Coaching Changes Offer No Guarantees for Success in Today's NFL

Coaching changes in the NFL can bring immediate hope when the team decides to make a move and install new leadership for the organization.

There is fast talk of accountability, a new “identity” and a more physical brand of football that is going to produce results along with multiple playoff (or championship) seasons. This is when management discusses the “culture change” that will come with a new voice, as the search begins to find the ideal fit to run the football team for at least the next couple of seasons—if it wins.

We heard that same type of chatter on Black Monday in the NFL from the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons, with the Oakland Raiders still looking for a replacement after letting Dennis Allen go earlier in the season.

There are plenty of reasons Marc Trestman, Jim Harbaugh, Rex Ryan and Mike Smith were shown the door Monday morning. Maybe it was the negative results, a power struggle in the front office, lack of development with young talent, a locker room that checked out early, etc.

Some of these coaching moves I agree with, and others I don’t. But this is a production-based business, and no one really cares about feelings in the NFL. However, the next move for these teams is crucial—because the head coach is the most important man in the building.

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It goes beyond X’s and O’s, scheme or game plans. That stuff is secondary compared to a head coach who can sell the program, navigate adversity and demand true accountability with his players. You want to win in this league? Then hire a coach who is a real leader, someone who will challenge his players and ask them to compete every day with no questions asked.

This is about professional player-coach relationships that allow a team to build a program with the right mix of talent and football character in the locker room. I’m talking about a level of respect for the coach that motivates veterans, rookies and even the equipment guys handing out practice jerseys to believe in the program, the direction and the ultimate goals set by the team.

Don’t have the proper personnel on the roster to win in 2015? Don’t worry about that today. Every team that makes a coaching change has holes in the depth chart heading into the offseason. There will be plenty of time to flip the roster upside down through free agency and the draft.

For the players, it can be an odd time—a confusing time, really—as they head home for the offseason with no idea of who is going to be running the show come next year. Some guys will return, while others will be let go as they wait for their cleats, shoulder pads, etc., to show up in a box on the front doorstep of their offseason homes.

Cut. Released. And replaced.

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Pretty standard when there is a change at the top as the new coaching staff wants to bring in their own guys to fit the team they are trying to develop. However, for the guys who do stick around to play for the new coach, they have to trust the process and buy into the transition.

I went through that same transition back in Washington when Mr. Snyder let Steve Spurrier go and hired Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs in 2004. Everything changed on the first day of the offseason program that spring. From the way we practiced to the schedule and the structure in the facility out in Ashburn, Virginia, this was a new way of playing football for Gibbs and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

We needed that as players after the disappointing year in ’03 under Spurrier that led to a complete organizational failure at the end of the season. Gibbs was a proven leader, a winner. There were three Super Bowl trophies in the lobby at Redskins Park because of him. 

We bought into the program—quickly—but the results didn’t come at first. In ’04, we won just six games. That’s it. And we lost to the Dallas Cowboys twice. Yikes.

The next year, we landed a ticket to the playoffs after closing out the season with a five-game winning streak led by running back Clinton Portis. After beating the Tampa Bay Bucs on Wild Card Weekend, we ended the year with a loss to Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks out in Seattle in the divisional round.

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Gibbs was an excellent coach, and the immediate change he brought back to Washington allowed us to compete and play tough football. But, man, these games are hard to win in the NFL. With Gibbs in control, that roster was completely overhauled. There was some really good talent there to go along with an outstanding coaching staff, though it wasn’t enough to bring back another title to Washington.

For the five NFL teams that are looking for a new head coach this offseason, I hope they find the right leader. That’s critical to building a program the players buy into, and you don’t stand a chance without it. Yet even with the hope, excitement and overall hype that will follow the new coach after he is hired next month, it doesn’t guarantee wins, playoff appearances or Super Bowl rings.

Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.

Follow @MattBowen41