Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

From 1990-1993, Joe Bugel was the head coach of the then-Phoenix Cardinals.

Despite less-than-stellar records (5-11, 4-12. 5-11, 7-9) they always seemed to be not as bad as their records indicated and never among the dregs of the league in those seasons. And despite being far and away the least imposing team in the NFC East, they always seemed to play good teams close but just couldn't come out on the right side:

1990- Beat Philly at the Vet (and the Sun Devil rematch saw the Eagles prevail by only 2), played the SB champion to be Giants very tough (lost on a final play FG at the Meadowlands, only lost by 3 at Sun Devil)

1991- Beat Philly AGAIN at the Vet (a loss that ultimately kept the Eagles out of the playoffs), Dallas only beat 17-9 at Sun Devil Stadium, almost beat Denver at Mile High Stadium 24-19 (which could have sent them to the Astrodome in the Divisional Playoffs), and had a 14-0 halftime lead against the revered 1991 Redskins at Sun Devil (they had to come back to win 20-14). And they gave the 10-6 49ers one of their toughest tests when they finished on a hot streak (14-10 at Candlestick)

1992- Beat Washington at Sun Devil with a huge 2nd half comeback, had the Eagles dead to rights at the Vet (a famous goal line stand where the Cardinals had so many plays inside the 5 but never ran one pass play), played the Saints/Chargers/Cowboys tough in Tempe, and pinned a surprise loss on the 49ers (Their other losses- NFC-CG and Buffalo puntless game are remembered)

1993- Got off to a bad start, but they had so little luck in a ton of close games that went the other way: 23-17 Eagles, 17-10 Cowboys, 26-20 and 21-14 against the Lions, 23-21 Patriots, 20-17 Saints, 20-15 Cowboys in Dallas, 19-17 vs. the Giants at the Meadowlands. They did beat NYG late in the season and finally won at RFK vs. the Redskins. And despite these losses, they still had the NFL's #6 offense and allowed only 16.8 PPG.

They didn't seem to have a ton of big-time players, but they could be a pain in the butt for big-time teams.

Were they a hard luck team? Were they a team that could have easily had a better record with more luck in close games?

And how much did going to Buddy Ryan in 1994 set the team back?

I remember in 1993 the Cardinals upper management dictated if they did not finish .500 Bugel was gone, and while they finished a very strong 7-9, I thought they made a mistake getting rid of him. If they had kept Bugel in 1994 I think Arizona would have broken .500 and made the playoffs. Bringing in Ryan reset the rebuilding cycle and all the work Bugel did was pretty much thrown out the window.

Bugel's time in the desert was pretty Marion Campbell/Eagles-like, scrappy below-500 team each year 'peaking' at 7-9 in final season at helm. In Campbell's case, at least Eagles improved each year and were above-500 (6-5) at one point late in his final '85 season. Perhaps had he stayed the following year Eagles may have improved further being there would be no 'start from scratch' rebuilding. Three straight playoff-appearances going into the '90s, however, I doubt would have happened under Swamp Fox making Buddy's hiring in Philly the better decision whereas not the case in Zona. Even if Bugel also finishes 8-8 in '94, and given yet another shot, very doubtful he puts up a 4-12 stinker in '95.

One thing I don't understand about Bugel: In the 80's, the Redskins had a receiving TE named Clint Didier (although TE's usually blocked in that offense).

When Joe got to Phoenix, they had a guy named Jay Novacek that they put on Plan B. He went to Dallas. Big mistake. Why couldn't he have been Bugel's Clint Didier?

Although Bugel did turn out to be the better Cardinal HC than Buddy, you'd think if Bidwell gave Bugel four years you'd think he would have given Buddy just one more year considering all that was invested. Cards were, FWIW, 8-7 going into the '94 finale, one win away from playoffs, and Joe himself regressed to 4-12 his second year as well.

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Although Bugel did turn out to be the better Cardinal HC than Buddy, you'd think if Bidwell gave Bugel four years you'd think he would have given Buddy just one more year considering all that was invested. Cards were, FWIW, 8-7 going into the '94 finale, one win away from playoffs, and Joe himself regressed to 4-12 his second year as well.

I think Bidwill was ready to cut bait with Buddy after his inability to live up to his boasts ("You got a winner in town now!") showed him to be another DC who should stay in that role.

Bobby Ackles biography "The Water Boy" talks about his years with the Cardinals, and about the process that ended in Ryan's hiring. I don't think it's fully appreciated what a complete train wreck that organization was. What I remember most from the book is Ackles, Bidwell, and Ryan were all walking down for the introductory press conference. As they're getting close to the microphones, Bidwell turns to Ryan and says, "Oh, by the way, you're the GM, too."

You'd think that maybe a detail that important would have been ironed out at some point before that.

Ackles doesn't hide his dislike of Ryan in the book. He describes him as completely untrustworthy, and a toxic presence to any organization.

End of day, Bugel's only HC experience was for...pre-late-'00s (lasting for decades) Bidwell era Cards and then for Al Davis in '98 who fired him after just one year! A phenomenal OL coach he was! Had only he HC-ed in a better franchise situation? Guess we'll never know.

I always thought that being a head coach was just a tad above Bugels paygrade. He had scrappy, hard working teams, but inconsistent and low on talent and explosive playmakers. He was a guy that I always saw was frequently outcoached.

Never any QB stability, there drafting mostly poor (never found any mid round gems that you really need to be the bedrock to your franchise) and 110 degree Phoenix at that time was truly NFL Siberia. It was pretty sad watching them puttering along in front of crowds of about 20k in that frying pan.