Time Away Helps Some NFL Coaches

Black Monday is an annual day of worry for struggling NFL coaches. When it comes to NFL odds, it is a near certainty that several coaches will lose their jobs, whether justified or not. 

This year saw the New York Giants part ways with Joe Judge, the Miami Dolphins can Brian Flores, the Minnesota Vikings get rid of Mike Zimmer, and the Chicago Bears exile Matt Nagy. These changes are part of a hope the organization can find stability.

However, being fired from a coaching job in the NFL isn’t a sign that a coach can’t rehab his image and find success. Over time, coaches have bounced back from failures as a younger coach before winning championships in another position. 

Some of the most successful coaches in league history weren’t successful on their first stop in the top coaching position.

Sweet Pete

Pete Carroll got fired twice before finding success with the Seattle Seahawks. Caroll, who is 119-73-1 with two Super Bowl appearances and one victory in the Pacific Northwest, wasn’t given much of a chance at his first two stops. 

Carroll was fired after one season with the New York Jets. He was the victim of a “fake spike” play against the Dolphins. Miami, who had rallied from a 24-6 deficit, scored in the final seconds to score the win.

It was the start of a slide for the Jets, who would lose six of their final seven games to finish 6-10. Carroll walked into a difficult situation when he took over for the Patriots in 1996, taking over a Bill Parcells team that had just lost in the Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers. 

Caroll couldn’t sustain what Parcells built. While he went 27-21 in three years in New England, both of their playoff games ended short of the Super Bowl. Carroll was let go after the Patriots finished 8-8 in 1999. 

Caroll rehabbed his career by going to USC, winning a national championship, and returning to the professional ranks in 2010.

The Greatest of All-Time Gets Run out of Cleveland

Bill Belichick is one of the greatest defensive minds in NFL history. It took him some time to become one of the greatest head coaches. 

When Belichick got his first chance, he had the misfortune of taking over the Cleveland Browns after the successful teams of the late 1980s started to decline. He also didn’t endear himself to the fanbase when he cut Browns’ legend Bernie Kosar during the 1993 season. 

Things did appear on the upward trajectory when after three losing seasons, Belichick led the Browns to an 11-5 record in 1995 and a victory over San Diego in the first round of the playoffs. While the Browns ultimately lost to Pittsburgh in the divisional round, the fanbase was excited for 1996.

Haunted by the team moving from Cleveland to Baltimore, the wheels fell off for Belichick during 1995, and the team stumbled to a 5-11 mark. After a 36-44 record in five seasons, now Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell decided not to bring Belichick when the team moved. 

When Belichick got his second chance, he made the most of it. With the help of Tom Brady, Belichick has been to nine Super Bowls, winning six of them. He has a career record of 290-143.

Burning Out

When Dick Vermeil took over the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976, he was saddled with a team that didn’t have a first-round draft pick until 1979 due to bad decision-making and had gone 4-10 the year before. 

After two losing seasons, Vermeil rebuilt the team into a playoff team. They would make the playoffs four straight years and lost 27-10 to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV. After the strike-shortened 1982 season, Vermeil resigned because he was burnt out.

After 15 years off, Vermeil returned to the St. Louis Rams for another rebuilding contract. In the third year of his tenure in St. Louis, Vermeil caught lightning in the bottle by finding future Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner. 

The Rams would go 13-3 before upending the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV to win their first tile. Vermeil finished his career with a 120-109 record.