Can Raheem Morris finally get Bucs a “Coach of the Year” to make up for robbed past?

It should have been simple; a team that goes 0-26, then wins 5 games in its third year, is not supposed to even contend for a winning record. If a coach were to take a team like that, in its 4th year of existence, and take it to the NFC Championship game, that should be a lock for “Coach of the Year” right? Wrong. Disrespect for Tampa Bay has a long rooted history, John McKay was overlooked for Jack Pardee in the AP Coach of the Year, and Dick Vermeil in the Sporting News version. All McKay did was outcoach and the Bucs outperformed Vermiel’s Philadelphia Eagles team in the opening round of the Playoffs. Pardee took his Redskins to a 10-6 record, good for third in the NFC East, but not good enough for a playoff spot; from a franchise around much longer than 4 years. So we got over that, and the Bucs ended up becoming losers once more. Forever it seemed. 14 years of losing, it was a ‘for sure’ thing if a Coach ever took the Bucs to the playoffs he would be ‘Coach of the Year’ right? Not so fast; Jim Fassel, the 1997 NFL Coach of the Year by the AP and Sporting News for taking the NY Giants back to winning ways. I mean, when you go 6 years without a winning record, that should be worth it right? Never mind that Coach Tony Dungy totally outcoached Fassell in a Week 13 Tampa

Bay at NY Giants game won by the Bucs. The Giants went on to lose to Minnesota by one point in the playoffs while the Bucs won their first home playoff game in 16 years. It’s almost impossible that it could happen once, yet it happened twice. Both times, Tampa Bay’s head coach took the Bucs to a place it has never been and was outvoted by a coach with lesser accomplishments for that same year. Back in the early stages of Bucs football, fans were always upset at Monday Night Football host Howard Cosell who fans thought was purposely skipping halftime highlights of their favorite teams. But the truth was Cosell had no control over this, the plays were scripted by higher-ups. So it was New York execs who took the plays off so to speak, and the Tampa Bay area has been looking for slights ever since. So here we are in 2010, and the Bucs have not been playoff bound for a couple of years, but have in fact completely rebuilt the team under Morris and GM Mark Dominik’s guidence. But Morris is getting mention from people at ESPN and NFL Network as a mid-season Coach of the Year frontrunner. Whether that holds up, or if the ghosts of Tampa Bay pasts come back to haunt is another story worth watching in this remarkable 2010 Bucs season.