Ex-Bears OC Gary Crowton's wikipedia entry

Rory Sparrow

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Crowton

Thought this was the interesting part:

Crowton is most known for his aggressive offensive style, such as the "razzle dazzle" offensive scheme utilized in Chicago (as brought to the limelight by then Kansas City Chiefs head coach Gunther Cunningham).

Crowton is one of the biggest frauds in football coaching history. He somehow parlayed three mediocre years at Louisiana Tech into the Bears OC job, where he last two years. The Bears offensive rankings under Crowton were 25th and 28th, with the Bears finishing in last place both years. After Crowton left, the Bears went 13-3. Go figure. Crowton took over the successful midmajor BYU program and immediately ran it into the ground, posting 3 straight losing seasons (in the Mountain West!) and getting fired.

Year after year Crowton slipped further down the coaching ladder...college HC, college OC, CFL OC, Div II OC, consultant, to his present job as HS OC.

Great work, Gary.
 

Mdbearz

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He must be a great accountant........
 

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If they used the Augusta Silence on him the Bears may not have hired him.
 

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I remember watching the first game with Crowton as OC at a Bears bar.. I believe it was against KC. The offense in the first half actually looked great and had the whole place rocking. I believe they put up 21 points in the first half.... But of course it all went downhill from there as they got shut out in the second half. That first half was probably the most success the offense had during his tenure.
 

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He used the WR screen like he invented it. Thanks Rory, I was actually excited to open this and read your dis. Not your best work but he's isn't worthy of that.
 

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He used the WR screen like he invented it. Thanks Rory, I was actually excited to open this and read your dis. Not your best work but he's isn't worthy of that.

Even though he sucked at everything else he did, Crowton did popularize the WR screen in the NFL. In the 80s and 90s, WR screens were pretty rare, but after Crowton's success with them, WR screens became much more prevalent in the early 2000s and are used in every NFL offense now.
 

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Yes, as a change of pace and not foundation of the O.
 

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Worse OC Gary or John Shoop?
 

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I remember first seeing it in a Vikings game.......they ran it every play it seemed like and Vikings could not answer
 

Bort

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Yes, as a change of pace and not foundation of the O.

Right, but before Crowton, the general consensus was that the WR screen was a college play that didn't work in the NFL, and most NFL OCs never ran WR screens even as a change of pace.
 

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Miller_to_Booker_1999.gif
 

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When he trips, he falls.
 

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Speaking of trends

Trestman was the first guy to run the jet sweep every game. Now everybody does it. And they use it with the same intention Trestman did.

Everything is cyclical and that trend will probably die down. And Trestman sucked as a head coach. But he was the first guy to really implement that play to that degree. They ran it every game at least once. Today most teams in the league run it at least once. Before that it was way more of a gimmick play you just saw occasionally.
 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Crowton

Thought this was the interesting part:

Crowton is most known for his aggressive offensive style, such as the "razzle dazzle" offensive scheme utilized in Chicago (as brought to the limelight by then Kansas City Chiefs head coach Gunther Cunningham).

Crowton is one of the biggest frauds in football coaching history. He somehow parlayed three mediocre years at Louisiana Tech into the Bears OC job, where he last two years. The Bears offensive rankings under Crowton were 25th and 28th, with the Bears finishing in last place both years. After Crowton left, the Bears went 13-3. Go figure. Crowton took over the successful midmajor BYU program and immediately ran it into the ground, posting 3 straight losing seasons (in the Mountain West!) and getting fired.

Year after year Crowton slipped further down the coaching ladder...college HC, college OC, CFL OC, Div II OC, consultant, to his present job as HS OC.

Great work, Gary.

Didn't the Bears announce the hiring of Crowton as HC and he said "I never said I would be a HC for the Bears" and bounced? Or was that someone else?
 

TL1961

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Gary Crowton is "trending".

It must be offseason.

And what, exactly, would prompt someone to check Gary Crowton's Wikipedia page even at the hight of his career, much less today.
 

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Yes, it was similar to my Top 100 list in that respect.
I think I'm selling myself a little short here but I honestly couldn't remember the #.
 

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Gary Crowton is "trending".

It must be offseason.

And what, exactly, would prompt someone to check Gary Crowton's Wikipedia page even at the hight of his career, much less today.

lol

Had no idea topics should be reserved for what "trends".

Thank you for sharing that with us.
 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Crowton

Thought this was the interesting part:

Crowton is most known for his aggressive offensive style, such as the "razzle dazzle" offensive scheme utilized in Chicago (as brought to the limelight by then Kansas City Chiefs head coach Gunther Cunningham).

Crowton is one of the biggest frauds in football coaching history. He somehow parlayed three mediocre years at Louisiana Tech into the Bears OC job, where he last two years. The Bears offensive rankings under Crowton were 25th and 28th, with the Bears finishing in last place both years. After Crowton left, the Bears went 13-3. Go figure. Crowton took over the successful midmajor BYU program and immediately ran it into the ground, posting 3 straight losing seasons (in the Mountain West!) and getting fired.

Year after year Crowton slipped further down the coaching ladder...college HC, college OC, CFL OC, Div II OC, consultant, to his present job as HS OC.

Great work, Gary.

I am glad you posted. I was out of area back then and had no internet. I remember a couple of national games where the announcers were singing his praises and vaguely recall that the passing offense was top 5 or so at that point. Anyway, the games I watched felt like what others have said. Early game success followed by utter failure to get a first down.

Because of the announcers' praising of this new offense I always assumed he was a one year offensive wonder that got "figured out". Now I see that he wasn't even that.

I would have investigated sooner but it just never occurred me to dig into that period.

Thank God not everyone just posts with what is "trending" nor worries about others questioning what would prompt a look back in Bears history on a Bears message board.
 

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