Pro sports teams where the coaching staffs had a split locus of control (e.g. mid-1980s Chicago Bears)

That was a great read and thanks for posting it. I think to some degree NFL teams already have that with the Offensive, Defensive and ST coordinators being the leaders of their particular units. Even this week we've seen teams move on from some of those, while retaining the other side.

The head coach in the NFL should be well enough versed in one side or the other to be able to call plays and strategize against their opponents, but more importantly they should be able to lead the entire team of men. We have a couple of examples currently in the NFL that are great leaders and don't call plays (John Harbaugh and Dan Campbell), but they are more rare than the other way around.

How many successful head coaches can't lead a group of men on game day but are good play callers? I would argue that there is 1/4 of one those in the NFL right now. DA is that 1/4. He's a good defensive play caller when doing that job alone, but he's a poor leader of men. In fact, even him attempting to do that job subtracts from his ability to coach the defense as well as it could be.

Can anyone think of a team in recent memory that had a subordinate that was a superior leader to the head coach where the head coach survived?