Old Yeller

Since nearly pulling off three championships in one year in 2003, the Chicago Fire have had trouble finding themselves. After missing the playoffs for the first time ever in the subsequent season, the team ran hot and cold through the first ten or so games of 2005.

Then, two intriguing things happened. First, head coach Dave Sarachan sat down two veterans in defender Jim Curtin and Jesse Marsch, shaking up a lineup that hadn't been able to create much offense. That switch yielded wins against Colorado and Salt Lake, which was a good start. After a tough midweek loss to the Metrostars, though, the team found itself down 2-1 to lowly Chivas USA.

This is where it really gets interesting. By all accounts, Sarachan teed off on the team in the locker room at halftime. I've said for a long time that Sarachan got a lot of his 2003 mileage on the way to coach of the year honors by playing good cop to predecessor Bob Bradley's bad cop, and that being the nice guy went on to bite him in the ass once the chips were down last year. Because no one is going to believe you if you're the nice guy one day and then the asshole the next, and being schizophrenic like that is a sure way to lose the confidence of your team. Players -- especially young ones -- are not going to know what you want from them as a coach if you're coddling them one minute and screaming at them the next.

What Chivas gave Sarachan, before forward Nate Jaqua gave him a hat trick for his birthday, was a window to change his approach without losing his credibility. Prior to that game, Sarachan would accentuate the positive, and try to build on the good things the team did even if they lost. Not this time. Trailing to a team as demonstrably bad as Chivas was simply unacceptable. Now it would seem that Sarachan has found his Fire, and the team seems to be responding.