I used to think that McNair just stayed out of the way and wasn't the problem, but the more I hear, the more I think he is a considerable part of the problem.
I can't tell if he's clueless or this is just cover. While I certainly understand wanting to emulate successful teams like the Steelers, the borderline infantile level he has reduced their philosophy to (Steelers don't replace their head coach very often and are successful, ergo, if I keep my head coach long enough, I will be successful) is ridiculous and I have a hard time believing anyone able to tie their own shoes would believe such tripe. By this logic, why did we fire Capers? If time is all it takes to be a successful head coach, then firing Capers was a mistake. Besides, Capers and Kubiak are essentially the same guy. Both are coordinators who probably have no business being head coaches. The only difference is Capers is a much better coordinator.
I'm basically convinced now that McNair likes being a part of the boys club more than anything else. You can see this in the beaming pride he took in being complimented by his fellow owners after the Ravens' loss. In fact, this is clearly such a huge part of what he enjoys about owning the team, that it never even dawned on him that the fans wouldn't feel the same way. I think he honestly thought we would also be swayed by these comments as well and that's why he went public with them. If I had to guess, I think those compliments mean more to him than actually winning the game would have.
I think keeping Gary is also a function of his boys club. He likes Gary personally and likes hanging out with him and that played a big role in Gary keeping his job. Now, it's Bob's team and he has every right to use it as his personal treehouse for him and his buddies to play in but he should have the balls to be honest with his paying customers. For a guy who always claims to take the moral highground and purportedly stresses values, for him to come out and claim winning is the bottom line when it's apparent that's not the case, this really bothers me. Here's a guy who refuses to draft some kid because he got an MIP in college, but has no problem lying to the people he's been taking money from for 10 years.
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