Where’S The ‘Genius?’

Want to know why the 1999 NFL season is strange? Look at some of the league’s most prominent coaches: Mike Shanahan, Dan Reeves, George Seifert, Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, five guys with 13 Super Bowl appearances and eight victories among them.

Shanahan entered the season desperately wanting to show he could win a third straight Super Bowl for Denver without John Elway. So he changed quarterbacks before the season opener because Bubby Brister was bad in exhibitions, confusing his players and throwing the offense out of kilter. He also released Steve Atwater, who had lost a few steps, dumping the defensive leader the Broncos now so obviously need.

Reeves, whose Falcons lost to Shanahan’s Broncos in the Super Bowl, is also 0-4. Injuries to Chris Chandler and Jamal Anderson have contributed, but so has an underachieving defense and Reeves’ decision to let receiver Tony Martin go. Chris Calloway, signed to replace him, is good, but not a deep threat.

Seifert, who wants to prove in Carolina that his input into two Super Bowl wins in San Francisco involved more than just pushing buttons named Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice, has certainly made the Panthers competitive. But they might be 2-2 instead of 1-3 if Seifert hadn’t been so rigid, sticking to his plan to alternate Tshimanga Biakabutuka with Fred Lane at running back.

Parcells, who can get discouraged easily when fate goes against him, got down when he lost QB Vinny Testaverde for the season in the opening game. He did some strange things in two more losses and is just now starting to rally the team behind his good defense - with the help of linebacker Bryan Cox.

Johnson loves speed and loves to run the ball. When he inherited the Dolphins three years ago, he inherited Dan Marino, who’s not fast and loves to pass. The two have never meshed, but it didn’t help when Johnson publicly blamed Marino for Monday night’s loss to Buffalo. If Jimmy didn’t like Dan, he should have traded him when he took over, picking up the draft picks he could use to go after a quicker, more mobile QB.

Bottom line?

“Genius” is an overused word.

No-win situation for McNabb

Donovan McNabb, taken second between Tim Couch and Akili Smith, has dropped back to pass 29 times this year for the Eagles. He’s been sacked 11 of those times, four in 11 dropbacks against the Giants last week and six times against the Bucs.

“Fresh meat,” exulted Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp of McNabb.

On the other hand, what do you do with a rookie quarterback behind a bad offensive line on a winless team?

Doug Pederson, the career backup who’s been starting ahead of McNabb, was surprised this week when coach Andy Reid said he’d start against Dallas despite a 47.9 QB rating, the NFL’s third-worst. That could make McNabb’s problem worse - he’s likely to come in when the Eagles are behind, meaning he’ll have to pass and the defense can use him as a tackling dummy.

Chargers cut Mims

Defensive end Chris Mims, who is being investigated by police for assault and robbery, was cut by the San Diego Chargers Saturday to make room on the 53-man roster for Fakhir Brown.

Brown, a rookie cornerback from Grambling, was signed from the practice squad.

Coach Mike Riley indicated he’d like to re-sign Mims once the cornerbacks get healthy.