Simon Milham, London, UK
It had played badly on Steve Kazor’s mind for too long. When it came, 16 years after the incident, the call caught him off guard. And he doesn’t do unprepared. Blindsided for a second, it left him spooling back through his mind to what should have been the apex of his career: Super Bowl XX.
A broad-shouldered six-footer, deep-chested, with good leg spring and a wasp waist that limited his weight to 189 pounds, Leslie Frazier was perfectly equipped for his job. Perfectly equipped to defend receivers in a Chicago Bears defense that was so beautifully synchronised that it never faltered from the moment he started midway through the 1982 season, his second year out of Alcorn State.
That defense, which also featured Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton and Gary Fencik, terrorized opponents with their unconventional ‘46’ blitzes under the aggressive coaching of defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.
Frazier led the Bears in interceptions every year from 1983 to 1985. This good-neighbourly, amiable and informal defensive back was the unassuming hero of Mike Ditka’s unabashedly rah-rah team, and a pivotal cog in a defense that had a mechanical, ruthless and relentless efficacy about it. Only Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins had managed to dent their perfect record on their way to the post-season, where they held the Giants and Rams scoreless.
And if the planets aligned for the Bears on Sunday, January 26, 1986, the date also proved a defining moment for Frazier, one that was the making of him.
When it happened, midway through the second quarter, the Bears were already 13-3 up and coasting. William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry, a 310-plus-pound defensive lineman, was on his way to becoming an international celebrity as a makeshift fullback, and the New England Patriots were being bulldozed.
Largely forgotten amid the clinical 46-10 thrashing was that trick play. Asked to carry the ball on a fake punt, Frazier’s knee was horribly, grotesquely shredded on the Louisiana Superdome turf. Just like that, at 26, his playing career was over. He would never play another down in the NFL.
“I was away from the team,” said Frazier. “I was in another room and they were working on my knee. And I could hear the celebration and the cheering and the champagne and all that.
“That was really hard because I wanted to be in that room with those guys but it wasn’t meant to be.”
If Super Bowl euphoria has a limited shelf life, it was lesser still in ’86. A day after the ticker-tape parade that warmed a bitterly cold Chicago on Monday, the celebration was short-lived and quickly overshadowed. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger shortly after it took off from Cape Canaveral killed all seven of its crew members and plunged America into a period of mourning.
Life had to go on but the Bears never recaptured their swagger. Ryan agreed to a five-year deal to become head coach of the Eagles and quarterback Jim McMahon’s rapid decline following a shoulder injury, inflicted just a few months later from a cheap shot by Green Bay’s Charles Martin, served to accentuate the decent.
An operation put Frazier’s torn anterior cruciate ligament into a semblance of working shape but after a season on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster there was no doubt. He knew.
He was not going to be that old fighter who hangs on pathetically to pick up another pay-check.
He had other ideas. For Leslie Frazier doesn’t do unprepared.
How beautiful, shiny and big were the lies in January 1986. You could trust them, believe them. The world had two poles – the northern and southern, the eastern block and the western world, the enlightened world and the third world.
Channel 4, still in its infancy, heralded a brave new TV era, bringing the NFL to the UK with week-old highlights. Two Tribes. Holding Out For A Hero. The snorting helmet graphic. We knew no better but were ready to do presenter Nicky Horne’s bidding, whatever he so wished. A nation was hooked on this über-cool sport.
Interest in the game was rapid. From a cult viewership in 1982, by 1985 it quickly developed into the mainstream consciousness. It helped that soccer was largely blacked out from BBC and ITV throughout the autumn, due to a row over rights fees. Overnight, the NFL was the only game in town and the Chicago Bears were the new Manchester United.
The American Bowl series was introduced to promote the NFL in other countries, with Ditka’s Super Bowl-winning Bears arriving at Wembley to face the Dallas Cowboys in a pre-season game on August 3.
“I was injured during that time, so ended up not making that trip,” says Frazier. “My teammates told me about it and they told me ‘The Refrigerator’ was a big hit in London.”
He surfs the waves of nostalgia for a brief moment, even if it is more ripple than rip. Then he adds: “You know, a few years ago, [the Bears] special teams coach Steve Kazor called me. And he apologized for that play,” Frazier said. “I was shocked. Evidently, somebody had brought that play up to him. And I told him, I said, ‘Steve, don’t worry about that, man. That’s history. I’ve moved on. You need to move on. Let that go’.”
Frazier, 54, has indeed moved on. From that Super Bowl Shuffle season he went into coaching, first in 1988 as a head coach at Trinity College in Illinois, a position he held for nine seasons. Then first-time coach Andy Reid came knocking, handing him a job as defensive backs coach with the Eagles.
He progressed to defensive coordinator in 2003-04 with Cincinnati and having also improved that unit markedly, was hired by Tony Dungy as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach for the Indianapolis Colts in 2005. During his time in Indianapolis the Colts passing defense improved from 15th in 2005 to second in 2006.
The highlight, of course, came on February 4, 2007, when the Colts beat Frazier’s former team, the Chicago Bears, in Super Bowl XLI, giving him a second ring.
“I enjoyed both of the Super Bowls – they were both good,” he says understatedly. “I enjoyed it as a player and felt just as exhilarated as a member of staff in Indianapolis. It’s a special moment either way.”
Four days later, he joined Minnesota as defensive coordinator and took over as interim head coach when Brad Childress was fired on November 22, 2010, after overseeing a 3-7 start. He inherited a team in turmoil that was falling apart fast after starting the season with Super Bowl aspirations.
Quarterback Brett Favre didn’t play nearly as well in his second season with the Vikings, a trade for Randy Moss turned into a disaster (blame the caterers) and the Metrodome roof collapsed shortly after he took over.
A metaphor for the season? Arguably. Or a portent of things to come? It didn’t matter to the unflappable Frazier. His calming influence and steady hand ensured a 3-3 finish and he secured the full-time role.
His first full season was a rebuilding one. That much was clear. The Vikings struggled, surrendering 251.2 passing yards per game, which ranked 26th in the NFL.
Minnesota also finished near the basement in interception rate, passing yards surrendered per play and third-down defense, numbers that would cut to the core of any defensive coach, never mind one with DB in his DNA. They won just three games.
And when Adrian Peterson went down with his own knee injury, Frazier knew the percentages were against recovery – studies show that only 60%-70% of players actually make it back to the NFL after ACL reconstruction.
But if the 2011 season was a disaster, the 2012 season brought more than hope. Astonishingly, the running back returned less than nine months after ACL and MCL surgery, and after putting himself through a gruelling rehabilitation process, left his monument for the record books. Peterson proceeded to rush for 2,097 yards, ending the regular season nine yards shy of breaking Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season record (2,105).
Stuck at 6-6 and without injured receiver Percy Harvin, the Vikings rode Peterson to four straight victories, including a thriller over Green Bay in the regular-season finale to thrust them into the postseason.
The Vikings generated the greatest single-season win increase in franchise history, going from three wins in 2011 to 10 wins in 2012.
Although they lost to the Packers the next week in the wild-card round, Peterson led his team the playoffs for which he was named the league’s MVP.
Frazier says: “I didn’t coach them but I played with Walter Payton and Mike Singletary. I was around Peyton Manning and saw some of the incredible things he did. I’ve been around a lot of great players – Troy Vincent, the Hall of Fame defensive back, Brian Dawkins, a great player for both Philadelphia and Denver – but Adrian may be the best I’ve ever been around. It was an amazing season for him, no question.”
Frazier never wavered when quarterback Christian Ponder was struggling, when Harvin was hurt and when the defense was having difficulty putting pressure on the quarterback.
This offseason, armed with a contract extension that will see him in charge until 2014, Frazier still knows there are plenty of questions to be answered. Not least the biggest issue in many critics’ eyes.
Ponder’s average yardage was just 6.8 yards per pass, easily the worst in the league, and while the Vikings failed to draft a passer, Matt Cassel was signed to a one-year, $4 million contract.
Frazier said it was with the clear understanding that the veteran was brought in as “insurance” in case of injury to Ponder, the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft, who missed the season finale with triceps injury.
Despite the nice-guy demeanour, Frazier speaks his mind and is unequivocal in his assessment of what Ponder’s progress should be.
“We just want Christian to be able to make better decisions with the ball in his hand,” he says. “A season ago there were times when he struggled to make proper reads and we had some turnovers that ended up hurting us.
“But we saw a maturation from him late in the season – in the month of December he went 4-0 – and a lot of it had to do with Christian’s progress. So he’s on track, he just needs to continue to improve. It seemed that the game was slowing down for him. And the momentum we had late in the year, it’s really good for our team.”
That momentum will be tested early, with trips to NFC North division rivals Detroit and Chicago.
Last season, the Vikings opened 4-1 and ever-prepared Frazier says: “We put some things in place that we could get off to a good start, the way we went through training camp, the OTAs, the minicamps. That helped us to get off to a good start. What we did in the offseason helped us to get through the mid-season bump in the road.”
This offseason, in phase two of the rebuilding process, the Vikings signed Phil Loadholt to a substantial deal for a right tackle (four years, $25million) and it was a case of addition by subtraction when they finally consummated a Harvin trade that seemed to have been brewing for years, shipping him to Seattle.
To many outsiders, Harvin was regarded a diva with an injury issues. He had yelled at Frazier on the sideline during a loss to the Seahawks in November and reportedly clashed again when the Vikings put him on injured reserve in December.
While it left the cupboard at receiver looking bare, they resigned free agent Jerome Simpson and also filled some large voids in the draft, an exercise which Frazier found tense.
“It’s very stressful,” he says. “You think you have everything planned and it’s taken so many hours to prepare and you plan for so many different scenarios, but when you get to that moment on the day, there are so many unknowns – you don’t know what the teams ahead of you are going to do.
“It can be stressful as you wait to see what’s going to happen ahead of you. It worked out great, though.
“Based on what we know now, I’d give our draft an ‘A’ grade for sure,” says Frazier. “From what I’ve learned you really can’t judge it until years later. But on paper, it was a great draft.”
The three late first-round picks – Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes and Tennessee receiver Cordarrelle Patterson – should address some of the glaring needs.
Floyd looks a ready replacement for 10-year veteran Kevin Williams. “For Shariff to be there for us at No.23 was a big of a surprise. We didn’t realistically think he’d be there. It was an easy choice for us,” he adds.
“I’m not certain he’s going to be a day-one starter but Kevin will be able to tutor him, help him to grow as a player and learn in the National Football League. Shariff is coming into a great situation, because Kevin is not only a great player, he’s a tremendous person.”
With Harvin gone, General Manager Rick Spielman seized an opportunity to draft Patterson – and gave up a lot to do so. The Vikings traded their second- (No. 52), third- (No. 83), fourth- (No. 120), and seventh- round (No. 229) picks to the always trade-happy New England Patriots.
“The fact that we made the move to go back into the first round to get him was good for our team,” insists Frasier. “He’s going to be a guy who can contribute. The fact that we spent the number of picks we did to go back and get him is because of his talent. He’s a solid person as well and he’s an excellent receiver. He has the chance to make an impact early.
“We hope he will be able to come in and give us similar production to what Percy [Harvin] gave us on kick-off returns. As a receiver, we’d like to think Cordarrelle will be able to do what he did at Tennessee, running reverses, be able to throw the football to him down the field. To have a guy that can give us the production numbers on offense to help us continue to improve.”
The Vikings arguably did veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield a disservice cutting him so late in the free agency process, which meant he didn’t have as much time to test suitors. There is simply no way you pay a 35-year-old slot cornerback with recent injury problems $7.25 million a year.
Still, it was something of a blow that after spending nine years in Minnesota, he opted to sign a one-year $3million deal with the Seahawks, when he could have taken a little more guaranteed money to stay with the Vikings than the $1m he’ll receive from Seattle.
But the future is Rhodes. The Vikings like what they see in him already.
“Antoine was a great player for us,” says Frazier. “But Xavier is a big corner. I like big corners. We have one in Chris Cook that we have high hopes for. But Xavier has the speed, the athleticism – he’s a very bright player and he’s tough, too. He fits all the criteria we look for in a cornerback. We’ll still have to rotate some of the other guys in there. We’re looking at him more as an outside guy. We will have to see if we can find another guy to play inside. But with Josh Robinson coming back and A.J. Jefferson, we have a good core to think we will have a good secondary this season.”
They will need one. Last year’s group ranked 24th in defending the pass (244.2 yards per game) and as well as facing Matt Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler twice, this season they have to contend with other elite quarterbacks such as Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning and Tony Romo, plus option-passing phenoms Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson.
That secondary will be ready. It had better be. For Leslie Frazier doesn’t do unprepared.
The Vikings are not going to sneak under the radar in 2013. Expectations were lower last season when they made the playoffs, but Frazier says: “There’s no extra pressure. Our goal every year is to get to the playoffs and win a championship, so it’s no different going into last season that it will be going into this season.”
The big difference is giving up a home game at the Mall of America Field, where they went 7-1 in 2012, to play in London, a Week 4 clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers (September 29).
The Vikings are making a huge commitment to bring their entire staff to London, and as Frazier says: “It’s a great gesture by our ownership. London is a great city to visit and for our personnel to be able to come and cheer our team on is just great.
“The biggest concern for me is getting the players in the mindset to prepare for this game as if you were playing a game in the States, because it’s far different. The time difference. The atmosphere, even though it’s a home game for us, just in talking with some of the other coaches who have (coached) the home team – it’s not a home-field atmosphere. There’s no home-field advantage.
“But I have talked to Mike [Singletary] and some of the other coaches who have been over there and they all spoke very positively about the experience. They talked to me about the field conditions, what we can expect from the hotels, the food. Everybody was really positive, so we are really looking forward to it.
“We are getting there on Tuesday, leaving on Monday after our home game [with Cleveland]. I think that will really help us get acclimated to the time change.
“Our fan base in Minnesota have been terrific and we are going to have a lot of those fans at the game. They cheer as loud as any fans anywhere in the National Football League. I have a feeling that place is going to be really purple, so it should be a fantastic day for our fans and our team.
“No question about it, we’re not looking to go all the way to London and come away with anything other than a win.”
Injuries can scupper even the best prepared plans, as Frazier knows all too well, and he smiles like the man who has just tasted the perfect margarita as he reflects on that apologetic phone call from Steve Kazor.
“My life is fine. I was shocked. It was 16 years after the event and he called to apologize for that play? Things have worked out just fine for Leslie Frazier. I’m going to be all right.”
And now he can get to visit Wembley for the first time, albeit 27 years late. And this much is true: You know he’ll be well prepared.