For nearly four months, the Chicago Fire have sputtered and streaked, oscillating between “unbeatable” and “shambolic”. It is now nearly July and a slow start and inconsistent performances have left them with the worst record in Major League Soccer. This is familiar territory for Fire fans, who have seen their club perform variations of this theme year after year. In recent years, ownership has addressed the problem of poor starts by firing head coaches mid-season, so it’s no surprise that some Fire supporters are already asking for Frank Yallop to hit the road.

Chicago had just two head coaches, Bob Bradley and Dave Sarachan, for their first nine and a half years of existence (1998-2007). In the eight years since 2007, the team has employed five different head coaches – six if you count Sarachan, who began that year in charge. Juan Carlos Osorio, Denis Hamlett, Carlos de los Cobos, Frank Klopas, and Frank Yallop have all served the club with no trophies to show for their efforts.

This is a three part series which attempts to measure Frank Yallop against his predecessors. In the first installment, Fire coaches were compared by their statistical performance- wins, losses, and goal differential- and Frank Yallop didn’t look good. In this second installment, each Fire coach’s performance in knockout competitions is evaluated (playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, and Superliga).

Chicago Fire Coach Comparison Part 2: Five Coaches, No Cups

Let’s address the elephant in the room right away– The Chicago Fire have not won a meaningful trophy since the 2006 U.S. Open Cup. Only Bob Bradley and Dave Sarachan have won hardware with the Fire. Bradley won the Fire’s only MLS Cup in 1998. Sarachan achieved the team’s only Supporters’ Shield in 2003. Each coach also collected two Open Cups. For these reasons, they are ranked first and second on this list. Still, the club did not become miserable right away in 2007. Between 1998 and 2009, the Fire only missed the playoffs once, and nearly every coach has taken the Open Cup seriously. For this article, Bradley and Sarachan will not be analyzed because it’s really an apples and oranges comparison between them and the more recent coaches. Instead of reminiscing about the glory days one more time, let’s look at each head coach’s performance in cup and playoff play since 2007:

Juan Carlos Osorio: .5 seasons

Playoff Appearances: 1

Best Finish in Playoffs: 2007 Conference Finals, lost to New England 1-0

Best Finish in USOC: 2007 Round of 16 (first MLS round), lost to Carolina RailHawks 1-0

Denis Hamlett: 2 seasons

Playoff Appearances: 2

Best Finish in Playoffs: 2008 Conference Finals (lost at Columbus 2-1) and 2009 Conference Finals (lost to RSL 0-0 (5-4)

Best Finish in USOC: 2008 Quarterfinals, lost at DC 2-1

Superliga: 2009 Final, lost to Tigres 1-1 (4-3)

Carlos de los Cobos: 1.5 seasons

Playoff Appearances: None

Best Finish in USOC: 2010 Round of 16 (first MLS round), lost to Charleston Battery 0-0 (3-0)

Superliga: 2010 Group Stage

Frank Klopas: 2.5 seasons

Playoff Appearances: 1

Best Finish in Playoffs: Knockout round, 2012

Best Finish in USOC: 2011 Final, lost at Seattle 2-1

Frank Yallop: 1.5 Seasons

Playoff Appearances: None

Best Finish in USOC: 2014 Semifinal, lost at Seattle 6-0

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So, graded solely on the amount of success they have had in playoffs and cups, the Fire’s coaches could be ranked something like this:

Bob Bradley (1 MLS Cup, 2 Open Cups)

Dave Sarachan (1 Supporters Shield, 2 Open Cups)

Denis Hamlett (2 Conference Finals, 1 Superliga Final)

Frank Klopas (1 USOC Final, 1 USOC semifinal)

Juan Carlos Osorio (1 Conference Final)

Frank Yallop (1 USOC Semi-final)

Carlos de los Cobos (Zilch)

It’s no mystery why Frank Yallop stated that his main goal was to get into the playoffs this year. Fire teams have slowly moved further and further from playoff contention since 2007. Failure to qualify for the playoffs led to the departure of Klopas and de los Cobos. Denis Hamlett and Juan Carlos Osorio are the only Fire coaches since 2007 to win a playoff game.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the Hamlett firing stands out to many Fire fans as the worst decision in the team’s history. The de los Cobos era did a lot of damage to a club that had maintained a winning culture for over a decade. Hamlett’s playoff runs are the most recent memories Fire fans have of a championship atmosphere at Toyota Park. To even casual Chicago sports fans, those days are remembered fondly. For young fans, and those who started following MLS in the “2.0” era of Beckham and Blanco, the 2009 quarterfinal win against New England, and subsequent semifinal loss to RSL stand out as high points in their Fire memories.

So what does this all mean for Frank Yallop? The 2015 Fire have a talented roster but are underperforming badly. Past coaches have been let go for less egregious sins than a 26% win rate. Even if the Fire miss the playoffs again, is there still a winning culture to uphold anymore? Check back at Last Word on Sports for the third and final installment of this series: The Blame Game.

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