2023 Hall of Fame: Don Coryell’s offense changed the NFL, even if it didn’t win a Super Bowl – Yahoo Sports

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will formally welcome its Class of 2023 on Saturday. This week, Yahoo Sports is highlighting each member of the nine-man class, leading up to the big ceremony.

Don Coryell never won a Super Bowl or even made it that far. He won just three playoff games in 14 seasons as an NFL head coach, never more than one in any postseason.

He had a 111-83-1 record as a coach in the NFL, which is good but not one associated with a Hall of Famer. He had fun teams, particularly the San Diego Chargers of the early 1980s, but never ultimate success.

Coryell isn't being inducted to the Hall of Fame because of his record or postseason wins. It's because when you watch the NFL, you see offenses still using some of Coryell's innovations in the passing game.

Coryell might not have won big, but he changed the way the game was played.

Coryell introduced a pass-heavy offense which was dubbed "Air Coryell" in his Chargers days to a run-first NFL. He wanted to make a defense worry about the entire field with deep routes and spread formations that weren't common to that era of the NFL. Coryell's offenses were heavy on motion, unlike the rest of the league then. He lined up tight end Kllen Winslow in different spots to stress a defense, something other coaches would copy years later but flummoxed defenses back then. He forced defenses to start using extra defensive backs, which is the norm today.

Coryell was running an offense that looks very familiar in 2023. He was just doing it four decades ago.

Don is the father of the modern passing game," former Rams coach Mike Martz told Voice of San Diego. "People talk about the West Coast offense, but Don started the West Coast decades ago and kept updating it. You look around the NFL now, and so many teams are running a version of the Coryell offense. Coaches have added their own touches, but its still Coryells offense. He has disciples all over the league. He changed the game.

Every NFL offense borrows something from Coryell's scheme. That's why he's going to the Hall of Fame.

Coryell doesn't have a record that would lead one to automatically assume he'd be in the Hall of Fame, but he was a good coach.

At San Diego State, Coryell was 104-19-2. His innovative offenses allowed SDSU to overcome talent deficits. He would become the first coach to win 100 games in the NFL and in college.

He then went to the NFL and helped lift the St. Louis Cardinals out of the doldrums, winning 10 games his second season. He won NFL Coach of the Year that season. Coryell had a good run with the Cardinals but never won a playoff game with them.

He spent eight full seasons with the Chargers and they finished top five in total offense every season. The Chargers led the NFL in passing seven of eight seasons, and finished second once. Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner and Winslow put up tremendous numbers and made the Hall of Fame.

Had the Chargers not gone 0-2 in AFC championship games in those years, Coryell might not have had to wait so long for his Hall of Fame call. At the end of the 1980 season, the Chargers were upset at home in the AFC championship game by the Raiders, a wild-card team. The next year, the Chargers won one of the greatest playoff games ever, a divisional 41-38 overtime win at the Miami Dolphins. The next week they played the Cincinnati Bengals in the "Freezer Bowl," with a wind chill of 59 degrees below zero, and lost.

Ultimately, Coryell's legacy goes beyond wins and losses. That's rare for any NFL head coach. But Coryell's spot in the Hall of Fame was well earned.

See more here:

2023 Hall of Fame: Don Coryell's offense changed the NFL, even if it didn't win a Super Bowl - Yahoo Sports