Is Jim Mora's Legacy Defined by 'Playoffs?' Tirade

Jim Mora has a career record of 125-112 (including the playoffs) in the NFL, but his coaching legacy is not defined by numbers. Instead, Mora will be remembered for a tirade that occurred over 10 years ago when he was coaching the Indianapolis Colts.

After a tough loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Mora entered his press conference a well-known commodity.

When he left the interview room, he became a legend. The term “Playoffs?” took on a whole new meaning once Mora uttered the word.

Nearly everyone and their grandmother has seen or heard the clip at some point in their life.

Eric Mangini, former head coach of the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, now works for ESPN as an analyst. On NFL Live today, he claimed that his seven-year-old son even repeats the phrase made famous by Mora.

Needless to say, the rant is very well known.

Do not get me wrong, watching the video, I still find it very amusing, but should he not be known for more than just that?

He turned around a New Orleans Saints franchise that had no winning seasons until he arrived on the scene. Mora constructed the vaunted “Dome Patrol” defense that had Sam Mills, Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling.

He engineered a 12-win season in 1987 that led to the Saints' first-ever home playoff game (they lost 44-10 to the Minnesota Vikings).

Besides turning around the Saints, Mora also led the Colts to two straight playoff appearances. Now, his success coincided with Peyton Manning coming into the league, so that definitely helped.

Outside of the NFL, Mora won two championships in the now defunct USFL from 1983-85 and won coach of the year honors during the 1984 campaign.

Mora may not have won a Super Bowl or even advanced further than the divisional round (0-6 career playoff record), but he was a good coach who is mostly remembered for a press conference held years ago.

Maybe Mora will be remembered for more than just his tirades eventually, but I do not think the phrase “Diddly Poo” will soon be forgotten by football enthusiast.