Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

then get blown out on Thanksgiving . . . they end up 7-7 and Coryell gets canned.

Why the slide?

The Coryell feud with the front office had been building all season, especially after he wanted to draft Robin Cole and the GM overruled him and took QB flop Steve Pisarkiewicz.

The secondary got banged up against Philadelphia--right before the Miami game, and the Cardinals already had a mediocre defense. They had to come back from a 16-0 deficit in that game to win 21-16.

Their loss to the Giants was the opposite of the Miami game: instead of getting shredded through the air, the Giants chewed up 234 yards on the ground to win 27-7. The Cardinals only trailed 10-7 at the half, but within the first two minutes, Hart threw a pick-six and the Cards never recovered.

The next week, the Redskins started Billy Kilmer for the first time in seven weeks, playing in 10-degree weather, to beat St. Louis 26-20. The Cards scored with 4:21 to play to cut the deficit to six, and were driving for the game-winner, but Eddie Brown picked off a pass in the end zone with just over a minute left.

The Redskins loss ended any chance of a playoff berth and all the animosity exploded after the game. Coryell's wife had left at halftime because of fan comments about her husband, and Coryell's daughter tried to hit a fan. That, coupled with Bidwill's notorious tightwad approach, which caused Terry Metcalf to leave after that season, was another sticking point. Coryell's contract was such that he couldn't do any radio or TV shows and have any outside business interests.

With the season officially in the toilet, the Cardinals played like crap, losing to the newly-dominant Bucs, 17-7.

Notwithstanding his mostly successful run with the Chargers, Coryell's excellent W-L record with the dysfunctional Big Red organization, alone, should be sufficient to get him inducted into Canton.

How about the 6-2 finish the following year under Bud Wilkinson after starting off 0-8? Guess much of that was a product of a team simply getting hot (going "all-out") when not having anything to play for anyway. Easy schedule down the stretch as well although they did beat playoff-bound (albeit 9-7) Eagles and Falcons. High expectations in StL going into the '79 campaign. Bud not letting the Bidwills push Zark down his throat obviously led to his dismissal. Guess we'll never know how things would have turned out for Bud as an NFL HC had he been allowed to stay on; or if he would have coached for a different (better run) franchise instead. Not to compare the two (at least Jake had some success) but Cards drafting, and putting stock in, Zark is a bit of a precursor to they drafting and putting stock in Plummer two decades later - drafting a local star college QB (Zark - Missouri, Plummer - ASU).

74_75_78_79_ wrote: High expectations in StL going into the '79 campaign. Bud not letting the Bidwills push Zark down his throat obviously led to his dismissal. Guess we'll never know how things would have turned out for Bud as an NFL HC had he been allowed to stay on; or if he would have coached for a different (better run) franchise instead. Not to compare the two (at least Jake had some success) but Cards drafting, and putting stock in, Zark is a bit of a precursor to they drafting and putting stock in Plummer two decades later - drafting a local star college QB (Zark - Missouri, Plummer - ASU).

The death of J.V. Cain in training camp was a huge loss, both on a personal level with the players and the production aspect.

74_75_78_79_ wrote:How about the 6-2 finish the following year under Bud Wilkinson after starting off 0-8? Guess much of that was a product of a team simply getting hot (going "all-out") when not having anything to play for anyway. Easy schedule down the stretch as well although they did beat playoff-bound (albeit 9-7) Eagles and Falcons. High expectations in StL going into the '79 campaign. Bud not letting the Bidwills push Zark down his throat obviously led to his dismissal. Guess we'll never know how things would have turned out for Bud as an NFL HC had he been allowed to stay on; or if he would have coached for a different (better run) franchise instead. Not to compare the two (at least Jake had some success) but Cards drafting, and putting stock in, Zark is a bit of a precursor to they drafting and putting stock in Plummer two decades later - drafting a local star college QB (Zark - Missouri, Plummer - ASU).

Zark was a mistake, Plummer wasn't.