Mr. Scot

The hire of Reich's daughter was 100% coincidental.

These days, it's very easy to have a PR nightmare without having done anything wrong. Numerous people in various walks of life can tell you that.

Unless you're employing that dumb "only compare last year" argument, Reich doesn't need excuses. He's a winning coach.

That might work as an excuse for the first time it happened. Three times though? You really want to try and tell me that at no point for the rest of the game did Wilks have an opportunity to just go say to Al Holcomb or even directly to one of his safeties "hey, we need to not let that happen again".

Pretty much. Mike Shula punted on the task of trying to mold Newton into an NFL quarterback. He chose instead to try and build an offense around college concepts thinking Newton would function best in that type of system. Norv Turner came in and showed that Newton absolutely could be coached into a pro level QB. What he couldn't do though was undo the wear and tear that Newton had already taken. I'd agree that it would have been better if we'd have gotten Turner early, but part of me will always wonder what could have been If Rivera had chosen Pat Shurmur as his OC rather than Shula.

I'm a big fan of Steve Wilks because I think he's a great leader and a man of phenomenal character. I'm also someone who always tries not to let their emotions affect their decision making. As we wound down the stretch this past season, I increasingly came to the belief that Wilks was not going to get the Panthers job. He certainly made the team better than it had been, but was it a good enough coaching performance to win the permanent job? My gut said no, and that was even before we knew who any of the other candidates would be. As you said though, compare Wilks and Reich in a vacuum and it's pretty difficult not to choose Reich.

General belief is they're hiring Demeco Ryans. Fangio is wanted all over the league so basically he can go wherever he wants to. Yeah, it could be here, but if not he isn't the only good option. Hell, if people study what Ben Johnson did to counter his defensive concepts last season, whoever winds up with him could have issues.

Actually, his limiting Darnold to passing as little as possible is what made the offense at least somewhat workable. As far as what he could have done with Andrew Luck, what did the offensive line look like? Who did he have at the skill positions? Did he have a defense that could keep the other team from scoring? What kind of scheme did they run? And what about the special teams? The notion that if you just change the quarterback, everything else changes too is unrealistic. You couldn't just put Tom Brady on last year's Texans roster and automatically assume they make the playoffs. I'd add if you want to get into Wilks actual area of expertise, then you'd need to try and defend why he handled coverage of Mike Evans the way he did.

You now want to give Steve Wilks credit for coaching a quarterback? Dude, this whole discussion is just getting stupider. Please tell me you're trolling because if not...yikes

I'm pretty sure Mr Fantastic couldn't validate your argument.

Reich earned his additional seasons by winning. Heck, he earned his head coaching job in part by helping a team win a Super Bowl. Every argument you're trying to make here is based on "what if this happened" or "what if that happened". That makes it pretty clear that your argument doesn't stand up in reality.

I'm pretty sure if Wilks had coached a team full of all pros, he might have looked better. He didn't, and arguing the hypothetical is useless. Reich managed to coach good performances out of Carson Wentz and a way past his prime Philip Rivers.

That's a ridiculous argument. Yes, you can compare more than one season. In fact, you should because to do otherwise is pretty obviously disingenuous. As to quarterbacks, If you want to bring that into the equation then you have to factor in that Reich was stuck with a quarterback he didn't want last year, so that invalidates your suggestion that last year's records have any meaning. At this point, I hope you're just trolling because what you're trying to argue for is utterly ridiculous.

No it wouldn't. If Wilks attorneys actually try to use that in his case, they'll likely be laughed out of the courtroom. (and deservedly so)

The Panthers knew he was going to be fired so they were just getting things ready ... Obviously that's a stupid scenario but that's basically what you'd have to believe to take that notion seriously.

An out of context fact used deliberately to try and bolster a weak argument... If you think that's a valid premise, then you have to be able to apply it elsewhere. For example, using that logic Brandon Staley is a better coach than both Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick (among others) because he had a better record than they did last year. Quick hint: he's not Frank Reich has four years of head coaching experience and a winning record. Steve Wilks has essentially one and two thirds years and a losing record. You can say that Wilks was working for a terrible owner in Arizona and he was, but Reich was working for Jim Irsay. The real bottom line is that any attempt to try and paint Wilks as a superior coach based solely on last season is either deliberately misleading or just plain goofy.

I don't know that I would take Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe all that seriously as barometers of national feelings. Or... anything

I don't know that it is. Joe's the only one saying that.

When it comes time to evaluate prospects, it's nice to think we might finally have a head coach who knows a thing or two about what it takes to play the position.

Also... A former quarterback knows a thing or two about the importance of protecting them.

Not necessarily a key player, but interesting... Gotta wonder what Reich might be able to get out of some of our lesser guys that Rhule could not.

Well he's no "second overall defense" Phil Snow.