On Mike Sherman

I know that Mike Sherman elicited a strong negative reaction from some fans out there, and I understand where that came from.  While a very good coach, I’m not sure that he is a Super Bowl caliber coach.  Also, he never should have been made General Manager, and I suspect that he was only made one because Ron Wolf thought highly of Sherman, expected big things, and was looking to prevent what had happened with Mike Holmgren.  And this season was a tough one.  It is hard not to fire a veteran coach after a 4-12 season.

 

Just the same, I think some fans are a little too blood thirsty here.  Yes, it was time for Sherman to go, but there is a little too much anger and dislike be directed at Mike Sherman.  First, this 4-12 record was due in large part to injuries.  There was not much the guy could do about that, and by the end of the season the cupboard was pretty bare.  Once the big injuries to Walker and Green occurred, Brett seemed to lose his mind.  He was deprived of most of his playmakers, yet he still thought he could make the team win through sheer force of will.  It can’t happen though unless your receivers run the right routes, have the talent and physical ability to make plays, your lineman know all of their assignments and execute them, and your backs know how to find a hole.  In the end, Brett grossly over estimated the ability of those remaining around him, and that contributed to the 4-12 record as well.  Through it all, though, this team was remarkably unified and it came back to fight week after week, except against the Ravens.  That says something about the caliber of the coach.  It would have been very easy for this team to have thrown in the towel by week 10 or so and start pointing fingers and fighting.  It never really did that, though.  Finally, Sherman handled his dismissal with a class that many coaches do not.  He’ll hook on with another team, and he’ll coach some very good squads.

 

Mike Sherman deserves his fair portion of the blame for the 4-12 record because he was the head coach, and the buck for that stops with the coach.  Some of it was of his own making from his days as GM, too, although he had already felt the repercussions of his lackluster GM tenure.  Just the same, cut back on the hating, folks.  You’ve apparently been so spoiled that you no longer remember what a truly bad coach really is.