NFL – Cowher to Coach in 2010

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach, Bill Cowher, has made it known that the greatest chin to grace the sidelines of the NFL is making a return in the 2010 NFL betting season. The news doesn’t come as a tremendous shock to the NFL community because Cowher has seemed uncomfortable and restless in the booth, just the opposite of Jon Gruden who seems revitalized by his spot with the Monday Night Football crew.

Cowher was last seen coaching the Steelers in 2006 and won a Super Bowl in 2005 with the Steelers against Seattle. Which bottom feeding team is the likeliest candidate to land the 52-year old coach?

Chicago Bears (5-9 SU)
As I’ve been calling for all year, Chicago’s fan base has finally cried for Lovie Smith’s head. Lovie, who is endeared in coaching circles around the league, has taken his team to the Super Bowl just once and lost despite having one of the best overall defenses the NFL has ever seen. This year he gained Jay Cutler but lost Brian Urlacher in Week 1. The trade, which was supposed to turn Chicago in to a Super Bowl contender, turned them in to a laughing stock. The Bears have gone just 4-10 ATS and are 1-6 ATS on the road. Cutler has turned in to a turnover machine and the coaching staff has failed to reproduce Matt Forte’s breakout year last season, and determine or develop a number one receiver.

The reason that Cowher wouldn’t touch this position is because Chicago has traded away its entire draft class of 2010 for Cutler already and they don’t have a number-one pick in the draft until 2012. The city, the franchise, the owners and the legacy of Chicago would entice Cowher, but the laughable state of the team’s immediate future make this an absolute stay away.

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Buffalo Bills (5-10 SU)
The Bills are caught in more limbo than any other team. Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson’s talents are lost to the fact that the team doesn’t actually have a real quarterback. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been doing moderately better than Trent Edwards, but that’s not saying much. The Bills went 7-7-1 ATS this season, and showed glimpses of life, but reviving a team in the same division as the Patriots, Jets and Dolphins is not the most attractive job opportunity for Cowher, or any other coach in the league with the equal clout. Plus, you’d have to live in Buffalo…

Carolina Panthers (7-8 SU)
The Panthers either had to pick between Jon Fox or Jake Delhomme, and it seems they’ve made their choice. The emergence of Matt Moore has made the choice that much easier, especially since he’s putting up a 98.9 quarterback rating since he earned the starting job. Fox’s job is safe meaning there’s no place for Cowher. The guy who will need a job is Jake Delhomme, but don’t worry too much about him. He signed an extension last summer that guaranteed him $20 million. Not a bad deal for 8 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 12 games for 2009.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-12 SU)
The Bucs are hitting the basement after going through the biggest overhaul a team has seen in recent years. They literally cleared the house of every veteran outside of Ronde Barber and jettisoned Jon Gruden. This is likely the most attractive destination for Cowher for a number of reasons, and the main one being that this team has reasonable offensive weapons.

Josh Freeman, Kellen Winslow, Antonio Bryant (who will have to be re-signed), Cadillac Williams and many others give this offense the same type of punch that Cowher is used to working with. On top of that, Tampa as a city is a much better city to live in than Buffalo. The Bucs, who have a first year coach in Raheem Morris already in the wings will have to do some politicking to keep Morris, but if it came down to nabbing Cowher, Morris would be out of Tampa in a flash.

The Furious Verdict: Cowher will end up in Tampa because the Glazers are one of the most free spending teams in the entire league. The Bucs have an attractive, young team that needs a veteran leader and Cowher will have a top-5 draft pick to help rebuild a defense that used to be legendary. Oddly enough, the NFC South has a strange record where the last place team from the year before ends up first the following year. Could that happen to the Bucs? Only if Cowher is on board.