As with all end of the season moments in the NFL, there are always the decision to fire a coach. Cleveland and Green Bay did theirs earlier, but add another six to the mix. Decisions will have to be made for Arizona, Denver, Miami, Cincinnati, the New York Jets, and Tampa Bay. Who is going to lead the charge and put those teams back into the glory they used to have.
It didn't surprise me when Cleveland fired Hue Jackson. They were horrible in his tenure, but whatever did after the firing, it worked. With a young group of people playing, they have the potential to be good, barring any setbacks. I though Mike McCarthy would be gone after the season, but a little stunned they did it a few weeks before the season ended. The Packers haven't had a run game in four years. Their receiving is garbage outside of Davante Adams. Defensively, it's a mis mesh of young and veteran players that haven't gelled yet. High standards do play a factor.
Unfair is what I would describe Adam Gase and Vance Joseph. For Gase, he had injury problems every year for the Dolphins. Ryan Tannehill was out half the tenure. Trading Jay Ajayi was a big mistake, though the injury bug got him in Philadelphia. Too many trades and too many issues despite a mediocre season this year. They should have given him one more year. Id probably say the same for Joseph for the Broncos. A questionable ground game, the quarterback carousel, and the health of some of their players have made them mediocre. Maybe whatever he had in mind made John Elway make an easy decision.
I'm hearing complaints of not having diversity by firing a number of these coaches. That's bullshit. Todd Bowles had every chance to make the Jets succeed. Too many issues killed his tenure. Even with the ten and six season 2015, they blew their chances for the playoffs that year. And that carried over into 2016 and the last two years. Marvin Lewis was bound to be gone sooner or later. It's amazing the Bengals kept him for that long. Yes, he revived the team after a 14 year stint of mediocrity, but the failure to get into the playoffs the last few years, could be described as bad. Not even winning a playoff game does not help his case.
Dirk Koetter tried to get Tampa Bay into a winning team. Either too many turnovers, bad running, and poor defensive play hurt his three seasons there. That franchise is very dysfunctional, and I don't know when they will become a playoff contender again. The only unfair one might be Steve Wilks He had a tough hill to climb with a rookie in Josh Rosen, David Johnson coming back from injury and a few replacements in wide receivers and the defense. That alone is not going to win ball games. It could be used as a lesson in order to improve. Instead, Arizona fires Wilks, and the criticism is loud about it. You put the guy in a tough environment and with a lot of adversity. What was Arizona expecting?
Either way, Miami, Denver, and Green Bay could rebound in the future. Cleveland is a question mark. I'm not sure about the Jets, Tampa, Arizona, and Cincinnati. Hopefully, some of them can make a name in 2019 and get back into the postseason.
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