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'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 4:13 pm
by 74_75_78_79_
A very good coach! You have to be if you achieve seven winning seasons and six playoff berths. He did immediately lead the Saints to relevancy after two solid decades of not being a winner at all.
Then what's the 'reason' for always coming up short in a playoff game? Could it, possibly, be that his Saints teams were too "Dome Patrol"/LB-heavy? And what about Indy? He obviously had an offense (Peyton & Co). Middle-of-the-road, but the D wasn't too bad; good enough to complement the O, I'd think.
Jerry Burns...MIke Ditka...Jerry Glanville...Rich Kotite...Jeff Fisher...Dave Wannstedt...
These are the HCs who eliminated him. But how many of these HCs were actually better than him?
Jim Mora Jr (I mean Jim L Mora) was not at all a better HC, but at least he made it to a CCG (yes, the 8-8 Rams being the obstacle to get there).
Though it was one of those two strike seasons, I was still excited about the Saints in '87 finally turning it on - that momentum going into the playoffs, at least splitting with San Fran and all. I knew right from the start when he - who, yes, was the Phi/Balt Stars' HC - got hired that he'd be the one to finally turn them into a winner. My father thought he was a good coach. Such a bummer how that Wild Card game turned out! I keep forgetting that it would take three years after '87 (started 7-1 in '88) to return to the playoffs, but as an 8-8 sixth-seed team. Losing at home to 'Too Legit" in '91 was a bummer as well (and also to Tenn in '99).
Re: 'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:18 pm
by Brian wolf
His teams in Nawlins were tough but had too many blue-collar players, with the stars being on defense. The Colts werent ready for a buzzsaw Titans team that were fired up after surviving the Bills in that 1999/00 WC game.
One of Mora's toughest losses wasnt a playoff game but a loss to the 49ers at the end of the 1988 season that helped them take the division.
Re: 'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:29 pm
by Bob Gill
Of course, Mora DID win a playoff game or two -- it's just that they were in the USFL, which means they don't exist as far as the NFL record books. But I figure a coach's job in the USFL was just about as hard as it was in the NFL, and in that other league Mora won seven out of eight playoff games, good for two championships. His only loss was a two-point decision to Michigan in the 1983 championship game. I see no reason why he shouldn't get some credit for those accomplishments.
As for his NFL days, especially with the Saints, it seemed to me that Mora coached a lot like George Allen, relying on his defense to stop the other team and his offense to avoid turnovers and score just enough to win. And for what it's worth, Allen never won a playoff game in the NFL except for the two he won in 1972. Otherwise, though he made the playoffs quite a few times with the Rams and the Redskins, his teams were shut out too.
P.S. Allen also lost two playoff games in the USFL -- both of them to Mora's teams.
Re: 'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 2:56 am
by CSKreager
74_75_78_79_ wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 4:13 pm
A very good coach! You have to be if you achieve seven winning seasons and six playoff berths. He
did immediately lead the Saints to relevancy after two solid decades of not being a winner at all.
Then what's the 'reason' for always coming up short in a playoff game? Could it, possibly, be that his Saints teams were too "Dome Patrol"/LB-heavy? And what about Indy? He obviously had an offense (Peyton & Co). Middle-of-the-road, but the D wasn't too bad; good enough to complement the O, I'd think.
Jerry Burns...MIke Ditka...Jerry Glanville...Rich Kotite...Jeff Fisher...Dave Wannstedt...
These are the HCs who eliminated him. But how many of these HCs were actually better than him?
Jim Mora Jr (I mean Jim
L Mora) was not at all a better HC, but at least he made it to a CCG (yes, the 8-8 Rams being the obstacle to get there).
Though it was one of those two strike seasons, I was still excited about the Saints in '87 finally turning it on - that momentum going into the playoffs, at least splitting with San Fran and all. I knew right from the start when he - who, yes, was the Phi/Balt Stars' HC - got hired that he'd be the one to finally turn them into a winner. My father thought he was a good coach. Such a bummer how that Wild Card game turned out! I keep forgetting that it would take three years after '87 (started 7-1 in '88) to return to the playoffs, but as an 8-8 sixth-seed team. Losing at home to 'Too Legit" in '91 was a bummer as well (and also to Tenn in '99).
87 Saints absolutely would have won a playoff game had St. Louis made it instead of that random Minnesota team where Wade Wilson inexplicably had the only good games of his otherwise mediocre career
Re: 'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 3:45 am
by SeahawkFever
Bob Gill wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:29 pm
Of course, Mora DID win a playoff game or two -- it's just that they were in the USFL, which means they don't exist as far as the NFL record books. But I figure a coach's job in the USFL was just about as hard as it was in the NFL, and in that other league Mora won seven out of eight playoff games, good for two championships. His only loss was a two-point decision to Michigan in the 1983 championship game. I see no reason why he shouldn't get some credit for those accomplishments.
As for his NFL days, especially with the Saints, it seemed to me that Mora coached a lot like George Allen, relying on his defense to stop the other team and his offense to avoid turnovers and score just enough to win. And for what it's worth, Allen never won a playoff game in the NFL except for the two he won in 1972. Otherwise, though he made the playoffs quite a few times with the Rams and the Redskins, his teams were shut out too.
P.S. Allen also lost two playoff games in the USFL -- both of them to Mora's teams.
Correct me if I’m wrong but were the playoff games against Green Bay and Dallas in 1972, the only home playoff games the Redskins played in the 70’s under George Allen?
His record is his record of course, but could Allen have won more playoff games if he had not shared a division with the Cowboys, or otherwise beaten Dallas for the division more?
1972-1974 was the best Washington was with Allen as coach in my book.
I don’t know if this is the case for Mora, but it’s been said that special teams were more integral to Allen’s teams than most at the time as well.
Re: 'Explanation' as to why Jim Mora never won a playoff game?
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2026 9:35 pm
by Crazy Packers Fan
It seems that most of his losses came to teams who got hot at the right time. 1987 Vikings, 1991 Falcons, 1999 Titans. He reminds me a lot of Marty Schottenheimer, a guy who couldn't win the big one, yet was a fantastic coach. And both of them became punchlines for my generation, "Marty Ball" and "Playoffs?"
Side note: it always bothered me that Jim Mora Jr. tried to go by the name of "Jim Mora" which made things confusing since they coached in the same decade in the NFL. Just a little quirk that got to me.