Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I came across this list from Sports Cheat Sheet by Matt Reevy.
It quoted Pro Football Reference as a source.

The 7 were, in descending order (from least worse to worse worst?):
7. Harland Svare
6. Joe Bugel
5. Marion Campbell
4. Dave McGinnis
3. Jimmy Phelan
2. David Shula

And the worst NFL Coach of all time....
1. Bart Bell!

Of course, there was no Bart Bell.
The coach he was referencing was Hall of Fame Commissioner Bert Bell.

I'm wondering if the author even knows who Bert (or Bart) Bell was or what he did for our game...

Feel free to discuss... I'm still vacillating between guffaws and OMGs.

The list isn't accurate without Bill Peterson's name on it.

by JuggernautJ » Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:10 pm
I came across this list from Sports Cheat Sheet by Matt Reevy.
It quoted Pro Football Reference as a source.
The 7 were, in descending order (from least worse to worse worst?):
7. Harland Svare
6. Joe Bugel
5. Marion Campbell
4. Dave McGinnis
3. Jimmy Phelan
2. David Shula
And the worst NFL Coach of all time....
1. Bart Bell!
Of course, there was no Bart Bell.
The coach he was referencing was Hall of Fame Commissioner Bert Bell.
I'm wondering if the author even knows who Bert (or Bart) Bell was or what he did for our game...
Feel free to discuss... I'm still vacillating between guffaws and OMGs.
- - - - -
The "sheet" providing the data might be aptly named and I think I'd hold on to my billfold if I ever meet the author.
Certainly, Pro Football Reference has improved of late but a glance at the list above rings just six bells with me.
The bell not chiming is Jimmy Phelan.

Phelan is the only name that is not at the bottom of a list compiled (with alleged statistical certainty)
by our own John Maxymuk and published in our November/December 2012 newsletter.
John has Darryl Rogers instead of Phelan and the order of futility is otherwise identical.

So... a "Hey you!" to the Reevy fellow followed by a bit of "give credit where credit is due."

Just because our current cabal is not attentive to these matters do not think others of us are unaware
of the fact that the PFRA is where one might want to make the first stop when searching for data.

No Rod Marinelli? 0-16 in the free agency / salary cap era is not right.

JohnH19 wrote:The list isn't accurate without Bill Peterson's name on it.

I agree. And he accomplished that with Hall of Famers Elvin Bethea, Ken Houston and Charlie Joiner in 1972.

Teo wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:The list isn't accurate without Bill Peterson's name on it.

I agree. And he accomplished that with Hall of Famers Elvin Bethea, Ken Houston and Charlie Joiner in 1972.

Peterson and Josh McDaniels are the two worst coaches ever.

7DnBrnc53 wrote:

Teo wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:The list isn't accurate without Bill Peterson's name on it.

I agree. And he accomplished that with Hall of Famers Elvin Bethea, Ken Houston and Charlie Joiner in 1972.

Peterson and Josh McDaniels are the two worst coaches ever.

Harvey Johnson and Scooter Mclean both won less than 10% of their games. Johnson should be given a little slack; He was the Director of Player Personnel and stepped in as coach when Joel Collier was fired after 1 game in 1968, and when John Rauch resigned in training camp in 1971. He took the job both times as a favor to Ralph Wilson.

Quick trivia question: what two players on McLean's team went on to be pretty awful coaches in their own right?
Hint...they coached the same team and neither was named Starr or Gregg.

Hank Bullough and Jim Ringo?

Yes. Both coached the Bills and had lousy winning percentages.

I remember when Joe Kuharchik when he was coaching the Eagles was called the worst coach ever.