When Minds Collide Holmgren, Shanahan Believe Ex-Quarterbacks Have An Edge

Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan are former quarterbacks turned coaches, a natural progression that is working better than normal in the NFL.

From boss of the huddle to boss of the whole team would seem a small and easy adjustment, but it doesn’t always wind up in glory.

When Holmgren’s Green Bay Packers and Shanahan’s Denver Broncos meet today, it will be only the second time two former quarterbacks have faced off in a Super Bowl. The other was when Oakland’s Tom Flores beat Philadelphia’s Dick Vermeil after the 1980 season.

More than coincidence appears at work here. Never has the relationship between coaches and quarterbacks been more carefully scrutinized, nor has it been more striking than in this Super Bowl.

Shanahan once was fired as offensive coordinator of the Broncos because former coach Dan Reeves thought he was getting too close to quarterback John Elway and scripting plays without Reeves’ input.

Holmgren nursed Brett Favre through 2-1/2 years of tough times before Favre emerged as league MVP.

When the San Francisco 49ers replaced George Seifert, they turned to Holmgren’s former quarterbacks coach, Steve Mariucci, a former quarterback himself. So three of the NFL’s final four teams this season were coached by exquarterbacks. The exception? Pittsburgh’s Bill Cowher, a former linebacker.

When Packers general manager Ron Wolf hired Holmgren, after first inquiring about the defense-oriented Parcells, Wolf noticed a trend toward offensive coaches. Wolf said the most successful coaches usually had been defensive coaches - Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, John Madden, Don Shula, Bud Grant.

“Joe Gibbs came onto the scene and Bill Walsh and Dan Reeves. That had a big influence on me when I looked at that because you could see there was a change there,” Wolf said. “I don’t know why, but it had a profound effect on me.”

Walsh and Gibbs were not former quarterbacks. Reeves played quarterback in college then became a running back in the pros. Reeves and Elway never got along as well as Shanahan and Elway.

Favre points to a 1994 heart-to-heart with Holmgren as the turning point in his career.

“I told him, ‘You and I are joined at the hip. We’re going to get to the top of the mountain together or wind up in the dumpster, but we’ll be together,”’ Holmgren said.

“That built my confidence,” Favre said. “I felt whatever I do on the field it won’t matter because he’ll be there for me in the end.”

Holmgren and Shanahan believe having played the position helps them coach.

“The big picture is more easily seen if you have to deal with the big picture as a player,” Holmgren said. “A quarterback has the best chance to understand the whole deal. I know there’s some wonderful coaches who never played or coached quarterbacks, but I know it helps me.”

Shanahan said: “Sometimes quarterbacks, in my opinion, are more intellectual, but not demanding. Sometimes they’re more easygoing. Sometimes quarterbacks get that tag that they might not be tough enough to push offensive or defensive linemen. But what it does is make you more comfortable relative to the offensive and defensive schemes. To be a quarterback, you really have to have a good feel of everything.”

Some of the great quarterbacks have been flops as coaches. Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, Sammy Baugh, Bart Starr and Otto Graham are Hall of Fame quarterbacks who never transferred their magic to the sideline.

Holmgren was a little-used quarterback at USC who was an eighth-round draft choice of the St. Louis Cardinals and spent only one year in training camp with the Cardinals and Jets. Shanahan was a wishbone quarterback at Eastern Illinois whose career was cut short by a lacerated kidney.

Coaching trends swing in cycles from defense to offense, but the cycles usually start with an offensive innovation that eventually must be countered. That’s been true since the first NFL championship game in 1932, when snow forced the game inside Chicago Stadium and the Bears beat Portsmouth 9-0. The only TD was a 2-yard pass from Bronko Nagurski to Red Grange after Nagurski faked a run.

Cleveland’s Paul Brown and his great quarterback Graham changed the game in the 1950s. Brown’s son, Cincinnati general manager Mike Brown, believes the importance of a special relationship between coach and quarterback predated his dad:

“I think it goes back to George Halas and the relationship he developed (in the 1940s) with Sid Luckman. A lot of things that look new in our business aren’t new at all.”

Graphic: Facing off in San Diego