ESPN's Top 20 NFL Coaches Ever

Ditka is in the discussion with Switzer.

 

Switzer: Off-the-charts worse than Ditka.

Why doesn't he get any credit for building the Bears?

Compare their heights under Ditka (1984 -1988) to their depths before he got there.

 

LTL, chiming in, what a surprise: Hey, douche, your Panda Hat is getting in the way of your brain again.

The Colts had the No. 1 pick in the 1998 draft for a reason. They'd also MISSED the playoffs three times in five years before Dungy arrived. How many playoff wins did Manning have before Dungy?

 

Uh, OK ... that escalated quickly.

My point was that the Colts were not nearly the sad sacks you made them out to be upon Dungy's arrival. In fact, at the time his arrival with the Colts was viewed in somewhat the same way as Gruden's arrival with the Bucs -- the guy to get a stalled team over the hump. Not an exact parallel because the Bucs were considered further down the road, but again, a somewhat similar situation. The 2001 Colts were viewed very much as an AFC favorite in preseason predictions based on their previous two years. The cupboard was not nearly as bare as you seem to believe it was, and there was not a rebuilding job ahead of Dungy there.

And I'm not wearing my Panda hat. A little too warm today. I am, however, wearing my ReMax Posey "28" shirt. Mostly because my son also wears #28 though.

 

My point is that Dungy, not Manning alone, gave the Colts staying power -- something the franchise had lacked since Mike Curtis and Johnny U. Kind of a lot's happend since the late '60s/early-'70s.

 

Uh, OK. I guess the point bears a certain relevance in your head.

 

"In my head?" So I'm just imagining?

You're a prick. That's not just "in my head."

 

I don't know that Dungy belongs on a list of the top 20 coaches in NFL history -- I'm not a big fan of these best-ever lists for a whole lot of reasons -- but the hyperbole is strong in this one.

I'm not here to tell you Dungy is Lombardi or Belichick, and for all I know maybe he isn't even Jon Gruden. But really? The Colts dramatically underachieved under Dungy?

In seven seasons they went 85-27 (.759) in the regular season, made the playoffs seven times, won five division titles, went 7-6 in the playoffs and won a Super Bowl. Three of those playoff losses, by the way, were to teams that won the Super Bowl, including two road losses to a dynastic franchise at the height of its power.

Should the Dungy-era Colts have had more postseason success given their talent and their regular season dominance? Probably. But to say they dramatically underachieved is ridiculous.

 

My sentiments exactly, Joe. And he is BETTER than Gruden.

 

You're giving Dungy credit for rebuilding the Bucs and the Colts and dismissing Gruden's work in getting the Bucs where Dungy couldn't AND engineering the Raiders' only three winning seasons since 1994? (Callahan coached '02 but it was Gruden's team, which he promptly took apart piece by piece in the SB.)

Interesting line to draw.

 

Underachieved completely refers to titles won. Dungy had the best quarterback of the era as his QB and he only won one title.

How many times did it happen where the Colts were the No. 1 or No. 2 seed entering the playoffs and they were bounced by a team that they were favored to destroy?

 

The underachieving aspect of the Colts falls more on Manning and Polian than Dungy. Is there anyone who thinks Dungy coached the offense? And for 5 of his 7 years the Colts had a top 3 offense. Maning coached the offense. Is there anyone who thinks the Colts were built to play consistently solid defense?

Dungy is the Joe Torre of the NFL, widely respected and an excellent manager of players. Both short on game day strategy. The difference is Torre has a fist full of rings.