HOF Chances Among Active Coaches According To The 33RD Team
Indeed — but their resumes are a lot more similar than you’d think if you were just casually throwing names around. Payton’s resume, of course, has been hamstrung by 2012 and by those three no-defense years 2014-16.
Still think Payton walks right into the HOF when it’s time. McCarthy probably gets in, too, without waiting too long. Tomlinson will get in first-ballot.
I still have some doubts about whether McCarthy gets in, automatically. I agree he'll get in eventually, but there will be some pushback, from some writers, pollsters who'll view his overall win-loss resume as a byproduct of being the HC of two, legendary HOF QB's who he should have won more SB's with or had more post-season success with. Who's to say some NFL writers, voters won't conveniently forget about his career like they seemingly have with Mike Shanahan, who won two SB's and reigned over a mostly successful, playoff-caliber team for well over a decade in Denver.
I mean, throughout the 2010's Packers teams, how many of those playoff losses, especially 2012, 2014 and 2015, came down to poor, gameplanning, terrible, late-game executions, awful situational awareness. In the cases of GB's 2011-12, 2014-15 losses, much of the blame has to fall partly on Mike McCarthy's shoulders. NFC West HC's like Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll systematically made him look like a fat meathead who's clueless, and inept and winning close, meaningful playoff games. Kyle Shanahan has masterfully, intelligently coached rings around McCarthy's Cowboys the past two post-seasons, showed him to be the same, mostly mediocre HC he always was in GB, got lucky for one season, and then just stagnated for well over a decade now.
Sean Payton should get in, too but I do believe there are some pundits out there who want to see just how smart, savvy, and intelligent of a playmaker Payton will be without his right arm, i.e. Brees. If Payton can make Denver respectable, or a perennial playoff contender again, stuck in a very, very tough, ultra-competitive AFC West, even his most vociferous, bitterest critics he just wasnt a very good, successful, elaborate one-trick pony with a future HOF QB who's considered one of the smartest, cerebral to ever play the position.