a painful post to, uuh, post

So I read today on espn.com that Herm is "somewhat disappointed" with the ongoing GM search to replace Carl Peterson.

Really. "Somewhat disappointed".

Herm, let me speak directly to you, as your (former) biggest backer, your (former) biggest fan, the person who nearly nutted on himself when you were announced as head coach.

I. Me. Steve. Am "extremely disappointed" in your piss poor tenure as our head coach.

And cannot wait until the unemployment door slaps your ass a week from Monday.

Sir, you entered this job with a world of possibilities in front of you. You literally had the ability to shape a franchise in the palm of your hand. Instead, too often, the challenge flag resided in that palm, and was needlessly and stupidly tossed onto the field as a result.

Your clock management skills make a 7 year old look bright and intelligent. As I once famously noted on the old site, following your one and only playoff defeat as our head coach:

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I just ... truly, I stood there watching that game, watching our "offense" on the field, and three things flowed through my brain. (1) vodka. (2) orange juice. (3) Brett and Shannon's kid, he's what, 5 months old? Looking at him on the floor, drooling and doing whatever the hell else little kids do, it hit me that 5 month old Jack has more going for him upstairs, right now, than ANYONE on our offensive coaching staff. I'd rather have a 5 month old point to a f*cking toy to determine a play to run, than have anyone on this staff call a play at this point. I can see it now:

(jack) (points at star)
(steve) ok, that means run! Pitch left. Break!
(jack) (smiles)
(steve) ok, 3 wide, out pattern to Gonzalez! Break!

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Its amazing how that was the "high" point of the Coach Herm era.

Herm, you're "somewhat disappointed" in the GM search? Buddy, its a search that wouldn't be necessary if you weren't 2-21 in games that count over the last year and a half. Its a search that wouldn't be necessary if you and your good pal Bill Kuharich hasn't botched the franchise QB pick worse than the Supreme Court f*cked up Bush v Gore.

And its a search that wouldn't be necessary if you had any clue, concept, or even slight intuition into what it takes to win in the modern NFL.

Ball control, power running, and power defense don't win in this league anymore, pal. It hasn't won in this league for a while. I sadly took a long, long time to recognize this ... but I'll be damned if I'm going to sit by and watch the team I love (and pay to support) p*ss away another hire.

The future of the NFL is offense, specifically the spread offense. With a defense that has just enough man coverage options to force 4 punts / turnovers per game. You get that, you can win 12 games, a division, and a conference championship in this league.

With Herm at the helm, we have no shot of any of those things occurring.

The beginning of the end was Miami in 2006. A well coached, disciplined team doesn't lose that game. Not at 5-3, facing a 1-7 squad in ideal weather conditions. We not only lost, we weren't a factor. Ditto three weeks later in Cleveland, when a 7-4 Chiefs squad was embarrassed by a 2-9 Browns team going nowhere fast.

As detailed elsewhere on this site, we have either led or been within a possession at the half in 10 of our 14 games so far this year. We have lost 8 of those 10. It takes an utterly inept, clueless coaching staff to continually fail as miserably and consistently as Coach Herm and his staff have failed.

And the same was true down the stretch last year -- in our 9 game losing streak to end the year, we led or were within a possession at the half in 7 of those games. We lost all 7. To go 2-15 in your last 17 contested ballgames, you have to try to be that bad.

My way of saying ... I am doing the unthinkable tomorrow.

I will not be in my usual spot in section 132, row 26, seat 2.

I will not be showing up for the final home game of the Carl Peterson era. And what should be the final home game of the Herm Edwards experiment.

If you are going tomorrow, good for you. I hope you bundle up, stay warm, and boo the living hell out of everything and everyone affiliated with this franchise, including our sudden risen Lord and Savior Clark Hunt. (Really? It took you 3 f*cking years to figure out the game had passed Carl by. Really? 3 years? You couldn't figure it out on your own before now? And yet people think he's not going to f*ck up the GM hire. Because clearly, if it takes him 3 f*cking years to grasp that Carl Peterson has outlasted his usefulness, Clark Hunt will make a damned good hire to replace him. If we give him 3 years to hire someone, I guess.)

Anyways, I will not be there tomorrow. I don't see any reason to go. This team has whizzed on every loyal fan in the club level it has. It has raised my ticket prices 200% in 7 years for 0 playoff wins. (yay!) I'll be damned if they're getting even $.01 more out of me than what I've already written off.

Clark, do us all a favor. Hire yourself a liason who grasps modern day football. Appoint him as our de facto owner. And let him call the shots in replacing Carl and Herm. Because if it took you three f*cking years to see this abortion that Carl and Herm constructed isn't good enough to meet minimal competition standards, you have no business picking their replacements ...