[evolve27]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Not as long as Herm is the Coach.

I don't think the situation is the way it appeared to us.

We have to go all the way back, to when Herm accepted the position. He quickly found out, the fans were very concerned about any potential degradation of the Circus offense (#1). He promised not to mess with it.
Herm's huge ego, would not allow the offense to be bigger than him. I think he systematically took steps to dismantle the offense.
For him not to be the bad guy, and lose the fans, the offensive system had to fail on it's own.
1) Get rid of Terry Shea, an important element to Trent's success. Give him a QB coach that knew much less than the water boy.
2) Insult the very fiber of the offense, their pride. Willie Roaf says that is enough, he retires suddenly shortly after Herm takes over. This after promising Will Shields he would return.
3) Trent gets injured, making the goal so much easier to attain.
4) Upon Trents return, give him a game plan that restricts what he can do. Trent was visibly frustrated, and let his displeasure be known. He was then stripped of his leadership, that is Herm's role!
5) When the playoff game rolled around, it was the perfect stage to let Trent fail. Totally hamstring the offense with the game plan. Leave him in until nobody has a question he can no longer perform. Herm's buddy needed a SB victory to keep the dogs off anyway.

Mission complete, Dick Vermeil's Circus offense has been successfully sabotaged in only one season!

Now for some real Herm football!

Excellent.