What is your personal "GOAT progression"?

[Mark]

What I liked about Shula was that he changed his system to fit the talent he had. It seems some coaches try to fit square pegs into round holes sometimes.

[racepug]

What I liked about Shula was that he changed his system to fit the talent he had. It seems some coaches try to fit square pegs into round holes sometimes.

I guess one can make that argument since his teams went from being primarily running ones to primarily passing ones in the '80s. But Don Shula was the head coach and I would argue that for a guy with supposed "Hall of Fame" credentials he didn't do a good job, at all, of ensuring that he had well-rounded teams during his last 15, or so, years in charge of the Dolphins.

[RichardBak]

Yeah, I was never that sold on Shula, at least not during his Balt. days. Seemed like under him Colts could never win the last game of the season: '64 title game vs. Cleveland, '65 playoff vs GB, '67 showdown with LA, '68 vs. Jets. That said, I've sometimes wondered what he might have been able to do with the Lions from '63 onward had Detroit made him HC and moved George Wilson to GM. Instead they let him go to Balt.

[Brian wolf]

Hypothetically Richard, had Shula refused the Balt job somehow and became Lion coach around 63 or 64, would he have tried to find a QB he admired like Gabriel or Morrall in a trade or join the sweepstakes for Namath, Huarte or Rhome ?

[SixtiesFan]

Hypothetically Richard, had Shula refused the Balt job somehow and became Lion coach around 63 or 64, would he have tried to find a QB he admired like Gabriel or Morrall in a trade or join the sweepstakes for Namath, Huarte or Rhome ?

If Don Shula had become the Lion HC in 1963 or 1964, he would have already had Earl Morrall. He would have had to choose between Morrall and Milt Plum.

[Brian wolf]

Thats right ... I forgot Morrall had been there before NY. Wasnt Plum in his first season there in 1962 ? A good season at that ...

[Bryan]

Funny you should mention that. Don Shula is the only head coach in the P.F.H.o.F. whom I would NEVER have put there. The guy lost (at least) as many "big games" as he won - many were upsets that his team was expected to win, handily. And if you look at his career with MIA it had one GREAT run (1971 - 74) and one decent one (1981 - 85) and that's about it. By my calculations that's less than half the time that he coached that team. And despite having one of the best QBs of all time on it what did his team accomplish over the last 10, or so, years that he was in charge of it, hm? Nah - to me D.S. has always been comPLETEly overrated. No way in Hades do rate him as highly as I do other coaches in the P.F.H.o.F. Not a chance.

You could say the same thing about Tom Landry. Lots of weird losses in the postseason. I remember someone predicted that SB VI would end in a tie because neither coach could ever win the big one. That said, both were consistent winners. Shula had competitive teams in 1975 and 1978 despite not really having great talent. That 1968 Colts team was very well coached, and probably didn't have the talent of other "greatest of all time" teams. You can say the same thing about the 1984 Dolphins, who really had no business going 14-2.

[SixtiesFan]

Thats right ... I forgot Morrall had been there before NY. Wasnt Plum in his first season there in 1962 ? A good season at that ...

Paul Brown traded Milt Plum to Detroit for Jim Ninowski (who had backed up Plum on the Browns in 1958-59) in 1962. In 1963, Plum and the Lions got off to a poor start and Morrall replaced him. Plum was the Lion starter again in 1964. Morrall went to the Giants in 1965, had a good year.

A lot of maneuvering.

[RichardBak]

Thats right ... I forgot Morrall had been there before NY. Wasnt Plum in his first season there in 1962 ? A good season at that ...

Paul Brown traded Milt Plum to Detroit for Jim Ninowski (who had backed up Plum on the Browns in 1958-59) in 1962. In 1963, Plum and the Lions got off to a poor start and Morrall replaced him. Plum was the Lion starter again in 1964. Morrall went to the Giants in 1965, had a good year.

A lot of maneuvering.

Somewhere along the line Morrall lopped off one of his big toes while mowing the lawn (really). That may have been the highlight of Earl's tenure in Detroit.

The Morrall of this story: Never operate a power mower in your bare feet.

[JameisLoseston]

Was that the stupidest trade in NFL history? Jim Ninowski had one of the worst starting tenures in history with the Lions. Meanwhile, Milt Plum was pretty fresh off a season with a PR of like 110.