Hue Jackson is the Worst Head Coach in Modern NFL History

Ever since the massacre in Las Vegas was dubbed “the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history” there’s been a bit of a fuzz about what “modern” history actually refers to.  Since apparently the semiautomatic handgun is the ultimate arbiter of what makes American society tick, does “modern” history refer to the time period following its invention in the 1890’s? Or do we push it farther forward, so we can avoid including the Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa in 1921?

All right.  Now that we’ve got the hot take engine revving, let’s talk about how one might define “modern” history in the NFL.  I’m going to keep it simple: “modern” NFL history refers to the Super Bowl Era, which began in 1967.  And Hue Jackson is the worst head coach of it.

The Cleveland Browns, surprising no one, have started out this season 0-6.  Added to last year’s dismal 1-15 finish, the Browns have only pulled off a single win in their previous 22 starts.  All of this has been under the tenure of former Raiders head coach and Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.  Only one team has amassed as bad of a record in a similar time span; an honor reserved for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who entered the league as an expansion team in 1976 and proceeded to lose their next 26 games (before winning a pair to close out the 1977 season).

As a Raiders fan, I’m familiar with Hue Jackson as a head coach from his year leading the team to an 8-8 record in 2011, an improvement of zero wins over Tom Cable’s tenure the previous season.  Hue was a solid offensive coordinator for the Raiders, with the team finishing 6th in the NFL with an average of 25.6 points per game, along with 355 total yards and 156 rushing yards per contest.  But as head coach he went mad with power, mortgaging the team’s future to sign Carson Palmer after the latter had retired rather than play another down for Cincinnati.  To this day, Raider fans still drive me insane by insisting that Hue was a spectacular head coach, despite the team finishing 1-4 down the stretch and missing the playoffs.

What I remember most about Hue as a coach was his propensity to gamble, to swing for the fences, to keep his foot on the gas around every tight corner, to go all-in on every single fucking hand.  Fans bitch and moan all the time about coaches who are “too conservative” and “too predictable” and “call too many screen passes on 3rd and forever”.  These fans are stupid.  You can’t win football games on a single big play*.  But of course, that never stopped Hue from trying.

The following clip shows Hue at his worst.  The Raiders had a 14 point lead over Cleveland, and were facing a fourth-and-one from the five yard line.  From this distance, a field goal is basically the equivalent of an extra point.  To this point in his career, Sebastian Janikowski had made 313 of 316 attempts.  That’s a conversion rate of 99%.  A lead of 17 points with less than five minutes remaining in a game is a pretty safe lead.  Your opponent is going to have to score three times – they’re going to have to recover two onsides kicks.  It’s a no-brainer.  Unless…

 

Now the Raiders didn’t end up losing this game.  But they sure did a hell of a job making it look like they might.

The real harm came later in the season, when the Raiders were clinging to a six point lead against the Detroit Lions.  Having lost two in a row after starting the season 7-4, the Raiders needed a win at home against the Lions to right the ship.  They played a solid game, holding a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter before letting the Lions close to within 6 with 4:59 remaining.  Their drive following the kickoff was exactly what you’d hope for; five Michael Bush runs that ate up all of Detroit’s timeouts, netted 37 yards and left the Raiders facing a 3rd and 3 at the Detroit 48-yard line.

It’s obvious that the run game is working.  There’s a decent chance another run gets them the first down.  More importantly, another run eats up the rest of the clock before the two-minute warning.  In the case of a run, the worst-case scenario is that they get stuffed, punt, and Detroit is left trying to drive the length of the field with less than two minutes and zero timeouts.  The last thing you want to do is throw a pass and have it fall incomplete.  So what does Hue do?

 

That play call is Hue Jackson in a nutshell.  The swing for the fences when all you need is a sacrifice bunt.  The Raiders went on to lose that game 28-27.

Now at this point this might seem like all I’m doing here is airing old grievances about Hue’s time as a Raiders head coach.  This is true.  I don’t really watch Cleveland games, so I’m not sure what he’s doing to make them stink so badly.  But I don’t know that he’s lost 21 of his last 22 games, and only a pair of miracle misses by Josh Lambo gifted him the single win, and that he’s the worst coach in Cleveland Browns history.  And if you’re the worst coach in Cleveland Browns history, is it really that much a stretch to say that you’re the worst that the NFL has ever seen?

*Unless you are Aaron Rodgers, apparently, and defenses decide to have tea parties with their stuffed animals in the end zone instead of, you know, trying to cover any receivers.

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Rikki-Tikki-Deadly
Law-abiding Raiders fan, pet owner, Los Angeles resident.
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[…] Well, he may be the worst head coach in modern history, and I have a hard time seeing the Raiders beating the Patriots without the help of a little friend […]

Redshirt

Its sad Hue Jackson has had this bad of luck. He’s a good coach, but good coaches doesn’t make good head coaches (I sadly submit Dick LeBeau for your consideration (his luck for his one and only shot being for the ’00-’02 Bengals)).

Rumors were that Cincinnati was going to make Jackson the Heir Apparent and have Marvin Lewis run out his contract. He would’ve done better here than in Cleveland. The Bengals locker room is more mature than people think and they would’ve played their stripes off for Jackson. But in the end, that would’ve been a mistake.

Case in Point:

The Dirt Bengals had a “‘player’s manager” in Dusty Baker and all it got them was two early playoff exits. Even in the 80s when Pete Rose was manager, he would get his teams to 2nd place but no more and he was a player’s manager. Once they brought in Lou Piniella, the first year he went wire-to-wire and won the World Series. A good manager/coach knows when to be nice or when to be mean.

It seem the Bengals dodged one hell of a bullet.

But knowing this franchise, if Marvin Lewis does get canned, it wouldn’t surprise me if people in the franchise convince Mike Brown to give Jackson a third chance. Then the Bengal’s Playoff Window that is currently closed will be locked, nailed shut and have a nice Steel Curtain installed on it for good measure.

Senor Weaselo

In fairness, Rose had some things that might have led to the 2nd-place finishes. And that’s just pertaining to baseball.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Also, the fact that Rich Kotite hasn’t come up yet is a testament to Rikki’s theory here.

litre_cola

Those days after Buddy Ryan were as vanillas as hell, the team was good, Rich was not.

Brick Meathook

Marty Mornhinweg marvels at Hue Jackson’s awfulness. “He’s worse than me!” he seems to be saying.
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Redshirt

“I’m off the hook! I’m off the hook!” – David Shula
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ballsofsteelandfury

I hate it when coaches go away from what had been working and get cute with the play call. Examples: P Carroll in the Super Bowl and Pagano last night on the 4th and 1.

/ may or may not have started Gore…

Enrico Pallazzo

No. Jim Zorn much???

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Counterpoint: Marc Trestman

Wakezilla

No. Mediocre yes, but not WOAT

blaxabbath

Also, everyone was applauding HuJack for going for two-and-the-win again the Saints (I think) early last season.

It’s like playing a prevent D — when you hold off the opponent, it’s the right call. When all you do is concede a touchdown slowly and then your opponent recovers the onside kick and puts you away with a last second FG, then it’s a terrible call.

nomonkeyfun

The Harbaugh call is defensible depending on the amount of time left, and the team you are facing.
There is a huge difference between a Td and FG lead than a 2 TD lead, especially if the opponent has a good kicker.

blaxabbath

Damn it, yes. I meant the guy who was actually the coach and made the call….

blaxabbath

Was this post sponsored?

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blaxabbath

Ball hit 81’s hands. I mean, how you gonna blame Hue for that one?

nomonkeyfun

I blame him for making an unnecessarily risky call, and not realizing he had something called Chaz Schilens playing WR.

laserguru

I still think the Raiders go to the playoffs that year if Jason Campbell, yes THAT Jason Campbell, doesn’t get hurt.

Don T

/ drops cup of coconut-hemp tea
// posts snide and lame tweet
/// blocks RTD

-Michael Silver

I, on the other hand, liked that. HUH!