This column was first published on LandLoyalty.com on February 16, 2011.
While all Browns fans were happy that the Pittsburgh Steelers got knocked off in Super Bowl XLV, I think most of us in Cleveland sat there and realized that we’re still light years away from being where the Green Bay Packers sit at the top of the mountain.
We have a new head coach, and people are optimistic by the clean slate. I get that. I’m all about being optimistic and hoping for big things next year, but the reality is that until the Browns get playmakers on both sides of the ball –particularly on offense – the most joy we’ll get on Super Sunday is watching our rivals fall short.
The man that accepted the trophy for Green Bay was head coach Mike McCarthy, who like Pat Shurmur, was an offensive coordinator for a bad team before the Packers pegged him as their choice to take over for Mike Sherman before the 2006 season.
In his last (and only) season as the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, his unit, led by rookie quarterback Alex Smith, gained the fewest yards and scored the fewest points in the entire National Football League. Now he’s one of just 28 coaches to lead a team to a Super Bowl.
We’ve all heard about the job Shurmur did with rookie Sam Bradford, who like Smith was the top overall pick, in his first season. So there’s that.
I also look at Josh McDaniels, who was the Boy Wonder in New England after the offenses he oversaw smashed scoring records. McDaniels left Massachusetts in 2009 to take over the Denver Broncos and went 11-17 in less than two seasons in charge and the Patriots didn’t miss a beat, scoring the most points in the league again this season.
That’s the difference between Tom Brady and Kyle Orton. As ESPN broadcaster Jimmy Dykes often suggests, it’s not always about the X’s and the O’s, but the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s. Coaching can only take you so far. At the end of the day, it’s talent that wins game.
After reading Tony Grossi’s interview with Tom Heckert in Sunday’s Plain Dealer, the relationship between the Browns brass and former coach Eric Mangini seemed dysfunctional at best.
That – and the fact that Mangini won 11 games in two seasons – was reason enough for him to be fired. But whether or not you bought into Mangini’s philosophy, you’d be hard-pressed to find a fan that thought he could compete with the roster the Browns had. I know he hand-picked many of those guys, but that’s for another article.
The two teams that lost in the last two Super Bowls, the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers, have both been to the Big Game twice this decade – with different coaches both times. The constant: their quarterbacks.
It’s not important whether it’s Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin giving you the big pep speech before the game. Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell seem like nice guys. They’re “great” football coaches because they had Peyton Manning on their team.
I don’t want to minimize good coaching as it’s certainly important, but I don’t think great coaches win you Super Bowls. I think great players win Super Bowls, and in turn make coaches look great. Every coach in the NFL knows their stuff, but the ones that are blessed with franchise quarterbacks have it made.
There are no more excuses for the Browns. They have their man in Pat Shurmur – someone who Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert clearly believe in.
Do they have their man at quarterback? We all saw glimpses from Colt McCoy that were encouraging, but I don’t think anyone knows for sure. You have to know for sure.
Franchises like Green Bay, Indianapolis, New England, New Orleans and Pittsburgh, they know for sure. The Browns need to be sure they have their guy, and then start to surround him with playmakers.
So I’m fine with Pat Shurmur. I hope he’s the next Mike McCarthy.
I hope that like McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers, Shurmur takes a quarterback that some overlooked on draft day (Rodgers only to the back part of the first round, McCoy to the third round) and takes him to the top of the summit.
But for the sake of McCoy and Shurmur, playmakers are needed. And quickly.
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