Tag Archives: Super Bowl XXXII

Mike Holmgren Belongs In The Pro Football Hall of Fame

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There are several acccomplishments which set a coach apart where they reach the status as a coaching great. Of course winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate prize however when we look at the legacy of their coahing tree, PFHoF players the coach produces, and the ability to turn around a franchise. Mike Holmgren has soared every hurdle and has turned around 2 franchises.

Do you realize when Sterling Sharpe gives his speech this August, he’ll be the 6th player enshrined in Canton that played for Holmgren? That is 1 fewer than Tom Landry who coached Dallas 29 seasons and 2 less than Don Shula who coached for 33. Mike Holmgren was head coach in Green Bay & Seattle for just 17 seasons. The late Reggie White, Brett Favre, LeRoy Butler, T Walter Jones, & G Steve Hutchinson are the others with bronze busts.

Try this on… The Mike Holmgren coaching tree with branches Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Jim Mora Jr, & Tom Coughlin have gone on to take their teams to 22 conference championship games! This includes 6 Super Bowl Championships (XXXVII, XLII, XLVI. LIV, LVII, & LVIII) in 9 appearances. In contrast when you compare this to Hall of Fame Coach Bill Walsh, you have to include Holmgren’s 4 conference championship appearances just to make it to 13. You know the reverence Coach Walsh is kept here at Taylor Blitz but that is an astounding measure.

No other coach has had 3 staff members move on to become Super Bowl winning head coaches. Bill Walsh & Bill Parcells each had 2 but that is it. Not Jimmy Johnson, not Chuck Noll, not Bill Belichick, not George Seifert, not even Tom Landry. Keep in mind 5 of these coaches are already enshrined in Canton with Belichick eligible in 3 years.

He was also able to win in different fashions. He developed a young Brett Favre and won with his passing prowess featuring Hall of Fame receiver Sterling Sharpe. Sharpe set back to back NFL records for receptions in a season (1992 -108rec/1993 -112 rec) while Favre went on to be NFL MVP 3 straight years 1995-1997. He set NFC record with TD passes with 38 in ’95 & 39 in ’96. They were a pass first West Coast offense that leaned on the run to close out games.

Then in Seattle he leans on a bellcow running back Sean Alexander who wins the 2005 NFL MVP rushing for 1,880 yards with 28 rushing TDs. They made it to Super Bowl XL where several questionable calls kept Holmgren from becoming the 1st coach to win Super Bowls with 2 different franchises. He was “this” close…

2005 NFC Championship Trophy

Of course his most notable stop was resurrecting a Green Bay franchise that had been flat on its back since the Lombardi era in the 1960s. No coach could sustain excellence in what had become a desolate place where other coaches would use the threat of “sending” players off to Green Bay as a banishment. There is an NFL Films clip of the late John McKay saying this on the Buccaneer sideline. This was a team that had been 0-26!

In bringing the team to respectability from a competitive standpoint, his rise came at the advent of free agency at the beginning of the 1993 season. One of the principle arguments that persisted was ‘how could Green Bay attract black free agents?’ He was instrumental in landing the 1st prized free agent in Hall of Fame DE Reggie White. He actually pranked him by leaving a voicemail saying he “was Jesus and he should come to Green Bay.” He won over Reggie White when no pundit thought he had a snowballs chance to sign him.

That move attracted key black free agents TE Keith Jackson, WR Andre Rison, FS Eugene Robinson, DE Sean Jones who spearheaded Holmgren’s Super Bowl XXXI champion. Yes there were other great notable signings in WR Don Beebe, QB Jim McMahon, and FS Mike Prior but in ’92 while the players were suing for free agency Keith Jackson was the #1 free agent. Reggie White’s name was on the lawsuit and he was ’93s prize free agent every team was after. Holmgren charmed them both.

He needed them to get over the top after taking the Packers to 9-7, 9-7, 9-7 and 11-5 records 1992-1995. His 13-3 masterpiece returned the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Green Bay making Holmgren a legend:

His final two years in Green Bay, he was on the precipice of winning back to back Super Bowls when they charged into XXXII as a defending champion. Needless to say Holmgren’s team fell behind and he took the ball out of Dorsey Levens hands chronicled here

In 1998 the Packers entered the playoffs as a wildcard and lost in dramatic fashion to San Francisco 30-27 on a last second TD from Young to Owens. His final game as a Packer. I was disappointed he didnt win in XXXII and believe he would have been in Canton years ago had he gone back to back. Referee whistles and flags against his Seahawks in XL  withstanding… however as The Chancellor of Football I wanted to offer this piece.

For his career he is tied with Don Shula & George Seifert as the only head coaches to produce 4 NFL MVPs with Brett Favre (1995,96,97) & Shawn Alexander in 2005. Considering 2 of the MVPs won under Seifert, Joe Montana ’89 & ’90, Holmgren was the Offensive Coordinator calling those plays. Winning Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV. The latter a 55-10 blowout in one of the most artistic games ever called. Peyton Manning won his with 3 coaches & Aaron Rodgers won his with 2.

If you’re keeping score at home:

  1. Tied for producing the most NFL MVPs in history with 4.
  2. Coaching tree has produced 22 conference title appearances, 9 Super Bowl appearances winning 6.
  3. 4th in history producing PFHoF players with 6 & Shawn Alexander talk is heating up. Could tie Landry at 3.
  4. Had a 161-111 record as a head coach winning 1 Super Bowl, appearing in 2 more.
  5. Hired to be Packers HC after a 3 year run in SF as OC ’88, ’89, ’90 winning 2 Super Bowls and an NFC Championship Game.

This is the epitome of a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach! In multiple Super Bowls in multiple decades? He needs to be enshrined just as I said to him back in 2016 he would. Well…

Back in 2012 when he was enshrined in The Packers Hall of Fame I was upset Brett Favre wasn’t there as he was still at odds with the organization. By the midnight hour I wrote “The Chancellor’s Take: Green Bay Packers & Brett Favre’s Broken Relationship” pleading they get their act together as the time was coming to immortalize recently retired greats as Favre soon would be. Never once figuring I’d be able to witness history up close.

As fate would have it I attended the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony as a guest of Kevin Greene, for penning a similar article for him years before. The Favre & Greene contingents were right in front of the stage. When the ceremony ended I walked toward the stage to congratulate Kevin for an awesome speech and hug his wife Tara who sang the national anthem…and right next to me was this old football coach… Mike Holmgren congratulating Favre on his. It was a surreal moment flashing me back to the 2012 Packers HOF ceremony… We greeted and as we were exiting toward the shuttles I told him to get ready as he had to prepare his speech. Of course he thanked me and gave a wry smile “maybe someday”… was gracious and gregarious as we chatted that evening.

Yet here we are and somehow this man hasn’t been ensrined. If this isn’t a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume I don’t know what one is. its time for the writers to put Mike Holmgren in the hallowed halls of Canton. He had my vote years ago…

For induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I present to you Mike Holmgren!

Past Hall of Fame Articles:

Robert Brazile 2011 (inducted 2018)

Ran into Robert Brazile after the Gold Jacket Dinner. Great time.

Kevin Greene 2011 (inducted 2016)

With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.

Sterling Sharpe 2011 (will be inducted 2025)

Terrell Davis 2011 (inducted 2017)

Jerry Kramer 2011 (inducted 2018)

“Hey big guy!” ’18 HOF

Everson Walls 2011

Randy Moss 2011 (inducted 2018)

Cris Carter 2011 (inducted 2013)

Tom Flores 2012 (inducted 2021)

Lester Hayes 2012

Chuck Foreman 2012

Edgerrin James 2013 (inducted 2020)

Andre Reed 2013 (inducted 2014) 

Roger Craig 2013

Corey Dillon 2014

Ken Riley 2015 (inducted 2023)

Ken Stabler 2015 (inducted 2016)

Drew Pearson 2016 (inducted 2021) 

Cliff Branch 2016 (inducted 2022)

Todd Christensen 2017

Hardy Nickerson 2020

Wilber Marshall 2024

SUPER BOWL XXXII RUNNER UP 1997 GREEN BAY PACKERS

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Super Bowl XXXII between the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers was a classic case of over coaching in Denver’s 31-24 upset win.  Was it really an upset??  The years of free agency made the AFC as physical as the NFC.

In the previous 3 seasons, you saw the AFC getting more physical in their Super Bowl representative. San Diego in XXIX, Steelers in XXX, and Patriots in XXXI.  They weren’t like my Buffalo Bills in 3 of the previous 4 Super Bowls before that were being beaten on the lines and out hit.  Yet Green Bay was set to defend their title with Reggie White, Gilbert Brown, Santana Dotson and that defensive front.

What happened? The ’97 edition of the Packers were stout and were more in harmony as an offense. Edgar Bennett had been lost to injury. No worries, Dorsey Levens picked up the slack and had a career year with nearly 1,500 yards rushing.  A powerful runner that gave Green Bay a stronger running game than they had in ’96.  Robert Brooks was healthy and teamed with Antonio Freeman to give Favre the perfect set of receivers to go along with Pro Bowl TE Mark Chmura.  Freeman had become a star in ’97 and could be found on the end of many of Brett Favre’s 35 TDs thrown that year.  Brett was Co-MVP of the league and first time a player won it 3 straight years.  They were better X’s and O’s but what was missing?

Desmond Howard and Keith Jackson were missing.  Howard we’ll get to later, yet Jackson was the long time tight end who had come over as a free agent, had retired after the championship the previous year.  The Packers would use a little more two tight ends with Chmura and Jackson which kept teams honest. This protects an offense from overload blitzes a majority of the time.

xxxiii6The Packers also could split either TE away from the line so that formation wise they could keep a defense deployed in base personnel and back a few teams out of a blitz.  Evidenced by Keith Jackson’s huge game in the NFC Championship in ’95 v. Dallas with over 100 yards receiving in that game.  Yet here they were 13-3 again and headed to the Super Bowl looking to become a dynasty.

I can still see the Packers ripping off 13 yd runs by Levens, and 13 yd passes by Favre in this the Super Bowl where the NFC was on a 13 game winning streak.  I can still see that pretty pass from Favre to Freeman to end the first drive with a TD and a 7-0 lead.  The Packers were off and runnin’…yet took the ball out of Dorsey Levens hands when he was running wild on the worst run defense, by ranking (16th & 31st against the run), and yards per carry avg. to make the Super Bowl up to that point.  This led to Favre being under more pressure from a blitzing Bronco defense.

After a Steve Atwater sack and forced fumble led to the Packers being behind 17-7, the Broncos had wrested strategic control from Green Bay.  Dorsey Levens was a pass blocker and part time receiver now that they were playing catch-up. Denver on the other hand had Terrell Davis to keep running north /south on the Packers defense tiring them out.  So is that great scouting by the Broncos or over coaching on the Packer’s part?

The Chancellor of Football thought over coaching since they took the ball out of Levens hands first when he had 11 carries for 62 yards at the half, including 5 runs of 7 yards or more. He was averaging 5.6 yards per carry yet Holmgren put the game in Brett Favre’s hands instead and right into the path of Bronco Defensive CoOrdinator Greg Robinson’s blitzers.

xxxii7In 1997 the defending champion Packers were a juggernaut and in many ways were just as strong as their 1996 champion.  They didn’t have Desmond Howard as the game breaking catalyst and it didn’t come back to haunt them until the late 3rd quarter in Super Bowl XXXII. When Antonio Freeman fumbled a kickoff that fired up the Broncos when Denver had just scored to take a 24-17 lead. It was ironic that roughly at about the same point in XXXI, Desmond took the kickoff the distance to deflate the Patriots.  Here it sent a shot of confidence and excitement through the Bronco sideline. Only a few plays before was the John Elway diving helicopter run.

Yet this team did win the NFC Championship in San Francisco with a 23-10 win to end Steve Mariucci’s rookie season.  The week before they held off the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional game 21-7 in a game made famous by the back and forth taunting between Brett Favre and Warren Sapp.  That was a transcendent game yet Tampa didn’t have a ready for primetime offense that sank them.  This team should have repeated.

Yet tactically they gave it away.

Levens in the ’97 NFC Championship out in San Fran.

Thanks for reading and please share the article.

SUPER BOWL XXXII CHAMPION 1997 DENVER BRONCOS: Curse of the 1983 Draft

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Thirteen losses in a row??  Are you kiddin’ me?? Hard to believe but from 1983-1997, the AFC lost every Super Bowl and many in decisive fashion.

The NFC’s dominance in the Super Bowl had reached an embarrassing level and let’s face it the Green Bay Packers were poised to become back to back champions.  Brett Favre, at the height of his powers, having collected his 3rd straight MVP trophy was leading an offense that was stronger than the one that won the Super Bowl the year before.

Dorsey Levens was having a career year in rushing with 1,435 yards.  Reggie White, had former Philadelphia Eagle Seth Joyner join him with Green Bay in a quest to get a ring like White, Sean Jones, Keith Jackson, Andre Rison, Desmond Howard, and Eugene Robinson had the year before.  This team had just run roughshod over the San Francisco 49ers 23-10 in Candlestick to take the NFC Championship…What happened?

First, let’s take you back to 1983. The great quarterback class that brought Jim Kelly, John Elway, Dan Marino, Tony Eason, Ken O’Brien, and Todd Blackledge all to the AFC.  From that time on the conference made personnel moves and strategies based on being downfield passing attacks.  Subsequently the teams also geared their defensive personnel to stop that kind of approach.  They had thinner, lankier linemen to pass block and defenders to rush the passer and cover running backs.

Think back to the Patriots DE Garin Veris, Denver’s DE Rulon Jones, Dolphins DE’s Kim Bokamper, Cleveland’s Al “Bubba” Baker. All AFC defensive line prototypes you didn’t see in the NFC.

Their less fortunate Earth bound NFC brethren stayed rooted in running the football. They were stouter in the types of linemen they kept and played stronger at the line of scrimmage.  How do we know this?  From 1983-1997 there were really only two running backs that led the NFL in rushing from the AFC: Marcus Allen ’85, Eric Dickerson in ’88 after being traded from Rams, and Christian Okoye in 1989. In Okoye’s case, he carried the ball 90 more times and only outrushed Barry Sanders by 10 yards.  On the last day of the season with Okoye’s day completed, Sanders was 10 yards away in a late game with several minutes to go, yet was uninterested in the rushing title.

xxxii2When you think back to the Super Bowls during the 13 game losing streak, what became apparent was how much more physical the top NFC teams played. They simply overpowered the AFC Champions on the line of scrimmage.  This was the curse of the great quarterback class of 1983. Yes they made it to the top of their conference yet it wasn’t a coincidence that they were a combined 0-9 in the Super Bowl during that stretch.  So what did they need to do?  Well…to get John Elway a Super Bowl ring, Denver had to build him an NFC team.

Since the advent of Free Agency in 1993 the physicality of the NFC started to have an effect on the AFC as players switched sides.  The teams were getting more physical by the year and if you look at the 1997 Denver Broncos, a significant number of new players on their roster had come from NFC camps. CB Tim McKyer, LB Bill Romanowski, FB Howard Griffith, WR Ed McCaffrey, OL Mark Schlereth, OL Brian Habib, RB Dereck Loville, and DE Alfred Williams to name a few, had come over to give Denver a stronger more physical team.

They drafted Terrell Davis, a north/south NFC power-type runner more suited to the NFC East than the pre Mike Shanahan Broncos.  The AFC began to change & starting with the ‘95 Steelers, the AFC Champion arrived much stronger on the front lines than their predecessors in previous Super Bowls.  The inability to control the line of scrimmage is what doomed the AFC in those 13 previous Super Bowls.

Couple that with the sentimental favorite to win it all, John Elway. We forgot that it had been 8 years since Elway was called “The Duke”, a nickname of late 80s fame when he had gone to 3 Super Bowls in 4 years.  We kept waiting for THOSE Bronco teams in orange jerseys to show up with a pedestrian running game.

Unfortunately so did the Green Bay Packers who woke up in the second half of Super Bowl XXXII tied 17-17, and were facing Terrell Davis running north and south on them. This brought the linebackers up and allowed Elway to complete several choice seem passes to Ed McCaffrey and Shannon Sharpe which led to the famous diving, helicopter spinning, run of Elway’s that told Bronco nation that THIS Super Bowl was going to be different.  Much different!!

The galvanized Broncos, from that point on were physically punishing the Packers defensive front and Davis controlled the rest of the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th after Brett Favre had driven down to tie it at 24.  Everyone seems to forget that the Broncos were on the verge of blowing out the Packers. After Terrell Davis scored to give the Broncos a 24-17 lead, Tony Veland forced Antonio Freeman to fumble the subsequent kickoff and Tim McKyer recovered at the Packer 17 yard line.  Only Eugene Robinson’s timely interception at the goal line kept Green Bay in it.

As for Howard Griffith, the fullback who led Terrell Davis into the endzone on his 3 TD runs, go back and look at his blocking in that 4th quarter on that last drive.  Go back and watch on one play where not only did Griffith block two different Packers on a sweep to the left but WR Ed McCaffrey absolutely “de-cleat” Packer linebacker Brian Williams as Davis ran for a big first down that demoralized the Packer defense. Why do I say this?  This was the point that Green Bay realized their defense was dead.  The next play after Davis went left (again) thru a gaping hole for 17 yards to the 1 yard line, Coach Holmgren told the defense to “let them score” knowing they were powerless and give Favre some time.  Denver held them on downs and the celebration began.

To win “This one’s for John”, Denver Bronco’s first Super Bowl triumph, they had to build Elway an NFC team to do it.  They played and looked like the Giants, Redskins, and 49ers that had manhandled them on the front lines in previous Elway led Super Bowls.

So yeah, Super Bowl XXXII was different, much different.  It actually featured 2 teams from the NFC…just ask the Packers front line…

Is Mike Shanahan Overrated??

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Too often we give a coach or player a pass for bad decisions because they have won a championship.  Look at how Mike Shanahan is handling the Donovan McNabb situation in Washington.  This is a quarterback he hand selected then traded for.  He benches him for Rex Grossman,whom the Chicago Bears deemed expendable for single handedly losing a Super Bowl and regressing.  What is he doing? Is there a psychological edge to what he’s doing?

No this is an ego-maniac who fell in love with his genius mantle and is personally  affronting McNabb with benching him and embarrassing him.  You know what? We’ve seen this before…

Mike Shanahan is one of a long list of coaches who fell into some good situations and were given more credit than they really deserved.  He was the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos when John  Elway led them to the Super Bowl yet this was a Hall of Fame talent already in tow.  What is missed during those years is everyone forgets that the 1986 Denver Broncos were #1 in the AFC in defense and were highly ranked in 1987.

We tend to forget that when we remember those defenses collapsing in the Super Bowl against the Giants, Redskins, and 49ers respectively. When he finally was given a head coaching job with the Los Angeles Raiders, his results were terrible.  He had a losing record (8-12) and was fired mid season.  Funny thing is 1 1/2 years later Art Shell had those same Los Angeles Raiders in the 1990 AFC Championship Game in Buffalo playing for the right to go to Super Bowl XXV. So don’t sell me on his expertise.

Here is where it gets interesting.  The San Francisco 49ers offensive plays, playbook, and ALL training sessions were all on video for the incoming offensive coordinator.   From Bill Walsh on down.  There was no serious input and you HAD to learn how the 49ers ran their offense period to be hired as a coordinator.  So when Mike Holmgren was hired away to be the Green Bay Packers head coach, Shanahan was hired on and had to learn their system.

Holmgren had just led the 1988 & 1989 Super Bowl champion’s powerful offense.  Throw in the 14-2 1990 season where the 49ers made the NFC Championship Game, and then in ’91 they again had the #1 offense although Joe Montana and Steve Young missed significant playing time.  So when they hired Shanahan in 1992 the 49er offense was already a juggernaut.  They ranked highly through the Super Bowl XXIX triumph that made it seem as though Shanahan was some genius when he ran what was already in place in deployment and personnel.

Now we know he inherited Hall of Famer John Elway when he became head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1995.  By a twist of luck they had Terrell Davis develop as a running back.  He installed a running offense and signed a ton of defensive free agents to fortify the defense and he was rewarded with back to back Super Bowls.  He coached well and had the pulse of his team along with defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

Yet for all his offensive acumen he hasn’t developed his own quarterback having inherited Steve Young and John Elway. He drafted Brian Griese in 1998 and that didn’t work out as well as Bronco fans would have hoped.  He traded away for Jake Plummer who did play good enough to help the Broncos to the 2005 AFC Championship, yet they were upset at home. From 1999-2005, a 7 year period,  he only won 1 playoff game after the retirement of John Elway.

With the help of Alex Gibbs zone blocking schemes the Broncos did provide many a 1,000 yard rusher starting with Terrell Davis. Mike Anderson and Olandis Gary were surprising 1,000 yard rushers in Davis’ absent to knee injuries that derailed a Hall of Fame career.

Then with the 2002 NFL Draft, the Broncos nabbed Clinton Portis off of the NCAA Champion Miami Hurricanes.  Clinton seemed he would be a serviceable back although he had an outspoken personality.  What happened?? Clinton Porits turned out to be the most prolific back, for their first two years,  in the history of the Denver Broncos.

Where Terrell Davis rushed for 1,117 and 1,538 yards his first two seasons, Portis burst onto the scene to the tune of 1,508 and 1,591 yards. Portis also scored 29TDs to Davis 20TDs while garnering the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year for 2002 and setting an NFL record of averaging 5.5 yards per carry for his first two years.  He also became the youngest player in league history to have a 5 TD game and was a rising star.

So did he build another champion around a talented running back? Nope. He traded away one of history’s most prolific backs for CB Champ Bailey.  Not only did the Broncos not improve on their defensive statistics in terms of touchdowns given up, guess what happened with their star cornerback in tow??

The ’04 AFC Wildcard Tilt saw Peyton Manning throw for the most yards EVER in the playoffs for a non overtime game with 457 yards passing while losing 49-24.  Now thats genius!! The record is Bernie Kosar [The U] who threw for 489 yards in a double overtime victory over the Jets in the 1986 divisional round.  Peyton almost did that in 4 quarters. Yikes!

So where did the genius mantle come from?  He did win 2 straight Super Bowls with the NFL’s all time winningest (at the time) quarterback in John Elway, but where is the other developed talent?  Where is the other quarterback he’s groomed into an elite passer whether we are talking about Brian Griese or even Jake Plummer??

So now here we are with his on again off again mistreatment of Donovan McNabb. He won’t give him a vote of confidence in being the starter yet this lockout is keeping him from trading Donovan.  Shanahan is the same coach who put McNabb in the news signing him to a huge contract extension only to bench him two weeks later. Lets face it the re-signing was only to back-load the contract money to years McNabb would not see.  For a reason that has not been introduced to us this seems to have gone into the realm of the personal.

Once you look at the body of work, I don’t see an elite coach.  I see an old coach who is achieving what he always has: marginal years with a couple playoff years.  Doesn’t really develop any of the talent he drafts and is callous to many of his players.  Rod Smith and Terrell Davis the notable exceptions.

I think the sand is out of his hour glass and he won’t be coach of the Redskins after this season with a sub-par performance.  I would like to word things differently Redskin fans but I call them like I see them. He is overrated and past his prime.  The Albert Haynesworth debacle withstanding, what has he really done in Washington? Its hard to see the present situation with Donovan McNabb as anything other than personal.  Now the NFL lockout is keeping McNabb in place to prolong the agony which is unfortunate.