It's week 5 in the 1999 CFL season and Don Mathews is the coach of the Edmonton Eskimos ... who he has led to a 1 - 4 record.
As is well documented ... Mathews is the All - Time Winningest Coach in CFL history and thus unfamiliar to losing on a regular basis.
But ... the losing streak does not start in 1999. It is merely a continuation of a pattern that began in late 1998.
In late 1998 ... when he was coach of the Toronto Argonauts ... the Argos were cruising to a playoff spot in the East with a 9 - 6 record. Suddenly ... the Argos ran off a 3 game losing streak in the regular season and an early exit from the playoffs. The worst part was that the team was out of every game and just looked horrible.
So ... from late 1998 to early 1999 in games that count in the standings or playoffs ... Don Mathews has a record of 1 - 8. And his lone win is over the hapless and hopeless Saskatchewan Roughriders!
A big slump indeed.
Interesting enough ... "The Don's" slide coincides with the rise of another coach in the land where the sun always sets ... Vancouver.
Greg Mohns.
Just as the Don's fall from grace was being noticed .... Greg Mohns rise was in full bloom. Winning several games at the end of the season in a great playoff run by the Lions and an Ego that cannot be contained by the Rockies that surround the City of Vancouver..
Could there be a connection?
Could it be that Don Mathews no longer has the largest Ego in the CFL ... and that he now has lost his edge?
Could the NEW "Super Don" for the next Century be in Vancouver right now? ... ( The starting point for Don Mathews in the 80's as a Head Coach for the 1st time as well. )
Is there a Conspiracy?
You be the Judge ...
ADDENDUM: The 99 Eskimos finished 6 - 12. Therefore Don Mathews is 6 - 16 in his last 22 games. A
winning percentage of just .272 since the deflation began.
