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Bill Callahan had almost as many legitimate excuses this season as San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson had yards Sunday against his Raiders -- 243.
Yet Callahan has about as much chance of keeping his job as his team had passing
yards -- zero.
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How could that be? Forget the 4-12 record, the worst in NFL history following a Super Bowl season. Forget that Callahan's team hit final-Sunday bottom by losing to the team with the NFL's worst record. All that really matters is that Callahan lost the one "game" he couldn't -- to cornerback Charles Woodson.
Before Sunday's 21-14 loss, Callahan finally did what he should have when Woodson
called him out through the media two months ago. He suspended Woodson, who obviously
wanted to miss the game in protest. You can bet Woodson's game check that he
and his buddy Charlie Garner conspired to blow curfew and wander back into the
team hotel at, according to CBS, about 10:30 a.m.
They wanted to make one last statement: "Neither of us will even consider
playing for the Raiders next season if this guy is back."
For me, this proved I'd want Woodson and Garner as teammates even less than
I'd want Callahan as my coach. This was a selfish, classless act that mostly
hurt teammates preparing to beat a division rival with nothing but pride on
the line. But last time I checked, I wasn't Al Davis.
Davis' history echoes with instances of his siding with star players over the
nobody-to-somebody coaches Davis has elevated. This time probably won't be any
different. Woodson obviously is more valuable than former offensive-line coach
Callahan. For all I know, Woodson cleared his little protest through the owner.
It's even possible the owner encouraged it.
Woodson often looked like a slow shadow of his Pro Bowl self for the first half
of the season. But, as free agency neared, Woodson especially turned it on against
Randy Moss in the Raiders' good-old-days win over Minnesota. Woodson has been
saying publicly he would prefer to re-sign with the Raiders.
Callahan apparently offended Woodson by fining him over minor rules violations.
But for much of the season, Woodson let down Callahan on the field more than
Callahan irritated Woodson off it. When Woodson publicly criticized Callahan
for being too stubborn and egotistical to listen to veterans about offensive
game plans, it smacked of a fading star trying to take some focus and heat off
himself.
But Callahan, as usual, acted as if he wasn't even aware of Woodson's comments,
which threatened his credibility. Even after Sunday's game, Callahan robotically
refused to discuss the suspensions of "No. 24 and No. 25," as if ignoring
them will shrink their consequences.
Callahan's strength last season became this year's weakness. When the Raiders
fell to 4-4 in 2002, the team benefited quietly but enormously from a first-time
head coach who refused to panic or even acknowledge the precipice from which
his team dangled. What, Callahan worry? Even keel. Stiff upper lip. Stay the
course.
But when this year's team went over the edge, Callahan needed to fire back publicly
at Woodson and take action against him. When he didn't, he lost what locker-room
respect he had earned. He didn't lose the entire team, but enough of it to ultimately
lose his job.
When he finally blasted the entire team a month ago, calling it America's dumbest,
it was too late. Woodson had directly challenged his head coach, and Callahan
had let the highly popular inmate run what was turning into an asylum. Charles
in charge.
Yet if Woodson was strictly standing up for Garner, he had a point. My biggest
beef with Callahan was that, as quarterback Rich Gannon went south psychologically
and finally physically, the second-year coach wouldn't abandon the bells-and-whistles
passing attack that made Gannon the MVP last season and Callahan a first-year
sensation. Stay the course, off the cliff.
If Callahan would have committed to running Garner and Tyrone Wheatley at Chicago,
at Cleveland and at Detroit, the Raiders at least could have won those games
and retained a little dignity. Then Callahan's legitimate excuses might have
saved him.
It wasn't his fault that his three key defensive leaders -- Rod Woodson, Bill
Romanowski and John Parrella -- were lost to injury. Or that coach-on-the-field
Gannon couldn't recover from his five-interception Super Bowl nightmare. Or
that Jerry Rice finally got old, joining over-the-hill Tim Brown. Or that 13
players wound up on injured reserve. Or that the NFL scheduled the Raiders to
play night-time "revenge" games at Tennessee and Denver in the season's
first three weeks.
All of which is why Dana Stubblefield, the first-year Raider and longtime 49er,
said of Callahan: "You don't give up on him this soon." Yet Stubblefield
made it broken-glass clear that if Callahan returns, Woodson and Garner cannot.
And vice versa.
"A little problem that could have been settled a long time ago," said
Stubblefield, "blew up like a volcano."
The locker-room turmoil, said Stubblefield, escalated into players "bickering"
with coaches and players "fighting" with players. Still, he said,
you can't protest by forcing the coach to suspend you for the final game.
"If you don't like this guy," said Stubblefield, "don't let it
affect your teammates. Come on. You've got to learn how to set your ego aside
and say, `Let's go out with some pride.' "
Thank you, Dana, for having the guts to speak the truth.
But of course, Stubblefield expects a "house-cleaning" that could
include him. First, it almost certainly will include the head coach. The "star"
won.