When Dick Vermeil’s second season as St. Louis Rams coach ended with more losses than his first, he sat down for a postseason meeting with then-team president John Shaw and showed Shaw film of all the improvements the Rams had made, individually, schematically and as a team.
“It didn’t mean a lot to him, because he’s a president, a lawyer, not a football guy,” Vermeil recalled this week. “But I told him, ‘Eventually, the accumulation of improved football play by each position, the team gets better.’
“You can measure progress, but you have to do it as a coach.”
The Rams went 5-11 in 1997 and finished in last place in the NFC West. A year later, they went 4-12 and had a worse point differential.
But in 1999, Vermeil’s third season in St. Louis, he made sweeping changes to his coaching staff, bringing Mike Martz in as offensive coordinator and parting ways with Jerry Rhome, and bigger changes to team personnel — Kurt Warner, salvaged from the Arena Football League, had one of the most magical seasons ever by a quarterback, and the Rams acquired Hall-of-Fame running back Marshall Faulk in an offseason trade — and led the Rams on one of the most improbable Super Bowl runs in NFL history.
For Vermeil, it was the second time in as many coaching stops that he posted losing records in his first two years only to experience great success later down the line.
As Philadelphia Eagles coach from 1976-82, Vermeil followed 4-10 and 5-9 seasons with a 9-7 record and a wildcard appearance in 1978. By 1980, the Eagles were NFC East champions and playing in the Super Bowl.
It’s with his own personal experience in mind that Vermeil told the Free Press this week “the biggest mistake (Detroit Lions) ownership could make” would be firing Matt Patricia as head coach.
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With three games left in his second season, Patricia has come under increasing public fire for the Lions’ regression on the field.
He inherited a team coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons and has so far led them to nine total wins in 29 games. Last year, the Lions went 6-10 in what was billed as a one-step-back-to-take-two-forward season, but this year, the Lions have fallen even further, losing six straight and nine of their last 10 games. At 3-9-1 heading into Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they’re guaranteed a last-place finish in the NFC North.
Vermeil, who does not know Patricia, said he’s attended one NFL game in person this year: The Lions’ Week 3 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was impressed with what he saw.
“To start all over again, especially after losing your quarterback, my God,” Vermeil said. “You got to be careful. I say this, you can’t allow the fans and the media to make business, quality coaching decisions. And I really believe sometimes there are cities and organizations that are influenced by the radio talk shows and what the media says. Boy, it can kill you.”
Patricia has tried unsuccessfully to calm the fears of disgruntled Lions fans several times in recent weeks.
He championed the team-building process for the first time after the Lions lost on the road to a bad Washington team in late November, then insisted after last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings the Lions are better than their record indicates.
“I know there’s been a lot of coaches that have taken over programs and have really tried to start and build something and work from the bottom and try to grow on it and build it, and I know what those records look like, too, when those guys have all started out,” Patricia said. “So for me, I try not to look at that stuff. I just try to look at each week. So right now, for next week, that’s the biggest thing for us.”
Patricia declined to say which coaches he was referring to, but the list of NFL coaches with similar starts who’ve gone on to experience any kind of success is a short one.
According to ESPN, just four coaches since 1980 have started their coaching tenure with back-to-back losing seasons and gone on to win a Super Bowl with the same team: Vermeil, Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks), Jimmy Johnson (Dallas Cowboys) and Bill Walsh (San Francisco 49ers).
Even Bill Belichick, Patricia’s close friend and mentor with the New England Patriots, had to change jobs before he came of age as a coach. Belichick started his tenure as Cleveland Browns coach with three straight losing seasons and was fired from that post after five years. He has since won six Super Bowls with the Patriots.
