NFL History 101 – the Conclusion

History can be entertaining, but it also can be educational in that you can learn from other’s mistakes.  After writing on the varied histories of all the NFL teams, as well as the NFL itself, I learned some things and can make a few observations.

In the very early days of pro football it reminded me of a bunch of company softball teams playing each other for company pride.  The more egotistical owners decided to start hiring players for their ability rather than how they could work in the company. Several team owners were also heavily involved in gambling and such, but then they were often the ones with the money – and the early days of the NFL certainly were a gamble.   It’s amazing how that grew into the monster that the NFL is today.

Another observation is that teams seem to forget their own history – their fans as well.  There were numerous instances in teams’ histories where they would go many, many years with losing seasons.  Eventually they would stumble onto a good coach and start winning.  All of a sudden they would think they should have Super Bowl aspirations and fire the coach just because he didn’t get double-digit wins.  They forget that the coach is the one that brought that winning culture, and it usually left with him. They would be back to being terrible shortly after that.  The Chiefs did this with Marty.

The Steelers seem to be the one team that bucks this trend.  Mike Tomlin has had nine seasons with double-digit wins, but a few mixed in with 8-8 seasons.  When these seasons occurred, fans and press would be coming out of the woodwork to fire him. He’d follow up most of these seasons with 11 or more wins the next year.  They stuck with Tomlin and were rewarded each time.

Other teams fire their winning coach after a season where massive injuries occur, or injuries to a quarterback or other key player ruin the year.  It’s crazy.  You’ll also hear that a coach is out of touch with modern day football or the like.   A good coach will usually be a good coach all the time, as they are good because they adapt their game and handle their team well.  Andy Reid is a good example of this, and is often one of the guys that’s causing the changes in the game because of his innovative nature. 

One last observation that is pretty much useless is that the bigger cities like to name their games.  You have “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, “The Ice bowl” “The Catch” and others.  I think there must be a contest amongst the reporters to come up with a name for some of these games!

This winds up the history 101 series.  I’m open to suggestions for things to write on next.  It was interesting and enjoyable to dig into the histories of some of these teams that happened way before my existence. 

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