And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
There is a reason why pride is considered the deadliest of the seven Cardinal sins. Pride causes us to overestimate our abilities and will blur our personal boundaries. Pride will swell our ego and make us believe things that, in humbler times, we know aren’t so. Pride will take us down a rocky path of failure, to attempt things that cannot be done.
Like stopping Devin Hester.
In a one-on-11 confrontation, Devin Hester is deadlier than Jack Bauer in a well-stocked military compound. After two more return scores on Sunday, the Windy City Flyer now has 10 such touchdowns, three behind Brian Mitchell for the NFL record.
It was pride that lead Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan to kick the ball to Hester 10 times on Sunday. He had no reason to do so. In the third quarter, when Hester eviscerated Denver’s coverage units with both a punt and kickoff return touchdown, he was still the only Bear capable of hurting Shanahan’s squad. Rex Grossman had been firing blanks all game – all season – and Cedric Benson was being escorted to the hospital for x-rays on his injured left ankle. In short, the most likely way for Chicago to score was for Hester to get his hands on the ball.
So why did Shanahan facilitate that? Because he’s Mike Shanahan, and those guys with horses painted on their helmets are his players. In Shanahan’s mind, he’s the best coach in the NFL. Just because other teams can’t stop Hester is not a reflection on him, nor is it an indictment against his coaching abilities. Shanahan believed that his staff and his team were so well trained and so well prepared that they could stop anybody.
Shanahan found out that Hester isn’t anybody. In the end, it cost the Broncos the game and precious footing in the slippery AFC playoff picture.
This isn’t the first time Shanahan’s pride has hurt the Broncos. It was Shanahan’s hubris that lead him to select Maurice Clarett in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft, passing on Marion Barber III and Brandon Jacobs in the process. Even stadium hot dog vendors knew Clarett didn’t have his head on straight enough to be a force in the NFL. Shanahan didn’t make the pick for the kid’s sake. He did it to fuel his ego.
The Devil’s Pet doesn’t lurk only in Denver.
In New York, Eli Manning threw three touchdowns…to the wrong team. No, it wasn’t pride that led to those interceptions, but it was pride that led to Eli being in New York in the first place. Then-GM Ernie Accorsi was approaching retirement and in an effort to secure his legacy pulled the trigger on the blockbuster draft day deal to bring Eli to the Big Apple. He thought Eli was the guy who could earn him the reputation he lost out on when John Elway forced his way out of Baltimore.
Not coincidentally, Accorsi’s counterpart in that trade, San Diego’s AJ Smith, has found his career endangered by his own conceit. Smith jettisoned Marty Schottenheimer after a 14-2 season. Why? Because AJ Smith wanted things done his way and with his players. Now, without Schottenheimer at the helm and Drew Brees as second in command, the Chargers are stuck in neutral and going nowhere in the uninspiring AFC West.
It may be worth mentioning that the league’s best team is coached by a man with seemingly no proclivity towards pride – and I cite the sleeveless hoody look as evidence. Bill Belichick’s reputation is built on his defensive schemes. They won titles in New York and New England. But now the Patriots are winning with a blistering offense, because that’s the easiest way for them to win.
Pride was once virtuous when it came to football. It was a noble quality held by highly esteemed men. Pride lead to players competing under any circumstance and against any condition.
That was then. In today’s era of micromanagement, pride seems relegated to those who have the least need for it. Somehow, football has gotten to a point where those involved would rather be remembered as a genius than a champion.
In the end, the prideful will be remembered as something else: suckers.
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