BroncoTalk Offseason Award – Best and Worst Coaching Move

BroncoTalk’s 1st Annual Offseason Awards are here, given to a team, player, coach, GM, or quarterback’s dog (ooohh… sorry, Brian Griese) who had an exceptionally good (or bad) performance since practice broke in January (or February for the few). Every Thursday I’ll award the best and worst for a specific category, and this week it’s the Best and Worst Coaching Decisions in the Offseason.

And the BOA for Best Offseason Coaching Decision goes to…

The Arizona Cardinals for hiring Ken Whisenhunt. If you were going to examine different football cultures, what two different could you examine but the fans in Arizona and the Terrible Towels in Pennslyvania? The Cardinals have been the gum on the bottom of the League’s shoe for years – and coach after coach after coach has tried and failed to turn this team around. The talent is there – Matt Leinart, Larry Fitzgerald, Edgerrin James, and Anquan Boldin headline a talented group of athletes. It’s just the culture – the drive, if you will, that is stopping them from making the next step.

Enter Ken Whisenhunt, a Steeler coach who knows nothing else but winning. If you’re going to hire a coach, I strongly believe you should hire a winner, and Whisenhunt fits that bill nicely. Bringing along Russ Grimm to join him only makes too much sense. It was an outright coup, and a move that I believe will see the desert birds in the playoffs in the next year and thereafter.

And the BOA for Worst Offseason Coaching Decision goes to…

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The San Diego Chargers for firing Motty Schottenheimer. A.J. Smith can believe what he wants, but I will always attribute the attitude change in San Diego from long time loser to AFC West yearly contender to Mary Schottenheimer. Firing a head coach after a 14-2 season is unthinkable. Frankly, I don’t want to hear about “he shouldn’t have thrown the flag” and that was why the Chargers lost the game. Tony Dungy did the EXACT same thing the year before when the Colts lost to the Steelers, and the refs reversed the call (extremely controversally, if you recall). Their reasonings were exactly the same – it was a big play and you just gotta throw the flag. We all know that the results were the difference, and now one of the men is without a job.

And Norv Turner is no better of a move then keeping Schotty, that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong, Broncos fans – this move was great for us. The Chargers will not be the same power house without Marty on the sidelines.

So that does it for Week 1 of BroncoTalk’s Offseason Awards. Next week, you can look forward to the Best/Worst Trade 2007.<