Having just listened to CJFs press conference I think I know what's wrong with the team. There was a heavy political influence going on with him, and IMO it was a distraction.
Well, my wife and I just finished listening to the presser (first one since the JoePa days when I concluded it was worthless to listen to them) and I disagree with your conclusion, in part. I do not believe it was "heavy" political influence, but if you read between the lines it appears that politics have been involved, but is only part of the picture.
Basically CJF said there have been a lot of factors this year and if you are not careful they become distractions. A lot of time and energy has been spent on dealing with things away from football. That is telling, at least to me. Obviously dealing with Covid as well as what has been going on in politics in this country are probably the two biggest things, but there are likely some others (player drug busts, etc.). He bails himself out of this topic by stating that this press conference is really about playing football - that is End of Discussion. Later on when the last reporter asked a directly political question, Franklin stated he was very active himself helping to get people active in politics. So yes, there has been the influence of politics upon the team, some of it brought upon the team by Franklin himself. Maybe not a heavy amount, but at least a moderate amount.
CJF did say that locker room culture this year is part of the problem sort of in a back door way. He said when they were successful in the past that part of the success was locker room culture, but you can't say that when there is lack of success that the culture doesn't play into it.
One of the things that stood out with us is that he said "he leads with love." As soon as my wife heard this, she said "what is he, a late 60's hippy flower child? He needs to stop smoking the doobies." I started laughing, but it is true in some sense. He sounds more like a pre-school or kindergarden teacher than a college head football coach.
A thing that also stuck out to me is that he harped on the "two biggest statistics" important to winning football games. 1 - Turnovers, and 2 - Explosive Plays. Well to many, that is part of the statistical factors that determine the outcome of a game, but not the most important ones. A lot of games can be won being behind in the turnover category or being burned on an explosive play, and the good teams overcome those problems.
My conclusions:
1. There has been a lot of time spent on dealing with things away from football. Some of this has to do with politics as Franklin stated he had been very active himself in this fashion. IMO, this does not belong in the locker room and can be divisive.
2. There is a locker room culture problem which has affected the football team's performance.
3. Franklin is more on the spectrum of a kindergarden teacher type coach rather than a kick'em in the a$$ coach.
4. CJF hones in on 2 statistics that he believes are the most important ones - Turnovers and Explosive plays.
