Black Monday and the 7 Common Mistakes NFL Teams Will Make This Week
Black Monday: The Day After the NFL Season Ends
The day after the NFL season ends, known as Black Monday, marks a time of upheaval for many coaches, GMs, and leaders in sports organizations. Often, they find themselves being fired. The rest of the week should be named "Culture Week." Because that is what we will be talking about. A team's "Culture."
Welcome to the 2025 football edition, beginning today.
Owners hope that changes in coaching or management will lead to championships, with a crucial quality for all new hires being the ability to develop a “winning culture.” It's rare nowadays to see a coach hired solely for their offensive innovation, defensive schemes, or analytics prowess. While these qualities are important, the stated core reason is almost always about culture.
The Cycle of Disappointment
Typically, in less than four years, the sought-after “change in culture” ends in disappointment, and the cycle repeats. Why does culture building fail so often? Simply because organizations make the same mistakes, which generally fall into one of seven categories:
Thinking a great culture can be imported: Hiring a coach or GM from a team with a reputation for a good culture is a common mistake. It's been tried dozens of times and rarely, if ever, works.
Confusing activity for progress: Many teams have lots of programs, special speakers, and team events but judge the value of all this on how enjoyable or interesting the activity was, not on real organizational progress, which is usually negligible or temporary.
Relying too heavily on the past: Teams called “once proud franchises” may have had success a decade or longer ago and are always trying to recapture something already gone.
Believing that only the culture “in the locker room” is the problem: Some franchises believe they're "fine on the business side", not realizing the impact the culture of the entire organization has on winning and losing. They only make changes to the “field side" of the franchise, missing deeper, wider issues.
Mistaking good people for good culture: The business of sports is relational and personal, and we want to believe that good people make good culture. However, some well-loved individuals inside may be holding the organization back.
Ignoring internal turf battles: Occasionally, these battles bubble to the surface, visible to everyone, including the media. Most often, they are hidden and only known inside “the building,” rooted in individual hubris and ambition. Mediocrity is the highest an organization can ever maintain when some team members are out to achieve their personal goals ahead of the organizational goals.
Failure to fully realize culture begins with the owner: This is the most thorny of the seven. It can be very difficult for the person at the top to admit mistakes or see the negative impact they may have. It can be challenging for anyone in the inner circle to broach the subject. For an owner to recognize that they may be the cause of some, if not many, of the issues is a tough pill to swallow.
All teams will hope the changes made this week will result in success. A singular change, like hiring a new head coach, may lead to some temporary progress. But achieving true, durable success requires something far more extensive. The numbers are stunning.
The Numbers
Very few franchises in the four major North American pro sports have achieved enduring success:
NFL: 6 teams have won 55% of all Super Bowls.
MLB: 8 teams have won 62% of all World Series.
NHL: 5 teams have won 59% of all Stanley Cups.
NBA: 4 teams have won 63% of NBA titles.
Notably, the Celtics and Lakers own nearly half of the 77 NBA titles, and the New York Yankees have won almost 25% of the over 100 World Series. These elite teams have built a "DNA" that keeps them from falling too far behind for too long.
Can a Languishing Franchise Become Elite?
Yes, occasionally. But it requires looking at success in a new way. Change starts with a leader who says, “What we’ve done isn’t good enough, and our entire organization needs to work differently and at a higher level.” Then, real change can begin.
Two current notable leaders:
Detroit Lions Owner Sheila Ford Hamp: Since taking over in 2020, Ford Hamp hired Dan Campbell as head coach, leading to a positive cultural shift. This change wouldn't have stuck without her leadership.
Washington Commanders Owner Josh Harris: A seasoned sports owner known for emphasizing culture. Since buying the Commanders in 2023 and hiring Dan Quinn as head coach, the team has seen improvement.
The climb requires humility, courage, a plan, and discipline. It also requires the painful realization that not everyone will be willing to take the hard climb with you.
It’s much easier to hire a new coach every four years.
