Poor Coaching??

[FloridaPolarBear]

No, I'm not talking about our Coaching performance, which I'm giving a solid "A" to date

I witnessed one of the worst coaching mental errors on Sunday. I was in Minneapolis on Sunday for a Rep Council meeting and we went to the Vikings game as part of the event. I was delighted that my favorite team (Tampa Bay) was playing the Vikings and sat thru a very boring first half with the Vikings leading 17-0. Tampa Bay scored early in second half to make it 17-7, recovered an on side kick and greatly outplayed Minnesota in the second half. With 5:00 left and both teams having three time-outs, with the score Minn 20 - Tampa Bay 17, Tampa Bay forced Minnesota to punt and started the eventual winning drive on their own 35 yard line, in a semi- Hurry up offense. At the two minute warning, Tampa Bay had a first down inside the 15 yard line. Tampa Bay ran two plays and with time running down, scored a touchdown with 20 seconds to play to go up 24-20. That was the final score and the game ended with Minnesota still having three time outs left.

The fans were visably upset and booing very loudly. "Why did Minnesota not call at least two time outs and have 1:30 remaining to try to win the ball game, rather than only 20 seconds and three time outs?" It was fun listening to the fan call in show while driving back to the hotel. I could imagine the comments on this forum if this was the Mckinley - Fitch game with the same senerio with Fitch being "Tampa Bay" and us losing 24-20.

[82Grad]

That sounds almost exactly like what Luke Fickell did in the OSU-miami game.

[Raymo]

That sounds almost exactly like what Luke Fickell did in the OSU-miami game.

I feel sorry for Luke...needs to win one of the next two games before the boys are back...he's in a bad position to keep his head coaching job.

[canton_fan]

Actually what FloridaPolarBear described and the position OSU was in was not even close to being the same. OSU had no chance of winning even if OSU would've forced Miami to a field goal only so Fickell did what he should've of done to get the game over with shake hands and move on. In the other situation IMO you never stop the clock when you have the lead. You have to assume your defense will stop them from scoring a TD and if you start using your time outs your telling your defense you have no confidence they can hold. Now if the game is tied and one team drives inside the 30 as a coach you have to assume the other team will at least kick a field goal so you need to preserve as much time as you can hoping you get the ball back. Some coaches may not use there time outs even then because the closer the clock gets to 0:00 the more pressure there is on the offensive team.
So IMO there was a whole stadium full of people that had no idea about game situations.

[Samuel E Altimore IV]

I don't think Fickle could have been dealt a worse hand, and the admins at OSU had to know going in that he'd have his hands full trying to win against teams like Miami without 4 key starters (suspended) and 2 others out with injuries. I think he should have picked one QB and stuck with him, this crap of rotating series between the two makes it hard for them to get into any sort of rhythm. I think it'll be a struggle from here on until they get their kids back from suspension. I certainly wouldn't wanna be in Luke's shoes that's for sure.

[FloridaPolarBear]

Canton fan . Minnesota had a 3 point lead. With Tampa Bay inside the 15 yard line, you hope that your defense can force a fourth down and a field goal attempt. You have to assume that Tampa Bay will probably make the field goal and tie the game at 20-20.

If I'm the coach, I want to force this field goal and have at least a minute left to hopefully kick a winning field goal or go into overtime. If Tampa Bay scores a touchdown and goes up 24-20, like they did, you now need a touchdown and will need as much time as possible. Letting the time tick down to 20 seconds on three running plays, without calling time out, with three time remaining, was an awful decision by the Viking Coach, but am thrilled at his decision!

[GoPups2006]

Agree with canton fan, the OSU situation is in no way similar to this one. That being said, I'm with Florida PB on the Minn-TB game... esp at the pro level, the defense knows they have faith in them. It's not about 'showing your defense' you don't believe in them imho. It's about giving your offense a chance to do something.

[BigDog6295]

Ohio State lost that game because Miami was better, not because Luke didn't call time outs....

[canton_fan]

Canton fan . Minnesota had a 3 point lead. With Tampa Bay inside the 15 yard line, you hope that your defense can force a fourth down and a field goal attempt. You have to assume that Tampa Bay will probably make the field goal and tie the game at 20-20.

If I'm the coach, I want to force this field goal and have at least a minute left to hopefully kick a winning field goal or go into overtime. If Tampa Bay scores a touchdown and goes up 24-20, like they did, you now need a touchdown and will need as much time as possible. Letting the time tick down to 20 seconds on three running plays, without calling time out, with three time remaining, was an awful decision by the Viking Coach, but am thrilled at his decision!

When it comes to the last couple minutes of a game coaches start to mentally prepare for OT not what they want to do the last minute of a game. Reason why is they don't want to put there team in a position to have a turnover deep in there own side of the field. Even if Tampa Bay kicked the field goal to just tie the game the Minnesota head coach probably sits on the ball for just that reason. I guess it's just a matter of a coaching style. By the way good topic!