NFL News: 2004 Playoffs: Wild Card Games Review: Old Coachs Holmgren, Shanahan, Schottenheimer Lose

A Wildcard Weekend
By: Keith Dobkowski, NFL News Writer
January 10, 2005

Like most self-proclaimed NFL experts, I chose the easy road and
took the home field advantage throughout the first round. Now it
looks like Peyton Manning may have been the only person paying
attention to these bold predictions.

America watched the visiting team take three of four this
weekend including two teams that entered the playoffs without
winning records. Both the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota
Vikings finished the season with 8-8 records. Both won and thus
became the first teams to ever enter the playoffs with non-
winning records and win a game.

A closer look at the weekend and it appears that the true winner
was the new school, with the old school taking a hefty hit. If the
old school is defined as coaches hired pre-millennium or having
been a head coach when Dan Marino set the single-season
touchdown mark, the old school finished 0-3.

Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren and Marty Shottenheimer have all
been head coaches for since the 1990’s and none has won a
playoff game since the decade ended. Shanahan won two Super
Bowls but not a single playoff game since Elway hung them up.
And Holmgren just hasn’t been the same since he left Brett Favre
in Green Bay and headed towards the rainy Pacific Northwest.

Yet it is Shottenheimer who stands out as good regular season
coach yet always fails under the pressure of the playoffs.
Shottenheimer has led his team to the playoffs a dozen times, but
has yet to even compete for the Lombardi Trophy.

Shottenheimer’s playoff failures were summed up as his kicker
missed wide right in overtime against the New York Jets. It was
not the missed kick, but rather Shottenheimer’s decision to kick
before fourth down instead of trying to move to ball.

Shottenheimer could have shown faith in his offensive line, his all-
pro running back Ladanian Tomlinson or his pro-bowl quarterback
Drew Brees who had just completed 4 of 5 passes on the drive,
but instead Shottenheimer opted to kick a 40-yard field goal in
less than optimal conditions. The field goal was missed and
Shottenheimer, who had just been awarded NFL Coach of the
Year, rejoined the long list of coaches that can’t win the big one.

Whether it is Dusty Baker in baseball, who clearly knows how to
win 95 of 162 but can’t figure out how to win 4 of 7. Or Don
Nelson in basketball, who seems to surpass 50 victories every
year, but never makes it further than the second round of the
playoffs. There is a large group of coaches who choke come
playoffs.

It is as if the very success that guides the team through the
regular season disappears once the playoffs begin.
Shottenheimer becomes conservative. Baker decides to leave his
gut feeling behind and play by the book. And Nelson stops
running and starts playing a half-court game.

And it is only once in recent history that bad coaching actually led
to the big show. In 1999 the winner of Minnesota Vikings –
Atlanta Falcons NFC Championship game was to meet the Denver
Broncos in the Super Bowl. Both teams were coming off franchise
record seasons, as the Vikings paced the NFL with a 15-1 record
and the Falcons finished 14-2. The Falcons barely won as both
Dan Reeves and Dennis Green avoided the coaching genius of the
regular season and replaced it with playoff fear. By the way, the
Bronco easily beat the Falcons.

With eight coaches remaining in this postseason we are lucky that
the likes of Jim Mora Jr., Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, and Bill Cower
lead the way and that the Shottenheimer’s are now home until
next season.