The Kansas City Chiefs were successful in their defense of the Lombardi Trophy. They won the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime of a thrilling, back-and-forth game.
A lot of credit for the team’s success this season has to go to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs weren’t as explosive on offense as in years past, putting pressure on the defense to perform at a high level. They answered the call each time, resulting in the team’s third Super Bowl in five years.
After the performance, former Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill took to X, formerly Twitter, to raise a question. He was wondering why Spagnuolo isn’t generating interest as a potential head coaching candidate as much as other coordinators around the league.
Spagnuolo had one opportunity to be a head coach previously. He was hired by the then-St. Louis Rams to replace Scott Linehan and his interim, Jim Haslett. Spagnuolo lasted three seasons, going 10-38 and being replaced by Jeff Fisher.
The Rams were abysmal under his watch, as they went 1-15 in his debut season and 2-14 in his final season. He was also interim head coach for the New York Giants in 2017, replacing Ben McAdoo for the final four games of the season and going 1-3.
Despite those lackluster results, there are people who believe it is time for Spagnuolo to get another opportunity to be a head coach. One of those people is Rams’ COO Kevin Demoff, who was part of the contingent that hired him to coach the franchise 15 years ago.
“It is well past time to see Spags get another head coaching opportunity.
The team & organization he inherited in STL was a mess, nobody could have had success. Yet he changed the culture/staff & players believed. An amazing human deserving of the real shot we couldn’t give him,” Demoff wrote on X in response to Hill’s post.
When the Rams hired Spagnuolo, he was one of the fastest-rising coordinators in the NFL thanks to helping lead the Giants to victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42. As Demoff pointed out, the Rams were in a brutal spot, as they won only five games in the two seasons before he was hired.
On top of that, they were in the middle of a sale, which eventually led to them moving to Los Angeles. With an older roster and no money to spend on the salary cap, Spagnuolo was in a lose-lose situation.
With the Chiefs, Spagnuolo has shown that he is still one of the best defensive minds to grace the sideline this generation. A few factors are working against him, but any team looking for a defensive-minded leader should give him serious consideration.
More must-reads: