Breakdown of where we are at right now, followed by my opinions:
Safe Coaches:
- Doug Marrone, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions
- Dan Quinn, Atlanta Falcons
I think it was a good idea for these franchises to retain their HC's. Dan Quinn got the Falcons to the Super Bowl and then lost his wunderkind OC to the Niners. I attribute that more to their decline since rather than Quinn's coaching. The biggest testament to Quinn's tenure as HC of the Falcons is the fact that his players balled out in the last half of the season to save his job. He's a players coach and that can't be understated. Matt Patricia is also a good retention, at least for this season. The Lions started out hot, going 3-0 before QB Matt Stafford suffered a back injury. Since then, they had to deal with bad backup QBs. With Stafford back and some more staff and roster adjustments, I think 2020 will be a better year for the Lions and Patricia. Doug Marrone also speaks for himself, he got the Jaguars to the AFC Championship. The JAGUARS. Not only that, they were one score away from going to the Super Bowl. And Marrone was able to get that kind of record out of Blake Bortles. A couple down seasons are no reason to jettison him yet. If they can't turn it around in 2020 though, Shad Khan is probably better off going back to the drawing board.
Coaches Fired:
- Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys
- Jay Gruden, Washington Redskins
- Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland Browns
- Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers
- Pat Shurmur, New York Giants
I'll start with the easiest one: I knew Pat Shurmur wouldn't work out as soon as the Giants announced the hire. He's never been a good HC, he just doesn't know how to run a program. The only HC job he'd probably work out in would be for a team like the Packers or Patriots that were already solid teams. Jay Gruden was a victim of misfortune, as the main thing that held him back in his years as Redskins HC was injuries. It seemed like every time the Redskins were looking good, a raft of injuries across the team drove them right back into the dirt. I think it was definitely time for the Redskins to start over, but Gruden (like his older brother) deserves another shot at HC somewhere. Ron Rivera never should have been fired, plain and simple. All I need to say there. Jason Garrett needed to move on, he had the most stacked Cowboys team in decades this season and a vanilla NFC East and still couldn't get it done. He might get a fresh start at OC somewhere, but he simply wasn't cut out for the lead job. Freddie Kitchens is by far the coach I feel the most sympathy for. The Browns rushed that whole thing way too much, and appointed him HC just a few months after promoting him to OC. Yes, he did fantastic work with Mayfield and the team in the last few weeks of the 2018 season, but that was reason to keep him on as OC and develop him into possibly being your future HC - not reason to immediately elevate him to HC. He constantly looked out of his depth and who can blame him? I hope someone else gives him a shot at OC, and maybe some day he'll get another shot at HC.
Coaches Hired:
- Ron Rivera, Washington Redskins
- Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
There's a reason it only took the Cowboys a day between letting Garrett go and hiring Mike McCarthy: Mike McCarthy is one of the NFL's greatest coaches of the modern (2000s) era, second only to Bill Belichick himself. McCarthy boasts a 125-77-2 regular season record, a 10-8 postseason record, and a Super Bowl XLV Championship. His decaying relationship with QB Aaron Rodgers is what did him in at Green Bay, and with this Cowboys roster, I think he'll have the 'Boys contending for the Super Bowl in 2020 or 2021. Ron Rivera never should have been fired from the Panthers. Rivera was Coach of the Year twice, in 2013 and 2015. His career record is 79-67-1, which doesn't seem that good, except for the breakdown of that record: 3 out of 9 seasons were winning seasons, which is a third of his seasons. Those three winning seasons were 12-4 (2013), 15-1 (2015), and 11-5 (2017). That included three straight seasons in 1st place in the NFC South (2013, 2014, 2015), the third of which got them all the way to Super Bowl 50 and the only loss was a throwaway game at the end of the season where they sat their starters. His teams finished bottom of the division only once, the 6-10 2016 season. Most of his losing seasons had more to do with injuries and QB Cam Newton's persistent injury and mental issues than they did bad coaching. I think he can do a lot of good for the Redskins, and it will be really fun watching him and McCarthy try to out-coach each other for at least two games per season.
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Originally Posted by DGUtley
