Before Parcells, Lombardi Was The NFL’s Makeover Artist

(every Friday during the NFL season, OOB will run a nostalgic feature about the Lions’ upcoming opponents)

Several weeks ago, as the Lions were preparing to face the Green Bay Packers, I wrote in the Friday nostalgic preview here that there was a coach named Phil Bengston. He was the answer to a trivia question: Who coached the Green Bay Packers after Vince Lombardi retired?

Well, here’s another trivia question for you: when Lombardi came out of retirement in 1969, what team did he coach?

Answer: the Washington Redskins.

Lombardi was so many things, and one of them was Bill Parcells way before there was a Bill Parcells — a coaching Parcells, at least. Today, we laud Parcells as a resuscitator of football franchises — a man who has gone into many a sticky situation and come out smelling like a rose. His latest reclamation project is the Miami Dolphins, though he’s doing it from the executive offices this time.

Lombardi resurrected the Packers, turning them from perennial losers in the 1950s to the Team of the Decade in the 1960s. And funny, but the Pack went right back to losing when Lombardi left them.

And here’s something else that’s funny: when Lombardi couldn’t stand being a GM and bolted that job after just one year to coach the ‘Skins, the team from the capital shed their losing ways, and instantly.

No Redskins team had finished with more wins than losses since 1955 when Lombardi took over. Usually, they weren’t close to .500 in that time frame. Football folks wondered if Lombardi was about to tarnish his legacy, simply to fulfill the desire to coach once again.

Well, before you knew it, the ‘Skins were 4-1-1 and on their way. They stumbled a bit and finished 7-5-2, but it was easily their best record in quite some time. No one wondered, anymore, about Vince Lombardi’s legacy. It was safe and sound.

Lombardi as Redskins coach with retired RB Bobby Mitchell, who donned the uniform once more to pose for this photo

The veteran Redskins players marveled at Lombardi’s tenacity and fire, still raging after so many years on the sidelines. His presence even convinced legendary linebacker Sam Huff to come out of retirement and play one more season, and a very effective one.

Finally, the Redskins were on their way to being a winner again.

Then Lombardi got sick.

In the spring of 1970, after experiencing some stomach discomfort, Lombardi saw the doctor. It was revealed that he had cancer, and at an advanced stage.

The Redskins, and all of pro football, were devastated. There was still hope that Lombardi could recover, though. He went to training camp. There were reports that he was feeling better.

Unfortunately, it was all talk and hope. Lombardi got sicker and sicker, and passed away in September, 1970.

And after that blip on the screen in 1969, the ‘Skins went back to losing, finishing 6-8. George Allen took over in 1971 and restored the pride in Washington.

Some say that had Lombardi lived, he would have eventually led the Redskins into the Super Bowl, which had been his domain in Green Bay. Allen did it in 1972, so it’s conceivable that if Allen could do it, Lombardi certainly could, too.

Don’t Be Fooled: Marinelli, Lions Would Be Thrilled To Exorcise The Washington Demons

Dutch Clark never did it. Neither did Doak Walker. Nor did Bobby Layne, or Alex Karras, or Joe Schmidt. Same for Milt Plum and Lem Barney and Charlie Sanders and Barry Sanders.

The Detroit Lions have been card-carrying members of the National Football League since 1934. The Washington Redskins beat them to it, by one year, entering in 1933. It’s yet another time that the ‘Skins have trumped the Lions.

Yet at no point during these 74 years has a Lions team traveled to the nation’s capital, played a football game, and walked off the field a winner. The streak is 20, including three playoff games.

The Lions’ drought in Green Bay gets a lot of play in these parts, because the Packers are on the Lions’ schedule every year, and so there are annual reminders: no wins in Green Bay/Milwaukee since 1991. Oh-for-Brett Favre.

But at least the Lions HAVE won in Wisconsin. There was a time when it wasn’t all that uncommon. An old coot like me can tell you.

The Washington famine is another story. NEVER have the Lions won in D.C. It’s by far the longest-running vexation in league history.

Coach Rod Marinelli, speaking at Monday’s weekly presser, said absolutely nothing that I didn’t expect him to, when the subject of “Winless in Washington” (could be a sequel to “Sleepless in Seattle”) was brought up.

“It means nothing,” the coach said. “I don’t think about where we’re playing.”

Not unexpected. Also completely untrue.

Of COURSE the Lions will be thinking about the streak. Why else are we here, but to remind them? And that includes Marinelli, who will tell us on Monday that he doesn’t think about it, but will undoubtedly preen like a rooster if the Lions pull it off. Who wouldn’t want to be the first Lions coach to win a football game in Washington?

Now, it may be that us riff-raff bloggers focus on it more than the players, but I’ll bet you a case of Molson Brador that the Lions players will be much more exuberant than usual on the field, if the clock ticks down Sunday and the scoreboard shows the Lions safely ahead.

I’m reminded of another streak that dogged a Detroit sports team, and how at least one of the key players reacted to its breaking.

In the 1990 NBA Finals, an underlying theme was that the Pistons hadn’t won a game in Portland since the Nixon administration (1972). And here they were, tied 1-1 with the Blazers after the first two games in Detroit. Some nitwits had the Blazers as new NBA champs, simply because the Pistons hadn’t won in Portland in 18 years. What’s three more games, in the heart of the Finals?

In the official NBA Finals video, there was a shot of Pistons center Bill Laimbeer on the bench, Game 3 safely in hand for Detroit. He looked at the camera and flashed that famous smiling sneer of his.

“They said we haven’t won in Portland since 1972,” Laimbeer said, his voice unmistakingly caught by the boom microphone. Then he sing-songed, “Well, I think that streak is about to end!”

The Pistons then started a new streak. They won all three in Portland and flew home with the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Players and coaches are, at the same time, not as oblivious to history as they purport, yet also not as obsessed with it as those watching them perform. Laimbeer’s reaction to the end of the Portland streak will, I’ll bet, be similar to that of Roy Williams and Company if the Lions manage to scoot out of Washington a winner.

Oh, and they’d be 4-1, too, going into the bye. Not a bad sidebar.