NFL

Disastrous NFL Coaching Hires That Set Teams Back Decades

Darren - January 13, 2022

NFL

Disastrous NFL Coaching Hires That Set Teams Back Decades

Darren - January 13, 2022

7. Mike Ditka

Ditka had a successful period with the Chicago Bears capped off with a Super Bowl in 1985. This convinced the Saints to take a chance on the Super Bowl winner. Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate his success in New Orleans. He made an insane error at the very beginning of his sole season in the Big Easy. They went all-in on Ricky Williams in the Draft as Ditka traded all of the Saints’ picks that year for the running back.

This was a disastrous decision for many reasons. First, running backs aren’t worth that much. It didn’t help that Williams didn’t play well either. New Orleans took years to recover from this appalling draft decision. Results on the field were poor as the Saints went 3-13 (via NBC Sports). In the end, the Saints cut ties with Ditka after the terrible year.

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6. Matt Patricia

Another horrible Lions’ coach, Patricia’s tenure with the Lions was disastrous. He left Detroit as one of the four worst coaches in franchise history. His time in charge was a total shambles and he was out after three seasons at Ford Field. Patricia failed to post a winning season and didn’t finish his third year. The Lions front office lost patience after his team started out 4-7 in 2020.

His overall record was 13-29-1, a winning percentage of .314 in a miserable time for the Lions. It also convinced star quarterback Matthew Stafford to quit the team. Patricia’s team blew lead after lead. They also failed to beat rivals like the Bears and the Vikings. Furthermore, they set an 11-game losing streak. This was the third-longest in franchise history (via Detroit Free Press).

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5. Dick LeBeau

LeBeau was a magnificent defensive coordinator before he retired in 2017. He had 59 seasons in the NFL with franchises like the Titans and the Steelers. But he only had a single head coach role and it was disastrous. He never stepped up to the position again because it didn’t suit his talents. LeBeau took over in Cincinnati in 2000 but lost his job following the 2002 year.

The franchise failed to progress during his tenure. He posted three losing seasons and lost his job after the Bengals finished 2-14. Unfortunately, the legendary coach helped the franchise to their worst record in history. Meanwhile, he had a miserable winning percentage of just .267 (via ESPN). Luckily, LeBeau had enough credit in the bank to bounce back and rebuild his career.

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4. Dave Campo

At least Campo was consistent as that’s the only positive thing to say about his tenure as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. His teams went 5-11 for three consecutive seasons from 2000-02. It’s remarkable really that he managed to achieve this. As a result, he is the only Cowboys head coach in history to depart with a losing record. Even worse, he was the first Dallas coach never to have a winning season.

He began coaching in 1971 but has only ever been a head coach once. This includes his college career. Initially, he faced challenges when Troy Aikman retired. But Campo simply wasn’t up to the job (via Dallas News). That’s not a slight because many coordinators and college coaches struggle to step up. This was a miserable period for fans of ‘America’s Team’ because they went nowhere.

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3. Dave Shula

A famous father can be a curse. The legendary Don Shula is one of the greatest NFL coaches in history. However, his son, Dave, went down as one of the worst. The Bengals hired the younger Shula in 1992. This was an exciting decision because of his pedigree. But it was a disastrous decision overall because Shula didn’t know what he was doing. Somehow, he survived for five seasons with a 19-52 record.

Finally, Cincinnati fired him in 1996 after a single win in seven games to start the season. Shula became the fastest coach in history to 50 losses during his time in charge (via USA Today). This was a uniquely bad achievement. It was a terrible time for the franchise because it was difficult for fans to maintain interest in the team. In the end, they lost patience and fired the younger Shula.

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3. Adam Gase

We suppose Peyton Manning was wrong. The legendary NFL icon described his former coach as a ‘quarterback guru.’ It’s too bad that this wasn’t the case in New York, because Gase arguably ruined Sam Darnold’s career before it even began. The Jets hired him in 2019 but fired him after two seasons. They started with a mediocre 7-9 losing record in his first year.

This was tolerable but they immediately regressed. Gase departed after a disastrous 2-14 season where he showed all of his flaws. One of the main issues was his lack of flexibility. He used the same system that worked for a slow Manning in Denver (via Forbes). But this didn’t suit the mobile Darnold. Meanwhile, the Jets’ defense was nonexistent. Gang Green felt like they were in purgatory.

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2. Hue Jackson

Jackson didn’t have a successful tenure with the Cleveland Browns. Somehow he survived for over two seasons but they were disastrous. He left the franchise in 2018 with a record of 3-36-1 (via SBNation). Furthermore, they went 0-16 in 2017 as they went winless for the first time in history. The Browns were rebuilding (or so they claimed) but there were no signs of progress.

The head coach lost the support of his staff as well as the players. Sure, their roster was terrible, but his methods didn’t help. Jackson was genuinely a great offensive coordinator. Also, many people believed that the Browns made the right choice when they hired him. But his record is so bad that it’s almost impossible for another Cleveland coach to replicate it.

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1. Urban Meyer

Meyer’s reign in charge of the Jacksonville Jaguars was uniquely and utterly disastrous. Jags owner Shahid Khan hired him in 2021 because he believed that Meyer would get the best out of shiny no. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence. The young quarterback received incredible hype before the Jaguars used the first overall pick to select him. However, Meyer wasn’t able to get the best out of him and his entire run was a laughingstock from its inception.

First, Meyer tried to hire racist coach Chris Doyle and created a media storm. Then, there was the remarkable Tim Tebow experiment. Soon, rumblings emerged that professional players didn’t like his more college coaching style. The results on the field didn’t help matters because the Jags were appalling. Then, there was the media deluge after footage emerged of Meyer dancing with a young woman who wasn’t his wife after he had stayed in Ohio and not traveled with his team following another defeat. Khan finally fired Meyer after a 2-11 record before the catastrophic season ended (via NPR).

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