Thursday, January 16, 2003
BYE MOOCH
His career began with a loss at Tampa Bay in which Jerry Rice blew out his knee and Steve Young suffered a concussion. It ended at Tampa Bay in a humiliating blowout loss. The 49ers have fired their head coach, Steve Mariucci, completing a one year span in which all 6 major sports franchises in the Bay Area have made coaching changes. And they say New York is tough!
Mariucci probably signed is own death warrent against Tampa Bay at the end of the first half when, with 50 seconds and 2 time outs left and the ball on the 40 yard line, Mooch ran out the clock. Several offensive players were visibly upset with that decision, and I'm sure the owner wasn't happy with it either.
That was just the final example of a philosophy which Mooch's detractors have called too conservative. An offensive which was geared to run and then pass instead of the Bill Walsh philosophy of the pass setting up the run. It is true that the offensive and the team in general have been very vanilla and emotionally lacking for most of the season. Supporters have argued that Mooch simply didn't have the talent or team health for the team to be more creative, but the second half comeback against the Giants seem to have disproved that hypothesis. The shackles were removed, and suddenly, the team was an offensive juggernaut for the first time all season.
There is much that will be missed about Steve Mariucci. He was very likeable. He won with a veteran team, piloted the team through salary cap hell, and emerged on the other side to be a winner with a young football team. His run first mentality protected a young emerging defense, and made the 49ers a winner. However, a team needs either an explosive offense or a dominating defense to make it all the way in today's NFL. The 49ers had neither of those things this year. What could have been a superb defense was riddled with injuries and the offense was far from explosive due to play-calling, offensive line injuries, and lack of wide receiver depth.
Another year under Mooch with a good draft solves most of the those problems, but not the play-calling. One Bay Area columnist stated in an article the "running" joke among members of the media that after every 49er incomplete pass on 1st and 10, there would be an off tackle running play that would invariably net very little. As I watched the beginning of the Tampa Bay game on the very first offensive series, that exact scenerio took place just as the columnist described. That type of predictable play-calling just won't cut it in the NFL.
So goodbye Mooch! I know you'll land on your feet somewhere, and I just hope the 49ers can find someone even more capable to run the ship!
Junior Bro 3:27:00 PM
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