NFL Head Coaching Carousel Keeps Turning

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the NFL, you might have seen many changes going on in the coaching department of some of your favorite teams. A bunch of teams have fired head coaches, coordinators and general managers. Reasons have varied for the teams releasing their staff, but the main rationale is poor performance or conflicts among owners.

So, let’s discuss the teams, the Coaches and most of all the reasons.

First of all we have the man, the myth, the Eagles’ worst nightmare, Chip Kelly. The man who single-handedly cursed the Eagles to a horrible lineup by dropping its best players back in the 2013 season. He moved to a brief career as head coach of the San Francisco ‘49ers, which was ended after a pitiful 2-12 season. Some potential prospects for Chip is a return to a somewhat good college career like former ‘49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.

The man who started it all was former Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher, who was dismissed after a disastrous loss to the Falcons in Week 14. Interestingly enough, his contract was extended just a few weeks earlier. The Rams loss to the Falcons put his win ratio just under .500 and his career with the Rams to 35-45-1, to end his NFL career just one loss away from being one of the worst coaches in NFL history.

Now we get to big Mike McCoy, hailing from the CFL, where he was a member of the Calgary Stampeders. This just goes to show you that because you can play well doesn’t mean you can coach well. After a solid first season making the playoffs in 2013, they were never the same. It all went downhill from there, leading to 2 consecutive seasons at the bottom of the division, the Chargers higher ups decided to sever their ties and start anew.

I have very few words for the travesty that is Ol’ Rex Ryan, former head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Take a moment to ask yourself if Rex Ryan was ever even a good coach, he certainly talked the talk , but he never did walk the walk. In fact I think the only real walking he did was to the tattoo parlor after the Jets threw him to the curb in 2014. Ryan’s future looks about as bright as a Browns’ Super Bowl, but you never know. Personally I think the closest he will ever be to the field anymore will be sitting at the ESPN desk, because that’s the only interest he’s receiving.

And now we get to our final coach firing, Gus Bradley, former Head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars just finished wading through their most disappointing season in franchise history. It was pretty obvious that he didn’t have the answers the Jags needed to play with some prowess and was promptly fired, it was only a matter of time for the punchline of the team to be replaced. An easy way to sum up his ineptitude at head coach is to take 50 head coaches who have played 50 NFL games, Gus Bradley’s .226 win score has him at 50th best.

Now, we can’t forget about head coaches who retired in this seasonal write-up of changes made in very important staff positions, and this year there was only one. Gary Kubiak, who was the head coach for the Houston Texans From 2006-2013, then ultimately went on to lead the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl in 2016. Kubiak retired due to health reasons, which have plagued him since his days as the Texans head coach.

Many of the head coaching positions have been filled. One was by former SU Head Coach Doug Marrone, who is now Head Coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Vance Joseph, former Dolphins Defensive Coordinator, is now the Broncos Head Coach. The Buffalo Bills filled the vacancy with Sean McDermott, the Defensive Coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
The Los Angeles Rams have hired Sean McVay, the youngest head coach in NFL history, and the Los Angeles Chargers have hired Anthony Lynn, former halfback for the very same team. So far, some people have been interviewed by the 49’s, but no other solid choices have been made. That’s all we have for now in Head Coach Hubbub.