One thing I would like to point out

[Zod]

Tepper never came out and publicly endorsed Rhule for this season. He could have easily done so, and helped get some of the pressure off Rhule. That didn't happen. Tepper wants the pressure on Rhule. And you know the relationship between pressure and heat.... 

[X-Clown]

It's like the 2010 season all over again, except there's no threat of a lockout.

[LinvilleGorge]

I know the relationship between pressure and desperate decisions. Desperate decisions rarely work out. Tepper should've put on his big boy pants and owned up to his mistake and fired Rhule. Instead we're basically going into Fox's lame duck season 2.0 except the coach has the full power to tank the future of the franchise trying to save his job.

Folks, it's ugly and it's likely to get uglier before it has the chance to get better.

[electro's horse]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I know the relationship between pressure and desperate decisions. Desperate decisions rarely work out. Tepper should've put on his big boy pants and owned up to his mistake and fired Rhule. Instead we're basically going into Fox's lame duck season 2.0 except the coach has the full power to tank the future of the franchise trying to save his job.

Folks, it's ugly and it's likely to get uglier before it has the chance to get better.

I will hold off on forming an opinion until after the draft/FA period

once I'm sure we're not going to trade poo loads of picks, or make desperation trades for like Jimmy G, then I'll be fine with the decision.

I'm absolutely okay with tanking for a year, and if that's tepper's plan its fine to keep rhule. But if we draft like Cody Pickett instead of oline then oof. Whoof. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by electro's horse

[Waldo]

Makes turds every morning after my coffee?

Edited February 17, 2022 by Waldo

[frankw]

1 minute ago, electro's horse said:

I'm absolutely okay with tanking for a year, and if that's tepper's plan its fine to keep rhule.

Who believes stuff like this? We are not tanking. We have been terrible the last three seasons and the highest we have drafted is at 6. We aren't even good at losing. Odds say we will make a push and win a few extra games. Anyone hoping for a magical tank season to the first overall pick may as well also believe in fairy tales.

[BurnNChinn]

But let Rhule make all the final decisions still, not good at all!

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, frankw said:

Who believes stuff like this? We are not tanking. We have been terrible the last three seasons and the highest we have drafted is at 6. We aren't even good at losing. Odds say we will make a push and win a few extra games. Anyone hoping for a magical tank season to the first overall pick may as well also believe in fairy tales.

I can see it now. We go 7-10 or 8-9 and Rhule is retained showing improvement. The process is working! 1000%

[top dawg]

I guess Tepper decided to give it the ol' college try one last time...

[davos]

Part of me wants to hold on disliking Tepper a ton.  Not because of his non-football success, mainly because we just don't know what the deal is behind the scenes.  He clearly told his first big gamble in Rhule that this is it.  I just don't see how he's content and don't see some friendly peer type relationship between them.  We can joke and all but we don't have some senile old dude running the show anymore. What he is is a guy who seems a bit stubborn about building something and intent on going all in.  

You produce or you're out.  I'm not a fan of lame ducking but I can see that being the case with Tepper deciding not to look impatient for prospective coaching hires post-Rhule.

And he wants a QB, Watson went from a potential mega-trade to the whole massage fiasco, then Stafford denied us, but otherwise, the only true miss was not cutting ties with Ron sooner to land Burrow, Tua or Herbert.  Otherwise, who were the QBs we really missed out on? Hurts? Lance? Wilson? Fields? I mean, I'm honestly okay with that.  Those are guys those teams will be strapped with until they find out they don't have "it"

I wanted Rivera gone just as much as Rhule when we were sitting at 1-6, 2-8 in his second year with Cam seemingly regressing.  Then he rallied the team back (I can't see Rhule doing, not the same type of coach).  Giving a coach that 3rd year is a gamble in itself.  Did us keeping Rivera actually prevent us from winning a SB? Did keeping him longer after Tepper arrive screw us out of Burrow or Herbert? Herbert, likely.  

Well maybe the tradewinds are on our side this time because we truly have a bad coach and not one that rallies.  Maybe keeping Rhule will be a blessing in disguise because he'll shrivel when his back is against the wall and we're sitting on top of the 2023 draft.  That's my optimism lol.  Maybe he sees a rookie QB+new coach setup clearly possible in 2023, that pick is out of bounds, but otherwise, it's sh*t or get off the pot time for Rhule.

 

[Mr. Scot]

19 minutes ago, top dawg said:

I guess Tepper decided to give it the ol' college try one last time...

Interesting choice of words

I don't believe we're tanking. I think Tepper is indeed giving Matt Rhule a legitimate shot to turn it around.

Mind you, I think it's a bad decision, it's going to fail and we may have missed out on a chance to get a far better head coach in place for the future, but hey...

[frash.exe]

rhule needs to get a division title this year if he wants to have a future in this organization beyond 2022. with tom brady, drew brees, and sean payton all retired or otherwise out of the division, the NFC South hasn’t been more wide open since the mid 2000s.

[rayzor]

It won't take 7 or even 5 years to find out what Rhule is capable of. I think most here already know. Rhule has had no sense of urgency because he had that 7 year cushion. If that cushion is taken away, survival depends on being able to acknowledge that your plan isn't working, find a fix, and adapt, putting your fix in place. 

Good minds can pull this off. Narrow minds can't, neither can dummies. There's a slim chance that Rhule has a good mind in there somewhere, but more likely he's one of the other two. 

Adapting, should he try it, might look like this:

[Jmac]

I guess no more random tailgate appearances for Tepper and having a beer with the fans...

Edited February 17, 2022 by Jmac