This is always an interesting situation. McVay or Shanahan (or McDaniels)? The year we hired Linehan, the Packers hired McCarthy, the Vikings hired Brad Childress, the Lions hired Rod Marinelli, the Saints hired Payton, the Jets hired Mangini, Buffalo hired Jauron, Houston hired Kubiak, Kansas City hired Herm Edwards and the Raiders hired Art Shell. 10 new head coaches (or at least new to their team) and how many are still head coaches? 2. How many were successful? 3? So that's 30% at best. The top coaches at that time were Holmgren, Gruden, Billick, Shanahan, Cowher, Lovie, Parcells, Reid,
The year we hired Spagnulo the Lions hired Jim Schwartz, Tampa hired Raheem Morris, the niners hired Singletary, Seattle hired Mora, Jr., the Jets hired Rex Ryan, the Browns hired Mangini, the Colts hired Caldwell (and went to the Superbowl), Denver hired McDaniels, Oakland hired Cable and the Chiefs hired Todd Haley. Outside of Caldwell and Rex for the first couple of years, all duds. 2 of 11?
Then in 2012 we hired Fisher. Experience. Some success. A history of being around .500 but he couldn't accomplish that with the Rams. My point is we tried the young, first timers and then we tried the experienced guy. It could be said the first timers we hired were every bit as capable as the first timers (and some vets) other teams hired. The hot guys IIRC were Payton, Mangini and Kubiak when we got Linehan and McDaniels, Ryan, Schwartz and Haley when we hired Spagnuolo. But our guys right up there with them, perhaps Spagnuolo more than Linehan. But we didn't get squat. And the other teams didn't get much either with the exception of the Saints (Payton), Colts (Caldwell), McCarthy (Green Bay) and the Jets (Ryan). 3 of those 4 had superb quarterbacks to help them succeed.
Maybe this time around we got the right guy and have the proper QB in place. Maybe. But we also got one of the best DCs in the NFL. Now if we can hire one of the best OL coaches, I like our chances. But like the draft, it's a crap shoot. Is Shanahan definately the best option this year? Or will he end up like McDaniels or Haley, Linehan and Spagnuolo? Some highly rated guys just don't succeed and others do. All I can say is "we're due".