I am not of the opinion that a change didn’t need to be made, I am not sure that I would of made it this year, I probably would of told Mike, you got one season to show improvement or I will ask you to resign as VP. But that is water under the bridge at this point, I agree, maybe bringing Mike back would be a welcome form of stability, but I doubt that would happen, too many egos going here to make that work.

I believed that it would be hard to replace certain things that were good with him, and it is. He had handed toff much/most of the offense, and the youth of J. Bates was obvious and at times problematic, such as odd calls in goalline situations, dropping the run when it was working, etc. Shanahan’s personnel decisions seemed capricious at times – quickly adding a player from the PS. like lowry, starting him with little prep and immediately firing him when he played poorly in his 1st start. some of the drafting, and a revolving door on defensive personnel also come to mind. Mike wasn’t doing his job that well. I loved the guy (still do) but that’s a fact. And this isn’t either/or. We could have hired a coach with more experience, and some of us thought that we should have.

McD obviously doesn’t have great people skills. Look at the firestorm between Xanders and the Goodman’s. The public statement that they couldn’t work together after a disagreement really rang as an indictment of McD’s ability to get people working in one direction – obviously, it’ wasn’t his strongest suit.

He is young. Someone – Pats and or otherwise – wa going to leak the Cassel thing. It wasn’t smart. I can see his point – Cassel did a decent job, had better numbers than Cutler in several categories and won more, with a better D and a weaker O line. Cassel knows the offense, and it’s likely to be a ‘system’ offense – in other words, the player can be maximized if he doesn’t have the greatest arm, by playing to shorter plays and an emphasis on completins and checkdowns. I can see that, but McD, in his inexperience, didn’t think about the outcome if the deal didn’t go through.

He left Cutler not comfortable in their last discussion. He doesn’t know how to get someone onto his side, to get them excited about being within his program, and getting them to feel appreciated. I think Cutler is behaving badly, but we can also see that this is not one of McD’s strengths. If you hire someone who is inexperienced, don’t be surprised if that shows. Pat might have shown better judgement by stepping in and soothing the situation. Just because it’s a business doesn’t mean that you can’t go ouit of your way to make a player comfortable and feeling appreciated.

If McD’s talent on developing X’s and O’s bears fruit, in a year we’ll be thrilled. After this start, if it doesn’t, we’ll be ready to toss him under a different bus. Shanahan has to be feeling some personal satisfaction, but if you asked he might also experss his sadness for what Pat, his friend, is going through. Shanahan learned to put a good face on a lot of things. McD hasn’t yet.

But Bolen could have gotten someone with more real-world experience, and he didn’t. And in the end, that’s the decision I question the most.

A video of Al Davis after he fired Kiffin. Al is looking at the camera, and says: “I hired the wrong man.”
Will we have to see Pat Bowlen saying the same thing in a year or so?