Bill Parcells was just as fickle as he was demanding. Despite winning two Super Bowls in New York, he left the Giants after the 1990 season. After flirting with several teams, he finally decided to return to coaching in New England for the ‘93 season.
Most famously among those teams were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who Parcells would also leave at the altar in 2002, but knowing his patterns, Parcells would never take that job. He likes teams with a history; I doubt Parcells would be interested in the creamsicle losers in central Florida.
You know who would interest him? The Green Bay Packers. In fact, they did. So much so that they talked about the job. Extensively. Eventually, Parcells turned it down, leading Green Bay to hire hotshot offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren from San Francisco. But what if Parcells had taken the Green Bay job?
The answer? Disaster, for Green Bay at least. Parcells, who at the time had far more caché than general manager Ron Wolf, vetoes the trade that would have brought Brett Favre from Atlanta. Instead, Favre is traded to Denver to backup John Elway, netting Atlanta only a third round pick and sending Tommy Maddox to a different place to mire in obscurity.
Without Favre, Parcells has no anchor around which to build his team. The Packers struggle through several losing years before Parcells resigns after the ‘96 season, vowing never to coach again. A vow he would eventually break, but more on that later.
Without Parcells available, the Patriots hold onto coach Dick MacPherson for an extra year. When they fire him after the ‘93 season, a stroke of luck lands them the coaching star they wanted. Jerry Jones, being Jerry Jones, fires Jimmy Johnson after his second championship in Dallas. New owner Robert Kraft wastes no time in swooping in and snagging Johnson to reinvent his franchise.
Johnson, fresh off of two championships, demands total control over his roster. Kraft agrees, eliminating any question over who would buy the groceries. Johnson does his magic and with Drew Bledsoe by his side, he leads the Patriots to their first championship in 1996. Johnson’s Patriots repeat in 1997 before losing a stunning Super Bowl XXXIII to Atlanta. Still, Johnson is forever remembered as the man who saved football in New England.
Back to Parcells. With Dan Marino’s career winding down and owner Wayne Huizenga desperate to bring him a championship, the Miami Dolphins offer Parcells complete control over the franchise and the highest paying coaching contract of all time to save the team.
Parcells agrees, bringing protégé Bill Belichick along with him. After a 9–7 ‘98 season that ended with a playoff blowout in New England, Parcells and Belichick managed to get their ducks in a row for the ‘99 season—Marino’s last hurrah.
The Patriots, thanks in no small part to what Johnson calls “burnout,” barely squeak into the playoffs only to be blown out 62–7 in the divisional round to Miami. The Dolphins would go on to win Super Bowl XXXIV, cementing Marino’s legacy as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.
With Marino set to retire, Parcells follows suit, moving up to the front office as general manager and handing the reins to Belichick as the pair resolve to rebuild the Dolphins for the post-Marino era.
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