Marinelli was not a great coach but as far as coaches go he was not noteworthy - a lot of good coordinators aren’t good head coaches, they struggle through 2-3 seasons, get canned, and go back to coordinating. Happens all the time, sucks but what can you do?

However, Marinelli was horrifically hamstrung by having Matt Millen as his GM. I mean, just look at that 2008 roster!! There are not even ten guys on that list who should ever have sniffed an NFL football field, and three of those guys are special teamers (Hanson, Mule love u bbys). You could put Bill Belichick in charge of that roster and if he got more than three wins it would have been an accomplishment.

Patricia, on the other hand, actively made things worse as a head coach every year he was with the team while running off talent and alienating players. Bob Quinn was no good either, but no one wanted to play in Detroit as long as Patricia was here. Contrast with the present, Brad Holmes’ job is a lot easier because everyone and their aged grandmother wants to play for MC/DC (although BH is also just good at his job).

MC/DC needs to give my patented Engage Eight scheme a shot, man!

Is Minter good as a coach? I’m always hesitant with college coaches because so much of the college game is based on recruiting the most talent, where in the NFL the worst practice squad DB was usually the best DB on his team so you can’t rely on recruiting to beat everyone. I don’t watch CFB so I don’t know what his schemes or adjustments look like though.

These are some of the reasons why I’m not on the Fire AG train, frankly I think our talent level is not at contender level on that side of the ball. I do wish we’d made some move at the trade deadline (maybe not Young/Sweat level but for a solid pass rush specialist for 3rd downs at least), but I understand that BH is committed to his philosophy and this isn’t the year to go all-in. Hopefully the defense rounds into form and this is all a moot point anyways.

That would be the dream for sure!