guy did in Kansas City with Alex Smith, who had been an uninterrupted disappointment, is the part of his resume that is underlined. If this guy can turn a big bust into a competent performer, well then, what might he be able to do with a raw treasure like Mitch Trubisky?
What a nice little safety net for this guy. If Trubisky gets no better than he already is, which is to say alternately disappointing, the guy who drafted him gets the blame and this guy gets to start over. If Trubisky advances to all he can be, this guy is the wizard.
Little is expected of this guy, really. He is taking over a spotty bunch with the Bears, a classic franchise with second-rate results. The first job is to find his way around the roster, and Chicago’s is loaded with snares.
The Bears have slid backward on the improvement curve, the optimism curve and the logical curve, meaning the way back is harder today than it was yesterday.
Quite a task ahead for this guy. For any guy.
Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
