As Phil Bengtson liked to say, it’s better to be the guy who follows the guy who followed the guy.
Except with the Green Bay Packers, after Vince Lombardi, it took six coaching changes and 22 years before Mike Holmgren showed them how to win again. In fact, Bengtson’s 20-21-1 record over three seasons was worthy of confetti compared to the next four guys.
Jerod Mayo got lucky. Sure, he had to follow Bill Belichick at New England, but the Patriots were already in souring mode before Bill departed to dive into the shallow end of the dating pool.