90 great years and the only perfect season in the Super Bowl Era
RIP Coach Don Shula
- Thread starter iasooner1
- Start date
Did not realize he is the winningest coach in NFL history. Truly a legend and a class act on an off the field. I was never a Dolphins fan, but how can anyone not give this man the respect he so richly deserves. RIP Don Shula.
Yeah me either, was rooting for the Colts but the dolphins earned it.
Shula was also the youngest NFL head coach (33) at one point; not sure if that’s still the case.
Shula was also the youngest NFL head coach (33) at one point; not sure if that’s still the case.
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Sean McVay popped into my head when I read this, so I looked it up first. This is what I found:
Pappy Lewis is the answer.
"At just 33 years old, McVay is also the youngest coach in the league. According to ESPN, he is the youngest person to become a head coach in the NFL since 1938, when Art “Pappy” Lewis of the Cleveland Rams became a head coach at 27."
Pappy Lewis is the answer.
"At just 33 years old, McVay is also the youngest coach in the league. According to ESPN, he is the youngest person to become a head coach in the NFL since 1938, when Art “Pappy” Lewis of the Cleveland Rams became a head coach at 27."
If McVay was younger, it was by months. Shula was born in 1930, and became the Colts head coach in 1963, after Rosenbloom fired Weeb Eubank, a little more than three years after he'd won the second of back to back NFL titles in 1958 and 59.
Shula was three years older than his quarterback, Johnny Unitas. The Colts went 8-6 that first season, but 12-2 in 1964, the best record in pro football. But in those days, the NFL didn't reward regular season excellence, with post season home games.
The Colts had to go on the road to Cleveland, and got shut out on the road in the NFL title game, two years before the merger and the first Super Bowl.. Three years later, the Colts were so good, that they didn't lose until the final game of the season. This time tied for the best record with the Rams. But the new NFL alignment had four, 4 team divisions. And the Colts and the Rams were in the same division. Only one could go to the playoffs. A bad call, had cost the Colts a tie when they played the Rams in Baltimore, and their loss was to the Rams in the final game. So they stayed home. (This led to the NFL creating three divisions with a wild card team)
The NFL was still ignoring regular season excellence for post season games, so the Rams had to go play in the snow in Green Bay in the 1st round of the playoffs, and lost to the Packers, who two games later, won their 3rd straight Super Bowl, after getting both playoff games at home, despite a 9-4-1 regular season record. (The Rams and Colts were both 11-1-2) The next week was the Ice Bowl, beating Dallas at the end. Then they beat the Oakland Raiders in Lombardi's last game as Packer HC, in Super Bowl II.
Shula kept producing regular season excellence in Baltimore, but never won the last playoff game of the season. They were 13-1 in the regular season, before losing Super Bowl III the 1968 season. Colt's owner Carroll Rosenbloom was tired of not winning titles, and wasn't unhappy for him to head to Miami, especially when the hangover from the Super Bowl loss, produced 8-5-1 in 1969.
Joe Robbie was looking for somebody to turn his recent expansion Dolphins into a winner. Four years after Namath embarrassed Shula on Jan 12, 1969, he coached the undefeated Dolphins to 17-0, beating the Redskins in SBVII, losing a shutout when Garo Yepremian went crazy after his field goal was blocked. They won 14-7.
The Colts without Shula won Super Bowl V over the Cowboys. The Colts had switched from the NFL/NFC to the new AFC with all 26 teams under the NFL banner. The biggest Dolphin win to that time, came when they beat the Colts in Miami for the AFC championship in the 1971 season. They lost the the Cowboys in Super Bowl VI. But they didn't lose again until the 1973 season. And that year, they still won the Super Bowl over Minnesota, in a dull, boring game, made so, because the Dolphins run game was so dominant, that nobody could stop them.
Shula returned to the SB a couple of times, but never won the big prize again. Still, he accumulated all of those wins. With the game the way it is now, he's unlikely to be passed for a while. Belichick is 55 behind him in the regular season and and 38 behind him in total wins. With the Patriots likely to snag a big one without Brady, and Bill B having just turned 68, that's a pretty big mountain to climb. That kind of longevity is becoming rarer and rarer.
Shula was three years older than his quarterback, Johnny Unitas. The Colts went 8-6 that first season, but 12-2 in 1964, the best record in pro football. But in those days, the NFL didn't reward regular season excellence, with post season home games.
The Colts had to go on the road to Cleveland, and got shut out on the road in the NFL title game, two years before the merger and the first Super Bowl.. Three years later, the Colts were so good, that they didn't lose until the final game of the season. This time tied for the best record with the Rams. But the new NFL alignment had four, 4 team divisions. And the Colts and the Rams were in the same division. Only one could go to the playoffs. A bad call, had cost the Colts a tie when they played the Rams in Baltimore, and their loss was to the Rams in the final game. So they stayed home. (This led to the NFL creating three divisions with a wild card team)
The NFL was still ignoring regular season excellence for post season games, so the Rams had to go play in the snow in Green Bay in the 1st round of the playoffs, and lost to the Packers, who two games later, won their 3rd straight Super Bowl, after getting both playoff games at home, despite a 9-4-1 regular season record. (The Rams and Colts were both 11-1-2) The next week was the Ice Bowl, beating Dallas at the end. Then they beat the Oakland Raiders in Lombardi's last game as Packer HC, in Super Bowl II.
Shula kept producing regular season excellence in Baltimore, but never won the last playoff game of the season. They were 13-1 in the regular season, before losing Super Bowl III the 1968 season. Colt's owner Carroll Rosenbloom was tired of not winning titles, and wasn't unhappy for him to head to Miami, especially when the hangover from the Super Bowl loss, produced 8-5-1 in 1969.
Joe Robbie was looking for somebody to turn his recent expansion Dolphins into a winner. Four years after Namath embarrassed Shula on Jan 12, 1969, he coached the undefeated Dolphins to 17-0, beating the Redskins in SBVII, losing a shutout when Garo Yepremian went crazy after his field goal was blocked. They won 14-7.
The Colts without Shula won Super Bowl V over the Cowboys. The Colts had switched from the NFL/NFC to the new AFC with all 26 teams under the NFL banner. The biggest Dolphin win to that time, came when they beat the Colts in Miami for the AFC championship in the 1971 season. They lost the the Cowboys in Super Bowl VI. But they didn't lose again until the 1973 season. And that year, they still won the Super Bowl over Minnesota, in a dull, boring game, made so, because the Dolphins run game was so dominant, that nobody could stop them.
Shula returned to the SB a couple of times, but never won the big prize again. Still, he accumulated all of those wins. With the game the way it is now, he's unlikely to be passed for a while. Belichick is 55 behind him in the regular season and and 38 behind him in total wins. With the Patriots likely to snag a big one without Brady, and Bill B having just turned 68, that's a pretty big mountain to climb. That kind of longevity is becoming rarer and rarer.
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