Average nERD: -1.99 (46th)
Average Win Differential: -0.50 (39th)
Jim Mora the Younger’s head coaching career in the NFL had a lesson to be learned from it: some things are best left unsaid. With the Atlanta Falcons, Mora inherited star quarterback Michael Vick and promptly won the NFC South in his first season with the team, making it to the NFC Championship game. After that, though, his Falcons teams went 8-8 and 7-9 before Mora off-handedly commented on a radio show that he would leave to coach the University of Washington (his alma mater) if offered, even in the middle of a Falcons’ playoff run. He was promptly let go after the 2006 season, serving just three years for the team.
He latched on with the Seattle Seahawks as a defensive backs coach the following season and got another crack at a head coaching job in 2009. He instantly promised a Super Bowl in his first press conference and then delivered a 5-11 season before Pete Carroll replaced him. All in all, Mora had two positive nERD seasons, but his teams’ nERD scores steadily declined every season to a career-low -7.88 in 2009. If you want to talk big in the NFL, you have to deliver, and Mora’s value scores clearly didn’t return value on his promises.