The Touch Of A Champion New-Look Holmgren Lights Fire Under Packers

Mike Holmgren, the coach of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, has one of the sweetest dispositions among his NFL colleagues. Still, when he welcomed his team back to training camp six weeks ago, it was no more Mr. Nice Guy toward just about anyone, from the players to the front office to the kids manning the water buckets on the sidelines.

“I changed my personality a little bit,” Holmgren said when asked how he’s dealt with possible post-championship complacency. “I’m known as such as a nice guy, but I did rant and rave a little more. And not just at the players. It was the coaches, too, everyone in the organization. I worked very hard to keep the hammer on them, because it’s human nature to relax a little bit.

“But we’ve picked up right where we left off,” Holmgren said. “They know the pressure and the expectation of a champion… . I did what I could, but ultimately it’s the players. I can rant and rave and give all the speeches in the world, but if they don’t buy into it, it doesn’t matter. Our team leaders want (back-to-back titles) as much as I do, and my best players are also my leaders. We’ve worked extremely hard, and I’ve been very pleased with this football team.”

As the NFL begins its 78th season, there have been all manner of changes involving free-agent movement, flashy rookie sensations, a franchise move from Houston to Tennessee and new head coaches on 10 teams. But one thing remains the same. The Packers, with league MVP Brett Favre returning at quarterback and future Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White still capable of rousing his teammates and racking up sacks, once again must be considered the favorite to show up for - and win - Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego next Jan. 25.

The Packers will open defense of their title at Lambeau Field on Monday night against their bitter rivals, the Chicago Bears. Their primary running back, Edgar Bennett, tore his Achilles’ tendon in the first preseason game and will be out for the year, and Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard, kick returner extraordinaire, left for Oakland via free agency, but Holmgren is confident those holes have been capably filled.

“What do you do, take your football and go home?” he said. “You just deal with it and go on, just like everyone else in this league has to do.”

There have been other painful losses around the NFL. The Bears will be without leading receiver Curtis Conway, who broke his collarbone and also will miss extended time. So will Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell, a Pro Bowler last year who suffered a serious knee injury in his first exhibition game and may not return until midseason. Carolina quarterback Kerry Collins will miss the first month of the season after his jaw was broken early in the preseason.

Carolina also will have to do without Kevin Greene, who led the league with 14.5 sacks last year and needs only 10.5 to become the NFL’s all-time linebacking sack leader. He should get the record wearing a San Francisco uniform, having signed a new six-year, $18 million deal after a long holdout in Carolina, which ultimately released him.

There were scads of other big-name free agent moves, including cornerback Rod Woodson, another future Hall of Famer, from Pittsburgh to San Francisco; linebacker Chad Brown, the AFC’s defensive MVP, from the Steelers to Seattle; defensive end Neil Smith, a Pro Bowl fixture, from Kansas City to Denver; quarterback Warren Moon from Minnesota to Seattle; all-purpose back Eric Metcalf from Atlanta to San Diego; and quarterback Boomer Esiason from Arizona back to where his pro career began, Cincinnati.

The most eye-popping changes of all, however, are along the sidelines. There are 10 new coaches - 11 if you count the Bengals’ Bruce Coslet getting a battlefield promotion and a long-term contract from interim to head coach midway through the ‘96 season.

The most intriguing moves involved three of the NFL’s more successful coaches - Bill Parcells leaving the AFC champion Patriots for the woebegone New York Jets, Dick Vermeil leaving a job as an ABC college football analyst to coach the St. Louis Rams, his first NFL job since 1982, and Mike Ditka, who gave new meaning to the “rant-and-rave” method of coaching in Chicago, leaving the NBC Sports studio show to take over the constantly struggling New Orleans Saints.

Eyebrows also were raised when the San Francisco 49ers decided to pension off George Seifert, who merely had the highest winning percentage among active coaches, in favor of 39-year-old Steve Mariucci, an offensive guru who had never been an NFL head coach. In a recent NFL questionnaire, Mariucci listed his last book read as the Dr. Seuss classic, “Green Eggs and Ham (to my daughter).” Unless the 49ers can find a way to unseat the Packers, he may have more time for tougher tomes.

Other coaching changes find Washington Hogs founder Joe Bugel moving from assistant to head man in Oakland; Pete Carroll taking over for Parcells in New England; longtime assistant Jim Fassel trying to jump-start the Giants; Kevin Gilbride replacing Bobby Ross in San Diego; Ross taking over for weepy Wayne Fontes in Detroit and Dan Reeves trying to revive Atlanta after failing miserably to do so with the Giants.

Why all the coaching changes?

“There probably is a little less patience from ownership,” said Holmgren. “The money, the profits have grown so much over the years. Some coaches were let go unfairly, but I’m well aware the bottom line is still winning. The excellent job Carolina and Jacksonville did last year (getting to conference title games in their second year of expansion) also is a factor. The expectations for a quicker turnaround are there now. Their success had a lot to do with it.”

Only one team will be playing in a new city. The Oilers have departed Houston, a top 10 TV market, for Tennessee, a non-factor in the ratings. The Redskins are the only team playing in a new stadium, but in the past two years, fans have voted in support of new facilities in seven cities - Cleveland, Detroit, Nashville, Tampa, San Francisco and Seattle - with similar referendums in the next few months in Arizona, Denver and Pittsburgh. The Baltimore Ravens move to their new stadium at Camden Yards in ‘98. Cleveland comes back to the league in ‘99, either by expansion or with the move of an existing club.

For now, though, the focus is on the field, with 14 games today and the Monday night game in Green Bay. Said Holmgren, “We can’t wait to get started.” He’s not alone.