I actually squirm a little when I read Bernie. He has been on a steady evolution from knowledgeable insider to Jerry Springer over the past 15 or so years. It is getting harder and harder to overlook the childishness in order to glean the occasional truth/insight from his articles.
On that note, this IMO nails it right here:
Quote
Fisher never bothered to update himself by participating in this NFL passing-game fad, stubbornly refusing to hire a creative or even legitimate offensive coordinator … thinking he could pay any stiff to turn and hand the ball off to a running back instead of developing a highly skilled passer In his four-plus seasons as the Rams head coach in St. Louis and Los Angeles (record: 31-45-1) Fisher’s offense was a study in moldiness, arrogance, and failure.
I held out hope for Fish until the end. I still believe that had he been capable of recognizing the deficiencies with his offensive philosophy/attitude and brought in a legit OC - and handed him the reigns - the ending could have been MUCH different. Fish does a lot of things right, but he creates an environment that is not conducive with good offensive football. To him, "good" offense means not fu**ing it up for the defense. I've seen the word "toxic" thrown around with regard to the offensive environment. While I think that's probably harsh, there is some truth to it - the offense really is like the JV. One of my most poignant memories of the season was Fish running off the field gleefully following the 9-6 win vs. Seattle. At the time, I didn't think too much of it other than I was glad they pulled it out. The next week, the 37-32 win over the Bucs, he looked like the cat that ate the canary, as if they'd pulled out a game they didn't deserve. Maybe I was reading way too much into it, but it sure looked like he was much less satisfied with the higher scoring game.
And that, ultimately, is what did him in. It reminds me of the story about the scorpion that talks the frog into giving him a ride across the river on his back. Half way out, the scorpion stings the frog who points out they will now BOTH die, and asks why the scorpion did it. "Because it's my nature", he replies. And that sums up Jeff Fisher. In the end, he was more determined to win with a hard nosed, aggressive defense and a middle school offense than he was determined to win. It's easy to sit behind a computer and talk about it mechanically and I think Fisher even recognized the need to be more "dynamic" offensively. However, he just couldn't get past his nature and always reverted back to his comfort zone. Unfortunately, that style of football has been dead for some time now. Even the "great" defenses of this era need competent offenses to win consistently.
Ironically, the team ran off Brian Schottenheimer was was, BY FAR, the most qualified of the revolving door of offensive coordinators we've seen over the past few years. I still think that with the right head coach (one that doesn't hate offense like Fisher or Ryan) Schotty will have success. It's hard to say what would have happened had he not been run out of St Louis a couple years ago, but I doubt it would have been worse than the ****show we've seen since.
