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It is not easy for great players, including those in the NFL, to become good coaches. The biggest challenge they face is that those things that they can do naturally on the playing field might not work for an average player.
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That, of course, does not mean that legendary players cannot make legendary coaches. However, there is always a chance of failure. Here is a list of three NFL coaches who had legendary playing careers but came up short of expectations in their coaching gig.
#1 - Bart Starr
Bart Starr's career as a player is the stuff of legends. As Vince Lombardi's starting quarterback, he led the Green Bay Packers to three NFL Championships and the first two Super Bowls.
In each of these Super Bowls, he was named the MVP, as well as being the league MVP in 1966. Simply put, if ever there was a conversation about the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Bart Starr would be there.
However, when the Packers chose sentimentality to restore their fading years of glory following Lombardi's departure, they chose to turn to Bart Starr as their coach.
He was their quarterbacks coach from 1971 to 1975 and then took the head coaching job. He led them for nine seasons, during which time they had just one winning season. He was let go in 1983, but he never lost his dignity.
#2 - Mike Singletary
Mike Singletary is one of the greatest NFL players to ever play the game. As a linebacker with the Chicago Bears, he won Super Bowl XX in a career that spanned 12 seasons and included 10 Pro Bowl selections.
He retired in 1992 and held a variety of linebacker coaching jobs before becoming the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
He took over for an interim period in 2008, when former head coach Mike Nolan was fired with the team sitting at a 2-5 record. He presided over a 5-4 end to their season and got the job for good.
In the 2009 season, he finished 8-8 with the 49ers, which was an achievement given this was their first non-losing season in seven years. But it was in the next season that everything went downhill with a 0-5 start that culminated in him losing his job before the season was over, with the team sitting at 5-10.
#3 - Art Shell
Art Shell is a Hall of Famer who won three Super Bowls with the Raiders. In 1989, he took over as the head coach of the NFL team he played for. He took the team to the playoffs three times, but failed to progress in the playoffs. In 1994, he was let go of his duties, despite having a 54-38 winning record.
However, why does a coach with a winning record make this list? Because the Raiders hired him back in 2006 as their head coach. Far from uplifting their fortunes, they finished 2-14 for one of the bleakest seasons in Raiders history. Needless to say, he was fired at the end of the season.
