Here's something from Don Banks' column in Sports Illustrated. I like it that Mike McCarthy actually said the word "ass." I also like it that he knows better than to follow Marty Schottenheimer's example:
• Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was the Chiefs quarterbacks coach under Marty Schottenheimer from 1995 to '98, and during that tenure he learned a valuable lesson on what not to do the year after a franchise enjoys an ultra-successful season. Don't ever stand pat on the personnel front and try to keep the old gang together. Maybe that's why the defending Super Bowl champion Packers bid farewell to their share of veterans last month, including defensive end Cullen Jenkins, offensive tackle Mark Tauscher and linebackers Nick Barnett, Brandon Chillar and Brady Poppinga.
The Chiefs in 1995 went 13-3 and earned the AFC's top seed, only to lose their playoff opener at home in the divisional round by three points to the upstart fifth-seeded Indianapolis Colts (who happened to be quarterbacked by new 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh). Schottenheimer opted to keep the roster together the next year, and concentrate on playing better in the postseason. But K.C. went 9-7 and missed the playoffs in 1996. The cycle was repeated in 1997-98, when the Chiefs again went 13-3 and earned the top seed in '97, lost narrowly in their playoff opener at home, then missed the postseason altogether in '98.
"It's a new team every year,'' McCarthy said, repeating his mantra for 2011 in Green Bay. "I've had that happen to me twice, where you've had a successful season and said, 'You know something, we're going to bring everybody back. We've just got to do it better next time.' And we got our ass kicked both times. That's why it doesn't work that way. We're going to look a little different this year than people probably anticipate. But that's not a bad thing.''
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/08/24/snap.judgments/index.html#ixzz1Vza0TNHH