Getty Marvin Lewis hot seat
Twelve of the NFL’s 32 teams are going to the postseason. The head coaches for the other 20 probably have at least some concern about their job security.
The Green Bay Packers dismissed Mike McCarthy mid-season and the New York Jets didn’t even wait until the morning to dismiss Todd Bowles.
His dismissal figures to be the first of a string of firings that run through New Year’s Eve. Bowles and the Jets have been on a downward spiral since his promising first season at the helm. With the team finally drafting a franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold, the front office didn’t want to waste another minute with Bowles in charge.
“I would like to thank Coach Bowles for his dedication to the New York Jets for the last four years,” CEO Christopher Johnson said in a statement. “After carefully evaluating the situation, I have concluded that this is the right direction for the organization to take. I would like to wish Todd, Taneka and their family only the best.”
Expect the search for his replacement to start immediately.
The Miami Dolphins are also looking for a new coach. They dumped Adam Gase on Monday. The 40-year-old left the Chicago Bears’ offensive coordinator job and went 23-25 in three seasons in Miami. His time with the Fins was littered with injuries to his core players, but the front office didn’t see it as necessary to give Gase another year to improve.
At 40 years old, he’ll likely get another shot, but he’ll probably need to become a coordinator again to rebuild his resume.
Denver also fired their head coach Vance Joseph.
“We just met, and (John Elway) is making a change,” Joseph told ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
The Broncos were one game better in 2018 than they were the previous season too. However, this proud franchise isn’t accustomed to prolonged periods of futility and John Elway isn’t the most patient general manager.
Because the team has shown very little promise over the past two seasons under Joseph, he could was sent packing as well.
Marvin Lewis
It is amazing to me that Lewis survived 16 years on the Cincinnati Bengals sideline. Lewis did have a winning record at 131-122-3, but he only reached the postseason seven times and the Bengals never won a playoff game on his watch. That’s staggering. With a 6-10 finish to the 2018 campaign and a third-straight season out of the playoffs, Lewis’ long overdue dismissal came down on Monday.
Most expect the Bengals to turn to Hue Jackson as his successor. We’ll see how that works out. Jackson’s track record in Ohio isn’t exactly stellar.
Steve Wilks
OF all the coaches on the list, it seems Wilks has been the most ineffective of the bunch–at least in 2018. That said, it was his only season on the Cardinals’ sidelines. After the team’s 3-13 finish, things were horrible for Arizona under Wilks.
He set high expectations for himself ahead of the season by saying the organization was going into a retool rather than a rebuild.
Clearly, this is the latter and unfortunately for Wilks, he will not be around for the next stage of the process.