The Holmgren Bowl?
Packers, Niners could battle in more than just playoffs
Posted: Sunday December 27, 1998 01:38 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King checked in with CNN/SI
anchor Bob Lorenz on Sunday morning to talk about the NFL's coaching
carousel and what's wrong with the Broncos.
Bob Lorenz: The Niners and Packers have more things in common
than a first-round playoff matchup. There's a little matter involving a
particular head coach.
Peter King : That's right. Owner-in-waiting Eddie DeBartolo is
working behind the scenes to get Mike Holmgren back to San Francisco. Now
if that happens, if Holmgren goes back to San Francisco as coach/general
manager, that puts one of the most successful coaches in the last couple of
years, Steve Mariucci, out on the market. Shed no tears for Mariucci,
because he'll either end up with a hugely rich owner in Cleveland or
Seattle, with a great young but troubled quarterback in San Diego, or back
in Green Bay, the team he rooted for as a kid.
What does this mean now for the San Francisco 49ers? This
is an aging team with a huge salary cap burden next year -- they already
have $80 million on the cap in salaries for 1999 when the league-wide cap
is only going to be about $58 million. What are they going to do? Eddie
DeBartolo thinks he's got to bring in a magician, or bring in a savior.
Look for DeBartolo to regain control of this team this winter and bring
Mike Holmgren back.
BL : The coaches took their own poll on who the NFL's coach of the
year should be. Who won?
PK: We polled 28 of the 30 NFL head coaches, and maybe we can
give Dan Reeves, who's at home convalescing in Atlanta, some good news.
He's the CNN/SI coach of the year as voted by his peers. By a 2-to-1
margin, they voted him coach of the year over one of the best fields in
recent years, what with Dennis Green, Mike Shanahan and Bill Parcells.
That's a good segue into our coaching notes of the week. We all know the
goners, including former coaches of the year Dom Capers in Carolina and Ray
Rhodes in Philadelphia. Baltimore's Ted Marchibroda and Seattle's Dennis
Erickson are also, obviously, on their way out. As for those still on the
fence, Washington's Norv Turner has to have John Cooke win the Redskins'
ownership derby. Dave Wannstedt is only 30-70 to stay in Chicago.
And here's what else we know about the coaching search: Minnesota
offensive coordinator Brian Billick definitely will not go to San Diego.
He'll be a candidate in both Baltimore and Seattle. But look for the
Chargers to make an esoteric pick, like San Diego State's Ted Tollner. And
in Cleveland, the surprise candidates will be Green Bay quarterbacks coach
Andy Reid and Texas coach Mack Brown, who has lapped a weak field to take
the lead among college coaches for the Browns job.
BL: This week, John Elway got up in front
of the entire offense and told them they needed to stop pressing and start
relaxing and getting back to basics. Do you think the problems for the
Broncos run deeper than just that?
PK: There's no question about that. In fact, the whole problem is
the passing game on both sides of the line. If you look at the quarterback
ratings in the first 12 games, the last three games since they've been
slumping. The Broncos were great at the quarterback's spot in the first 12
weeks - with a 97.7 QB rating -- and have been horrid in the last three
(64.9 rating). And it's vice-versa on the other side, with the opponents'
rating (73.0 opponents rating over the first 12 games, 108.1 in the last
three).
What really has hurt them is an aging secondary and poor dime coverage,
like when Tito Paul
allowed the Giants to throw that winning touchdown pass two weeks ago. One
other thing about the Broncos that has really hurt them in recent weeks --
Giants coach Jim Fassel told me this -- is if you get a good edge pass rush
going against them, like the Giants' Michael Strahan did two
weeks ago and the Dolphins' Jason Taylor did last
week, you can chase John Elway. He's not quite as athletic as he used to
be, and that really disrupts Denver's passing game. That's really hurt
them.
BL: The Bucs would like to get more out of their offense. Three
of their former quarterbacks -- Chris Chandler, Vinny Testaverde and Steve Young -- are headed
to the Pro Bowl. What's Trent Dilfer's future?
PK: The Bucs, obviously, have vastly underachieved this year on
offense. I asked Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy Saturday night whether
offensive coordinator Mike Shula comes back next year. Dungy said,
"Absolutely, yes." So I asked whether Trent Dilfer comes back. Dungy said,
"Almost certainly, yes." He wants to leave his options open and I think
what Tony Dungy wants to see more than anything else is more efficiency out
of his quarterback. Regardless of what plays are called -- Shula has been
attacked for his predictability -- Dilfer has to be more accurate in the
passing game than 52 percent.
BL: Good teams always get their rosters raided so this week the
Vikings fired a couple of pre-emptive strikes, signing both quarterback Randall Cunningham and
tackle Korey Stringer
to contract extensions. But you can't help but wonder still how much talent
they might lose in the off-season.
PK: After Cunningham and Stringer, the next two guys on the
team's would-be free agent list are Ed McDaniel, their
outstanding middle linebacker, and safety Robert Griffith. Now Jeff
Diamond, who's done such a great job with the salary cap in Minnesota,
turns his attention to those guys. But in today's NFL, there's no way you
get all your guys signed.
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