This Isn't a Sports Blog....but....

Now that I have finished roasting Matt Schaub over coals of hell fire, let's go on to our illustrious and much heralded head coach, the one and only genius of the gridiron...Gary Kubiak. He was hired and started as the boss of Reliant Stadium for the season of 2006. Since that time, we have listened to him take the blame for every loss; heap praise on his players for every win; and watched him build up a team that is competitive, but not overly frightening....to anyone.

I did a little study today, and I don't claim these numbers to be presently up to date. I do have a job that gives me a paycheck that requires some of my attention. What I decided to do was make a list of many of the head coaches that started with their teams in 2006 and beyond, and then compare that to our glorious leader's record. Here's what I found....

Mike Smith: Atlanta Falcons (started in 2008) - .700 winning percentage. Record is 56 – 24. Has garnered two NFC South Championships, 4 playoff berths and won one AP Coach of the Year award. 

John Harbaugh: Baltimore Ravens (started in 2008) - .675 winning percentage. Record is 54 – 26. Has garnered one Super Bowl Championship, one AFC Championship, two AFC North Championships, and 5 playoff berths. 

Jason Garrett: Dallas Cowboys (started in 2010) - .525 winning percentage. Record is 21 – 19. 

John Fox: Denver Broncos (started in 2011) - .656 winning percentage. Record is 21 – 11. Has garnered 2 AFC West Championships and 2 playoff berths. 

Mike McCarthy: Green Bay Packers (started in 2006) - .661 winning percentage. Record is 74 – 38. Has garnered one Super Bowl Championship, one NFC Championship, 3 NFC North Championships and 5 playoff berths. 

Sean Payton: New Orleans Saints (started in 2006) - .646 winning percentage. Record is 62 – 34. Has garnered one Super Bowl Championship, one NFC Championship, 3 NFC South Championships, 4 playoff berths and THREE AP Coach of the Year awards. 

Rex Ryan: New York Jets (started in 2009) - .531 winning percentage. Record is 34 – 30. Has garnered two playoff berths. 

Mike Tomlin: Pittsburgh Steelers (started in 2007) - .656 winning percentage. Record is 63 – 33. Has garnered one Super Bowl Championship, two AFC Championships, 3 AFC North Championships and 4 playoff berths. 

Jim Harbaugh: San Francisco 49er’s (started in 2011) - .766 winning percentage. Record is 24-7-1. Has garnered one NFC Championship, 2 NFC West Championships, 2 playoff berths and one AP Coach of the Year award. 

Pete Carroll: Seattle Seahawks (started in 2010) - .521 winning percentage. Record is 25-23. Has garnered one NFC West Championship and two playoff berths. Arguably has the strongest team in the NFC for the 2013 season. 

Mike Shanahan: Washington Redskins (started in 2010) - .438 winning percentage. Record is 21-27. Has garnered one NFC East Championship and one playoff berth. 

Gary Kubiak: Houston Texans (started in 2006) - .527 winning percentage. Record is 59-53. Has garnered two AFC South Championships (back to back) and two playoff berths.

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So, what do you see here? I see Mike Shanahan did in three years what Kubiak took six years to accomplish. Okay, Shanahan's an old hand at this...I get it. Let's move on. Rex Ryan, rookie coach back in 2009. What does he do? Comes into Reliant Stadium for his first game as a head coach with a rookie quarterback against the much vaunted Gary Kubiak and his nasty Texans and....whups 'em. Like Kubiak, he has garnered two playoff berths. Hell, even Jason Garrett's winning percentage is just two points under Kubiak's. And he inherited a mess. The real joke on us is Jim Harbaugh. Mike Singletary left the 49er's in a shambles when Harbaugh took over in 2011. What has he done? Oh, nothing really...only garnered one NFC Championship, two NFC West Championships, two playoff berths and one AP Coach of the Year award. In two seasons. TWO.

 

The difference between these men and what we're stuck with is they are flexible. They aren't...insane. Gary Kubiak is clinically insane. The reason I know this is that he keeps doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Isn't THAT the definition of insanity? He has watched his quarterback of seven years regress instead of progress; and won't recognize a change must be made. He refuses to open up the offense early, even though when they get behind and it becomes a necessity, he finally relents to a pass of more than five yards. But...JUST ONE, mind you. We don't want to get too reckless. He will not bend when it comes to his dogged determination to run the ball...even when confronted with a brick wall made of thousands of pounds of muscled man-meat. It wouldn't matter if he had Joe Montana in his prime...Kubes would run the ball and play it safe. He will not allow his player's natural athletic ability to be utilized in such a way as to best accentuate their talent; instead forcing them to mold into his inflexible system that has so far gotten us only to the second round of the playoffs. Only then to be embarrassed by Baltimore and New England. Plus...if I must remind you, the Texans didn't get to the playoffs until Kubiak was forced to stop hiring rookie and good old buddy defensive coordinators and bring Wade Phillips on board. It was only when the 3-4 defensive schemes of Wade Phillips and their drafting people like J.J. Watt that the Texans found themselves in the playoffs. It wasn't Gary Kubiak's offensive genius. It was Wade Phillips' smothering defense that carried the last two seasons.

 

Matt Schaub is not responsible for what he is. He was a second string quarterback in Atlanta and it's been proven in Houston why he was. Kubiak tried to make a silk purse out of sow's ear and is too stubborn to admit the experiment should be over. It is his stubbornness and resistance to change that has brought this team to where it is today. Any leader is derelict who does not listen to his advisors and even to his lowly men....or worse....refuses to believe their own eyes.

 

The Houston Texans will never...NEVER...make it to the AFC Championship and much less to the Super Bowl, with Gary Kubiak as the head coach. Put it in the bank.