Life After Death: The Resurgence Of Rod Marinelli

How quickly has the fallen and disgraced landed on his feet.

Rod Marinelli was recently introduced (and with much fanfare I might add) as the defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears. The organization is thrilled. The players are giddy. The media has reacted as if Chicago has stolen a gem off the free agent coaching market.

If you were to go back a month ago, Marinelli was dead in the water. His team was about to go 0-16. His defense was dead last in the NFL and his defensive line was next to last in sacks.

Dead. We all thought he would never coach again in the NFL.

Some of us were sympathetic to Marinelli. It was hard to not like him as a person. Through the tremendous pressure of an 0-16 season, Marinelli faced the media onslaught week after week. He never turned on his team, he placed all the blame on himself, when we all knew that was a damn falsity.

Even after he was fired, Rod Marinelli became the only Lions coach in recent memory to face the media the next day and take questions. You have to respect that.

However, as honorable of a man as Marinelli was, that's how bad of a head football coach he was. Marinelli's strength as a coach, his patience, was also his greatest weakness. He was extremely slow to change when it was desperately needed, and he was conservative to a "T" when the situation called for recklessness.

Perhaps Marinelli's worst black mark as a coach was that he came into Detroit as a defensive line specialist. He then hand picked the players he wanted and Matt Millen accommodated him by getting those players if they were available. Yet, Detroit's defense continually finished in the bottom five in the league and not only did the defensive line not improve during his time here, it regressed.

Cory Redding, who had seven sacks in the final eight games of the 2006 season, only had one sack in 2007, and just three in 2008.

Yet, after the Lions fired Marinelli, there was league-wide interest in acquiring him. Chicago came out on top, seemingly because of Marinelli's connection with head coach Lovie Smith.

Obviously, Chicago has some awesome players on their defensive line. They are light years ahead of Detroit in one of the most important aspects of a football team. So one would think Marinelli wouldn't have too much trouble coming in and succeeding.

Still, he will have to work to reclaim his status as a defensive-line guru. That's what 0-16 does to you. I'm sure a lot of focus will be on Marinelli and how much his years with the Lions weighed on him.

Personally, I don't think it will affect the man. From the first day he arrived in Detroit to the day of his firing, Marinelli really didn't change much.

This wasn't Bobby Ross coming in fresh off a Superbowl appearance with San Diego, and leaving as a mentally distressed, sorry, old man halfway through the season.

Rod Marinelli rolls with the punches and takes life as it comes, and through it all, he remains the same. In fact, I can think of only one time when Marinelli really showed a hint of losing his temper, and that was when former Detroit News reporter Rob Parker took a shot at his family.

He will reclaim success in Chicago, bank on it.

Will he ever get another head coaching job? Highly doubtful, and with very good reason. In that aspect, Marinelli will be no different than the circus of former Lions head coaches before him, never to land another head coaching job in the NFL again. However, he will be respected in football circles and by his players. 

Those Chicago players watched in Detroit and saw a man, who even under enormous public pressure, never threw his players under the bus. Not once.

So, best of luck Rod Marinelli. Just don't beat us too bad next year. Detroit needs all the help it can get right now.