No, I’m not talking about Mike Tomlin alone per say. I’m talking about the coaching carousel that is the NFL. I don’t know if it was a record but 9 NFL teams fired, parted ways or saw their Head Coach step down. That’s 9 out of 32 teams! That leaves me with the question. Is this the Standard?
Of course we all can understand that winning, getting into the playoffs, doing well in the playoffs, and winning a Super Bowl is the goal. There needs to be a consistent rise in what you are doing as a head coach if you want to keep your job. Or, if you’re at the top like Andy Reid and KC were, you need to continue to innovate and push foward to stay at the top. And if you fail to do any of the above, you’ll be shown the door pretty quick. But still, 9 is a lot.
Coaches let go
So we understand why coaches like Daboll (Giants), Callahan (Titans) and Gannon (Cardinals) were canned. I mean even Pete Carroll (Raiders) and Mike McDaniel (Dolphins) can be explained reasonably, since their teams seemed to be headed in the wrong direction. Where we get into the weeds a little is the Kevin Stefanski (Browns) and Raheem Morris (Falcons) firing. Were their teams really set up for success? Neither team has been granted a good, young healthy quarterback to depend on and grow with. But if you don’t produce quickly or consistently, this is what happens.
The Big Dogs/Long Tenured guys
Now lets get into the Jim Harbaugh and the Mike Tomlin endings in Baltimore and Pittsburgh respectively. Harbaugh was informed of his firing the Tuesday after his last game. Apparently, he didn”t want to fire his Offensive Coordinator so the team decided to move in a different direction after 18 years of success. It happens. They were going in the wrong direction it seemed. I’m not defending the move but I do understand it.
And then you have Mike Tomlin, who made the playoffs and lost again in the first round. And it was a pretty sound beat down, as were the other 1st round exits the Steelers have experienced lately. Mike T. knew it was time for him to step down. Although he, like Harbaugh, remains a very good coach, he did not have the Steelers headed on an upward trajectory. They were stuck in mediocre land. It seemed that it was time for him to go. It happens.
But is this the Standard? Will we have 7 or more head coaching openings after every season now? Are General Managers and management that bad at hiring coaches or are they just that impatient. It has to be one or the other. I don’t think we’ll see many more coaches last this long at one job as Tomlin and Harbaugh has. Andy Reid has been at his post for 13 years now but I could see him retiring at any time. The next longest tenured coaches all have been with their teams for 9 years. That’s Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco), Sean McVay (LA Rams) and Sean McDermott (Buffalo) (fired on Monday after Buffalo lost in the Divisional round) who coincidentally are all in the playoffs still. If those coaches have two down years though, the fans and the talking heads on TV will be all over them.
Look at a team like Green Bay. They are having trouble coming to a contract extension with their successful coach, Matt LaFleur. What the hell is going on? Is this what we have become? A microwave society that wants instant success and always looking for the next thing? It seems to be tough for teams (and society) to appreciate what they have in front of them and enjoy the present.
Nine head coaching openings is a large number. Maybe it will only be 5 next year but i doubt it. Many more GMs will make more bad hires and/or fill the rosters with underwhelming talent. The GMs will then panic and fire those coaches to save their own jobs. The Standard has been set.
It is what it is, until it ain’t.