We take a look back at the top head coaching rants from yesteryear, getting you primed for the 2015 NFL season.
By Patrick Comia
Next thing you know, it’s gone just like that and you ask yourself, where did it all go?
Hopefully, your team does great this year, no matter your affiliation. You are sure to live through the ups and downs of your favorite football team’s performance.
No doubt, they will get you out of your chair and scream some “colorful metaphor” to express your feelings, good or bad. It can bring joy and put you in a good move for the following work day. Or, it can sour your day and give you the “don’t bother me” towards your co-workers.
You feel like you could have done a better job as the coach yesterday. Better play calling, handling of players, or motivating them to do better, we all wish we could lash out and impose our coaching style.
And then there are times when you sit back and watch someone talk to reporters, not holding anything back. And, it was how you were feeling.
Most of the time, you find satisfaction knowing someone like that cares. They become epic and take on a life of their own, taking on legendary status. Most of them are funny to look at, but they are passion-filled.
As long as there is an NFL, we won’t soon forget these epic moments:
Honorable mention
Well, if you were Rex Ryan at this press conference, after losing to the team you shared a building with, you might have felt the same way.
In this clip, Ryan is poked and poked by the New York media after a questionable call of putting in a injured Mark Sanchez in the fourth quarter. It just added to the mess and confusion in the in the Rex Ryan era.
However, you have to feel for the man after constantly being asked about his quarterback situation. Sometimes, you can’t help but react in some way.
5. No One Is Above The Team
Mike Singletary was one of the most feared linebackers in NFL history. He was named one of the top 100 players by NFL.com and enshrined in Canton along the greats at the NFL Hall of Fame.
He was of the old regime, when players respected each other, played for one another, and winning together. Singletary was a man you would follow into battle and with bullets flying around you. The feeling of invincibility would consume you cause of his presence.
Spending two years in the San Francisco 49ers organization as an assistant, it was his time to take the reins and spearhead the team’s resurgence. However, in his first as head coach during the 2008 season, he had to put one of his promising players in place. TE Vernon Davis and Singletary had an altercation on the sidelines that sent Davis to the showers.
when asked about the alterncation, Singletary let his feelings out and was point blank that no one was above the team:
4. Just Stating The Obvious
How can we forget this tirade? This is one of those “Hey remember when…” moments. A water cooler discussion between the guys and gals. It’s been a catch line, a joking statement you would add at the end of your own football loss or a punch line. It’s just one of those tirades that will be played over and over, and you will never get tired of it. It’s been so catchy, that it was the focus of a Coors Light commercial a couple of years ago.
The reason for the outburst, you ask? Well, you would have steam coming from your ears if your team blew a 20-0 halftime lead over a then-undefeated Bears football team. The loss dropped the Cardinals record to 1-5.
Without further a do, Dennis Green at his finest:
3. Final Words
How can we forget former head coach Jim Mora? Like the two coaches mentioned previously, he became a great sound bite and became great commercial material. Of all of Mora’s rants, this and his time Indianapolis stick out as memorable to fans.
His New Orleans Saints just loss a game to the San Francisco 49ers, 24-22. After, he launched into a presser nicknamed the “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” rant. His team was 3-3 at the time.
His rant must have done something because the Saints rallied around his outburst to rattle off nine straight wins, finishing the 1987 regular season 12-3. Unfortunately, they loss to the Minnesota Vikings by a landslide, 44-10.
To top it off, Mora received NFL Coach of the Year.
Go figure!
2. Playoffs?
Coming in at number two is probably one of the most recognized rants in all of sports, not just football. Jim Mora is just masterful in this piece.
He lets loose on how he feels and the sarcasm that comes out is the stuff of legends.
Anytime a media member mentions the word playoffs, or if it is even whispered, guarantee you will get this reaction.
For Mora’s coaching career, he has a winning record of 125 wins and 106 losses in 15 seasons. It was his inability to get over the playoff hump that became his reputation. That and his epic tirades to the media.
In four seasons as the Indianapolis Colts head coach, he compiled a record of .500 record of 32-32. In this clip, he speaks to the media following a loss to the 49ers in 2001. It dropped his team to 4-6 on the season and would finish 6-10. Consequently, this rant may have sealed the deal for Mora not returning tot he Colts past the season.
1. “Hello?!?!? You play, to win the game!”
Last, but certainly and never last, we come to Herman Edwards. He just has a way of motivating me to go and play for him, if I could. He even does it on when he shows up on ESPN.
In five seasons as the New York Jets head coach, he managed a 39-41 record, going 2-3 in their playoff appearances. He followed the footsteps of coaching legend and man of many hats, Bill Parcells in 2001 (after one forgettable Al Groh season in 2000).
Edwards tenure was met with mixed reviews and ended on a sour note, regarding his salary demands with the Jets and led to his departure for the Kansas City Chiefs.
This famous rant came after a loss to the Cleveland Browns, in 2002. At the time, the team was 2-5.
Then, behind first-year start Chad Pennington, the team went 7-2 and made the playoffs.
But, it’s what Edwards did in this clip. Never forget!