The Chili-Moss Scandal

The happiest guy in the world right now is Mike Shanahan. He is jumping for joy that the Chili-Moss scandal has eclipsed the Sun, nearly blotted out his benching of Donovan McNabb in an otherwise winnable game.

Right now I am shaking my head and chuckling. So this is how it all ends, aye Chili? A memo to the Viking organization: The next time you would like to simply discard a 3rd round pick for no particular reason, please give my Rams a call. We could use another 3rd rounder. You just might draft another Joe Montana with a pick like that.

I have disliked Chili several years now. Why? Because I have hated the way responds to being on the hot seat. Clearly, Chili has been very sensitive to all suggestions that he is on the hotseat. He has been moved to action by most of these suggestions, and not good actions either. Rather than sticking to a logical and scientific program of team building, he has been blow around the field by every gust of media wind. He has made a lot of dysfunctional, short-term, short-sighted decisions as a result of this perceived pressure.

Chasing an old man like Favre all over the planet? Letting him skip training camp and practice? Starting the dude when he is clearly wounded as hell? Making a trade for dysfunctional dude like Moss? I just don't like it. Now the moment Moss appears to be critical of Chili, he reverses his field and cuts Moss. Jesus Christ! You want to talk about a paranoid move?!?! Stupid…

I don't like the way Chili responds to pressure. Have some balls and deal with the heat. Chuck Noll would have just kept right on drilling his boys on the fundamentals. Don Shula would not altered course as a result of the hot seat. Even the professor Bill Walsh would have sacked up and dealt with it. In short, Chili just doesn't act like one of the greats. He's got no pipe and humming bird sack, as Jim Rome used to say.

Being sensitive to every little comment about your job status and taking one short-sighted decision after another to cling to your job (like monkey clinging to a sparkly little fake jewel) is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. You are not going to make good, solid, sound combat maneuvers if you are being motivated in this way.

Clearly, the 2010 season is the breakdown phase of the Childress-Viking epoch. As Michael Lombardi suggests, that epoch might come to a close as soon as Tuesday afternoon. For the good of the Vikings, I hope so. Why does anyone suspect this? Because Chili has roster rights written into his contract. He can add and cut players as he pleases without consulting senior management. He said he was going to waive Moss this morning. It didn't happen this afternoon. Apparently, Chili is in some hot water with the high command. I think his job is in maximum jeopardy right now.

I am no kind of Viking fan, but I have friends who are. It is difficult watching these guys suffer in state similar too the one I lived through when the Rams hired Scott Linehan. Linehan was another one of these clingy, short-sighted, defensively-postured coaches who was worried about his job. You all know how that ended. It was an all out-disaster. It was the death of the Greatest Show on Turf.

All of this feels a hell of a lot like the end of Scott Linehan. For those who don't know, Linehan lost the Rams by benching Bulger, trying to release Torry Holt, and alienating his defensive coordinator Jim Hasslet. All of these were exceedingly stupid moves at the time, and they were motivated by Linehan's fear of the Ax. He was responding to suggestions that he had lost control of the team and was on the hot-seat for a lack of performance. When Linehan attempted to release Holt, the Axman dropped the edge on his neck, and it was over. We may see the very same scenario playout with Childress in the next 24 hours.

What the Chicago Bear fans should expect from Mike Martz

The other day, I heard Michael Lombardi predicting success for Jay Culter now that he will be function in Mike Martz's offensive system. Michael praised Mike's system, declaring that it was proven to raise the fortunes of just about any Quarterback. Very few are qualified to evaluate the QB, and even fewer are qualified to coach him. Mike Martz is one of those guys.

I agree with the latter statement, but the former is predicated on a bit of a misunderstanding.

There is no Mike Martz system, per se. The secret is that there is no secret. Mike is against the notion of an "offensive system", in the sense that a fellow like Bill Walsh would define the term. Martz custom tailors the offense to fit the personnel that he has. The game plan is always the same: Use motion and formation to put my biggest play makers against your biggest weaknesses. The game plan is just a collection of plays Mike thinks will work in this regard. Now, he does want to pass first, and pass aggressively to get the lead, but this is a very general idea.

Now, you may want to call that a system, but I wouldn't. It is more a philosophy about using whatever playmakers you have on hand. A documentary was recently published by a bunch of Astronomers titled "Journey to the Edge of the Universe". The funny thing is that they would be the first to tell you that there is no such thing as "the edge of the Universe". Ergo, the title is just a catchy title. That is all. Calling Mike Martz's approach a system is similar to talk about "the edge of the universe". It is a catchy title, but there is no such thing.

The reason why Mike is so consistently successful in raising the fortunes of offenses and teams is pretty straightforward: He is not one of these fucked up egomaniacs who want to replace all the players he's got so he can obtain guys who will run his highly dogmatic system. Such coaches always guarantee you several years of turmoil and rebuilding (which might be necessary anyhow). West Coast coaches are these kinds of coaches, in general. Lombardites are absolutely those kinds of coaches. They'll cut all kinds of good playmakers to clean house and implement their power-running attack. I hate those little fuckers with all my heart and soul.

Mike doesn't need to cut everybody and start over. He will look hard and long at the abilities of his men. He will figure out what they do best. He will figure out how to employ those abilities to the fullest. He will create formations, plays and motion that will let you shine. You can understand why Mike is a very popular guy with his men, and you can understand why head coaches feel threatened by him.

I am going to tell you flat out: Dogmatic systematic coaches are the worst thing possible for your organization. Flexible and adaptive coaches who use the talent you have on hand are the best thing possible for your organization. Scott Linehan was a dogmatic systematic coach, and he will forever be known as the guy who killed the Greatest Show on Turf, the Show Mike Martz created.