It's the end of week 17, so you know, teams that traditional lose follow in their previous footsteps and just get rid of a guy they had for 1-3 years, because that'll solve the problems. I decided I wanted to look at the 6 teams that have so far decided to fire their coaches and see how their results have fared since 1998 (or whenever the team was created if after).
Cleveland Browns:
After just one season, Chudzinski has been let go in Cleveland. The team was competitive early on, lost lots of close games this season, but couldn't put together wins. Team was way more competitive than ever under Shurmur and I don't think anyone would agree the move was needed.
Browns were re-established in Cleveland in 1999 after the move in 1995 and here's how they have fared:
- 1 Playoff Appearance
- 2 Winning Seasons
- 7 Coaches (2 coaches per year)
Detroit Lions:
Detroit has finished another lacklustre year, and at least to their credit, it wasn't Scwarz' first season at the helm. However, they were a few games from a divison championship, even if it was a pretty hampered divison with the Bears and Packers losing starting QBs and the Vikings being the Vikings. Let's look at how they've fared since Barry Sanders retirement:
- 2 Playoff Appearances
- 2 Winning Seasons
- 7 Coaches (2.3 years per coach)
Washington Redskins:
In 1998 Dan Snyder bought the Redskins and really they have been pretty abysmal. Not as abysmal as the first two, but the only head coach to not have a losing record in this era is Schottenheimer who coached one season (8-8):
- 4 Playoff Appearances
- 4 Winning Seasons
- 7 Head Coaches (2.3 years per coach)
Minnesota Vikings:
In 1998 the team drafted Randy Moss, which will definitely make these stats better than the first teams, but the Vikings have been pretty pitiful, too, although, they do break the mold in a few ways.. they were very patient with Dennis Green, but part of that is he had only one losing record and he got fired for it:
- 7 Playoff Appearances
- 7 Winning Seasons
- 5 Head Coaches (3 years per coach)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Tampa Bay went from Tony Dungy to John Gruden and even a Super Bowl victory, but after that win, the team began to have problems. John Gruden's staff was destroyed and the team hasn't really rebounded from that. They've had one good season since the mass firing and it goes to show that consistency with management sometimes is better than a shock mass firing:
- 6 Playoff Appearances
- 8 Winning Seasons
- 4 Head Coaches (3.75 years per coach)
Houston Texans:
The last team has only been a team since 2002, and so it is understandable that they would struggle early on in their existance and really came on the last couple years. However, this season was horrible and saw Kubiak axed. Is it fair? Is anything in the NFL? I actually think they should've kept him, but hey NFL execs know best:
- 2 Playoff Appearances
- 3 Winning Seasons
- 3 Head Coaches (3.6 years per coach, if you count Wade Phillips)
I could go on with other teams, but these teams fired their coaches within days of seasons end. Pretty remarkable record they show. Steelers stick with their coaches even when they lose playoff games, have bad seasons, and guess what? Steelers are consistently one of the best teams out there. Ravens have had like 3 head coaches since 1996 and have been dominant as well. Bill Belichick went 5-11 his first season, which is the just one win better than Chudzinski posted, but for a team that wasn't even known as perennial losers. There's a huge problem with executives in the NFL, and it really shows.
