Blanton Collier vs. George Siefert: who was better coach?

[Bryan]

Sport Magazine had a cover story about "Best NFL Coach Ever" in 1988. They did a computerized calculation of sorts, and anyway Blanton Collier ended up with the 4th highest "wins above expectancy per season" total. Joe Gibbs was 1st.

[JWL]

Blanton Collier always found a way to win at least two games in every season in which he was a head coach in the NFL. I'll go with him over George Seifert for that reason.

[Saban1]

So why did Paul Brown experience the 1956 to 1962 fall off?

They didn't really fall off that much for most of that period: They made the 1957 title game, should have made it again in '58. In '59, they had a 6-2 record and were tied with the Giants, then had consecutive one-point losses at home while the Giants kept winning. Then the Giants obliterated them in Week 11 to end any hope of a comeback.

In '60, they were a game behind Philly in Week 8, then lost to a weak Steelers team and tied the Cardinals to take them out of contention. The folllowing year, they were 7-3 and a game behind the Giants when NY came to Cleveland and won 37-21. Even in Week 13, they were still only a game behind the Giants and Philly, but a costly loss to the Bears killed any playoff hopes.

In '62, Jim Brown's sprained wrist didn't help matters, but it was obvious that Paul Brown's influence had worn off. In Week 12, they got blown out by the Cowboys and he then annoyed the hell out of the players by staying in Cleveland for the final week of practice (in the midst of heavy snow), instead of just going out to SF.

Also. Art Modell bought the team in 1961. Modell and Paul Brown did not get along. Some said that Modell undermined Brown's coaching.

As Mike McCormack said after Brown's firing, "As far as I am concerned, he's the finest coach I ever played for, and yet I am convinced that the Browns will never win a title with Paul Brown as coach and Art Modell as owner."