Is Jeff Fisher Really an Elite Football Coach?

Jeff Fisher is certainly in high demand. He is the belle of the ball, the apple of every NFL owner's eye and "the hot coach" right now. The smart money says that Fisher will wind up in St. Louis. He is at the top of the Rams' wish list, and you know what they say about that...

Be careful what you wish for. Because upon further review, the question has to be asked, Is Jeff Fisher really an elite football coach?

Fisher coached the Titans/Oilers from 1994 to 2010. That is a very long time for an NFL head coach to stay with one franchise. After going 1-5 as the interim coach in 1994, Fisher was named the head coach going into the 1995 season. He promptly led the Houston Oilers—that's right, Fisher was coaching Houston/Tennessee for that long—to a 7-9 record.

And that 7-9 record pretty much sums up Fisher's time as the Oilers/Titans coach. His teams were, for the most part, pretty average.

Over the next three seasons ('96 to '98), the Oilers/Titans finished 8-8 every year. They never made the playoffs. So if we throw the 1-5 interim record out the window, Fisher was 31-33 as a head coach through his first four seasons, and he could not get the Oilers/Titans into the playoffs.

Does that sound elite to you?

Most NFL owners would have fired Fisher at the point, but the Titans are owned by Bud Adams, and he isn't most NFL owners. Adams has a reputation for being..."thrifty," shall we call it? Put it this way, residents of Houston are still paying off the taxpayer-funded renovations to the Houston Astrodome that Adams asked for back in 1987.

So Adams, being a tight-fisted owner, and taking into consideration that Fisher had coached the team from Houston to Liberty Bowl Stadium to Nashville, held onto Fisher.

That's when a miracle happened. Literally.

The 1999 season was Fisher's best year as a head coach, with the team going 13-3, and earning the right to host a playoff game. However, as would be the case throughout his career, Fisher didn't take advantage of a great regular season, and the Titans trailed the Buffalo Bills late in the contest.

Of course, we know how it ended, with the special teams play appropriately dubbed "The Music City Miracle." The Titans won, and followed that up by advancing all the way to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the St. Louis Rams in a thrilling game.

Fisher had good seasons after that. Just take a look...

- 2000 - 13-3, lost a first-round home playoff game
- 2002 - 11-5, lost to Oakland in the AFC Championship Game
- 2003 - 12-4, lost at New England in a second round playoff game
- 2007 - 10-6, lost a first-round road playoff game
- 2008 - 13-3, lost a first-round home playoff game

Trust me, a lot of NFL fans, and especially Rams fans, would kill to go 11-5 and make the playoffs. But with Fisher, he never capitalized on any of these good seasons, and it's all the mediocre seasons that define Fisher's career and his "Fisherball" philosophy.

Just see for yourself...

- 2001 - 7-9, missed the playoffs
- 2004 - 5-11, missed the playoffs
- 2005 - 4-12, missed the playoffs
- 2006 - 8-8, missed the playoffs
- 2009 - 8-8, missed the playoffs
- 2010 - 6-10, missed the playoffs.

So if you add that up, during the last seven seasons Fisher coached the Titans, they only made the playoffs twice, and they never won a playoff game. Would this ever be allowed to happen if he were coaching in New York, Philadelphia or Dallas?

Throw out the 1-5 interim record, and Fisher has a career record of 141-115 (.551 winning percentage). That's a respectable record, especially when you consider that Fisher coached one good QB (Steve McNair), one average QB (Kerry Collins) and one head case QB (Vince Young). It also has to be noted that Fisher was working under tough conditions, moving from Houston to Tennessee, all while working for a very "frugal" owner.

But isn't it about winning in the NFL? Isn't that why the Rams and the Dolphins are courting Fisher in the first place, because Steve Spagnulo and Tony Sparano weren't getting it done? Don't we have to talk about Fisher's playoff record here?

Fisher is 5-6 during his career in the playoffs. If we throw out "The Music City Miracle," then that Super Bowl run would have never happened, and Fisher would be 2-6 in the playoffs. He would be the owner of four first-round "one-and-dones," with three of those being home losses where his team was favored.

So is Fisher really an elite coach?

I think the answer is no. So why are NFL owners falling over each other to hire him? The short answer is the real "big-name coaches" are sitting out this hiring season. If Bill Cowher and/or Jon Gruden had thrown their hat in the ring, then Fisher would probably be third in line for most head coaching jobs.

That's not to say Fisher is a bad coach, not at all. He's never had a really bad season. Fisher is a "low ceiling, high floor" football coach. If you hire him, your team won't suck, but they probably won't be great either.

If you hire Jeff Fisher, your team will be very, very average, and if you are a Rams fan, average would be a welcomed improvement, right?