However, if the challenge of coaching an NFL team and managing the day-to-day ordeals that make up a general manager's job appeals to you, then you may want to check out NFL Head Coach, which plays on the premise that months of hard work may well pay dividends on game day. Perhaps best described as Madden's Franchise mode on steroids, NFL Head Coach tasks you with taking charge of an NFL franchise, motivating your players, overseeing their training sessions, scouting and drafting prospects, and making the calls on game day. You're basically coach, general manager, scouting director, and motivational speaker, all rolled into one.
The single-player career mode is incredibly deep. Your created coach has a weekly schedule that you'll work within, and you'll have to pencil in time during your hectic schedule to do everything necessary to field the best possible team during the regular season and, hopefully, on to the Super Bowl. At first, this means getting to know your coaching staff, including offensive and defensive coordinators, special teams, and position coaches that train your quarterbacks, running backs, linemen, and so on. The ability of these coaches and their knowledge of the positions they oversee will influence the development of your players, and in this category, NFL Head Coach is leagues beyond anything you've experienced in a modern football game. The sheer amount of depth doesn't make things very much fun, though.
The way that your coaching duties are restricted by the game's task system stymies much of the enjoyment that could have been had. Every day is broken up by two office hours, during which you are only allowed to make a couple of roster changes or add new plays to your playbooks. Every other task in the game, whether it be scheduling a call with an owner to discuss a trade, signing players to new contracts, or designing a new play, requires you to designate time specifically for this task in your busy schedule. Why is it that I can't choose to pick up the phone and call up some agents, or scout some up-and-coming prospects during these hours? There's a slew of activities within the game, but the design seems to work against allowing the player to enjoy them. It simply becomes tiresome to read that "you can't do that during this task" over and over again.
One of the disappointing parts of the actual coaching experience is your inability to single out opposing star players for your defense to concentrate on. When it's third and long, and I know that Trent Green is going to try and put the ball in Tony Gonzalez's hands, I want more than a single linebacker to cover him. If I know Terrell Owens is going to be targeted in the end zone, I want my defensive backs to home in on him yet have no way of telling them to do so. You can ask your players to try to swat the ball down, jump the ball for an interception, or even lay a big hit, but not being able to focus on key players is a painful oversight, particularly when situations demand it.