Since this is a nostalgia thread I am wondering if the old time Colts fans from the Baltimore days might be able to answer this :
Why did the Colts part ways with Shula? He was 71-23-4 in his time with the team, they famously lost SB III and the 1964 NFL championship game, but the team was first or second in the division every year with him there except his first, he had no losing seasons. In 1967 and 1968 combined they were 24-2-2, an amazing record, though they lost the SB after 68 and seems they were kind of screwed over on a tiebreaker in 1967 with the Rams based on points scored. One season later after going a mediocre but respectable 8-5-1 he goes to Miami.
Was it a matter of him just failing in the big games and not winning titles? He was only 39 at the time he left them, only 33 when they hired him. Seems it was a big like Dungy/Gruden in Tampa, ironically, since the Colts were on the other end of that one with Dungy. The got rid of Shula and won the SB the next year, but after 1971 until they left Baltimore they had only 3 winnings seasons, in 1975-1977 under Marchibroda. And 7 of those season were not just "losing" seasons but bad seasons with 5 wins or less.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/
03-29-2019, 12:15 PM
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