Vince Lombardi believed that there was not a large talent distance between NFL teams. He believed that intangibles made the difference, and a large part of that was coaching. He and Tom Landry had served as offensive and defensive coordinators of the New York Giants in their hey day in the mid to late 1950’s, giving the Giants the best coaching staff in the league. Lombardi was a strong believer in putting pressure on players to perform at practice, in meetings and in preparing for games. He had a standard that he expected them to perform to and he would use any method necessary to get his players to that standard. If Coach Lombardi could get you to improve your performance by a heart to heart talk in his office, he certainly preferred that method. If he needed to blast you on the sideline, he could do that as well. Lombardi believed that the mental part of the game was the difference between the Packers and the other teams in the league. But it took a toll on him.
This is not easy, this effort day after day, week after week, to keep them up, but it is essential. It’s no fun being hard, I’ve been doing this for years and years and years. It’s never been great fun. You have to drive yourself constantly. I am going to find 36 men who have the pride to make any sacrifice to win. There are such men. If they are not here, I will get them. If you are not one, if you don’t want to play, you might as well leave right now.
You could get on the Lombardi bus or you could get off the Lombardi bus, but the bus was leaving the station at the designated time for the designated destination.
Football coaches must always be aware of the mental condition of their team and fight daily to keep it at a high level.