Detroit Lions- Is Jim Schwartz The Coach to Right The Lions?

I was reading Michael Sudds' recent article "Detroit Lions: Why The Should Hire Bill Cowher" yesterday.  It is a very thought-provoking article.

In summary, the article suggest to have Cowher come to Detroit and give advice to Lions head coach Jim Schwartz on how to impose his will on the players of the Detroit Lions.

While I enjoyed the article, I disagreed with the author.  Schwartz, with his personality and mannerisms, needs to find his own way.  Attempting to have Schwartz become more Cower-like would not allow Schwartz to coach naturally. 

The article did bring to mind the real question one perhaps Micheal Sudds was attempting to find answers to:  Does Jim Schwartz have the "it" factor to become a head coach?

Here's the rub: It must be first defined just what "it" is.  And that may be the most difficult task in professional sports.  It can take on many forms and come from all different types of personalities.  Let's take a look at some of the more successful coaches in the NFL, past and present.

Vince Lombardi 

Without a doubt considered one of the most motivational coaches to ever grace the sidelines of an NFL football team.  Players were devoted to him, and his emphasis on hard work and dedication is legendary. 

His coaching style was based on his excellent motivational skills that inspired players to sacrifice themselves for the team and for each other.  He is perhaps the most quoted head coach when it comes to football and business. 

His quote "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" sums up what made him successful.  To instill 53 players the will and determination to obtain one thing at all costs:  Win the game.

Bill Walsh

How could you not include Bill Walsh when talking about what it takes to win?  He was perhaps the first coach to look at a team holistically, which included hiring and developing a staff, evaluating and acquiring key players, building a game plan and overcoming mental barriers that can plague a team. 

His two strongest skills were his evaluation of players and his skill in building a game plan.  How many players that he drafted or traded for become superstars?  Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Steve Young and Dallas Clark.  The list goes on and on. 

Even more impressive is the Bill Walsh coaching tree.  The names of very successful head coaches is impressive.  The list includes Mike Holmgren, Sam Wyche, George Siefert, Dennis Green, Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan, Brad Childress and Jeff Fisher. 

No one can dispute Walsh's inspiring play-calling and his absolute trust in his players to do them successfully.  And he listened to his players.  Joe Montana would often change Walsh's mind about what play to run during timeouts.  He gave Steve Young play-calling responsibilities during two-minute drills.  Wide receivers changed routes, while running them, based on what the defense gave them. 

Bill Parcells

Ah yes, the Big Tuna, the old salt-style coach of the NFL.  Personally, I was never a fan of Parcells, but I can't argue his success in the league and with so many teams.  If there was ever a coach that could be linked with the term "tough love," it was Parcells.  And his dislike for quarterbacks is legendary. 

Parcells wasn't successful because of one method—he was successful because of many methods.  He could get results through intimidation, psychology, enthusiasm and just plain common sense. 

An example of how he motivated players is how he changed then-Jets wide receiver, Keyshawn Johnson.  When Parcells came to the Jets, Johnson was an attention whore and disruptive to the team.  Parcells had a heart to heart talk with Johnson.  What was discussed isn't clear and the change in Johnson wasn't quick. 

But over a period of time, Johnson became more serious, didn't get in referee's faces on calls he disagreed with and became a much more low-key player in the media's eye.

Parcells will tear down a player and rebuild him.  He got players to understand what it takes to be on a winning team.  And he spoke to players in a language they could understand, which is why he was so successful in shaping lousy teams into playoff contenders.

Sean Payton

Payton is an aggressive coach.  It shows in his game plans as well as how he treats his players.  His strongest attribute is that he isn't afraid of failure.  And while his aggression leads to threats of cutting players on game days, it hardly ever happens.  His players call him "nuts" on the sidelines, and he will curse out any player and threaten to cut them.  Not just the grunts, any player. 

But where Payton shines is in his game preparation, his attention to every minute detail is legendary.  Drew Brees gets a lot of credit for the Saint's success.  But he attributes that success to the plays sent in by Payton.

Payton plays with the throttle open and will score every chance he gets.  He doesn't adhere to a rhythm that would allow a defensive coordinator to predict what a Payton offense is going to do.  And it's not limited to just the offense.  How big were Payton's cajones when he called for an onside kick to open the second half of last year's Super Bowl?

Jeff Fischer

Currently the longest tenured coach as he has been with the Tennessee Titans since 1994.  His coaching philosophy is a strong running game, a strong defense and poise in the middle of diversity. 

Perhaps his best coaching became evident in 2002 when the Titans started of 1-4 and pretty much was written off by many NFL pundits.  But Fisher stuck to his guns and the team responded, winning the next 11 of 12 games to take the AFC South title.  Fisher doesn't believe in playing mind games with his players ala Bill Parcells. 

Fisher treats his players as men, not pieces of equipment.  An example of this was after the New England Patriots pounded them 59-0.  They were coming up on a bye week and players were expecting to be worked even harder because of the lousy effort they gave. 

Instead, Fisher informed his players that they were going to work a few days and then he wanted them to get as far away as possible.  When they came back, he showed them a new schedule: their opener was against Jacksonville and he wanted a commitment to just win that one game.  Instead, the team won eight of the last 10 games and narrowly missed the playoffs.

Bill Belichick

Call him a cheater, call him secretive or call him manipulative...but you can't dispute his success.  Belichick believes in understanding completely what your opponent's capabilities are and what they may be capable of doing.  He also believes in realistically evaluating your team's strengths and weaknesses as well as playing style.  Once this criteria is met, he attempts to attack what the other team does not do well against.

He also acquires unselfish, team-first talented players.  He creates a good working atmosphere that allows the players to feed off each other to win games.

Jim Schwartz 

So where does Jim Schwartz fit in?  He is a strong, smart coach with a philosophy based akin to sabermetrics.  He has an economics degree from Georgetown.  He plays chess to help him understand strategies and defense.  He believes that building the team to run and to stop the run are keys to success, no surprise as he was on Jeff Fisher's staff for a few years.  He has stated that his only objective is to win.

While Schwartz may not have had the success that he wanted over these last two years, he can say with conviction that the Lions are much improved since he took over.  This year, the Lions have been in several games that they could have won, most notably against the Bears and Jets.  But I have to wonder when he and his staff will ever decide to throw the dice and try to do something unexpected to win a game.

I understand sticking to plan.  Without doing that, you have a directionless, rudderless team as the Lions were in 2008.  But there has to come a time when you take a calculated risk to do something unexpected to take the defense by surprise. 

At this stage of the season, what would be lost if the Lions were at a 4th-and-1 on the opponents 40-yard line to toss a bomb instead of doing what everyone in the stadium, the television audience and even those who don't like football knows what you are going to do: Run the ball up the middle.

If Jim Schwartz ever gets the Lions to the Super Bowl, does anyone think he would call for an onside kick to start the second half with a lead?  At this point, based on his recent past history, it would be doubtful.

I do think Schwartz has the "it" factor to be a great coach for the Lions.  He had a pretty monumental task to accomplish when he came in after the Lions 0-16 season.  There have been numerous player changes to contend with and the rash of injuries that have hampered the teams success.

Schwartz has the players buy in as far as what the common goal is.  The players have improved on every level as far as talent and play execution.

But Schwartz has made a couple of questionable coaching moves, mainly around clock management and not addressing the alarming number of penalties the Lions are called for.  But we must also understand that he is going through a learning curve as well.

He is the right man for the job...he doesn't need coaching on how to instill his will upon his players.  What he needs to get the team to do is collectively instill their will upon opponents.  He needs to state that objective over and over to reinforce it every week.  And he needs to learn how to go for the jugular and not let up until the final gun sounds.

We'll get there fellow Lions fans.  Just not this year.