By 2 PM EST eleven (11) NFL Head Coaches and General Managers were out of work…..at least temporarily. The Merry-Go-Round has begun. Now let us see who moves on and who goes home.
After 4 straight losing seasons without making the playoffs at all, Head Coach Norv Turner and General Manager A.J. Smith were both fired on New Year’s Eve by the San Diego Chargers football team. Both Smith and Turner had received an ultimatum from the front office to make the playoffs this year “or else”, so the firings came as no surprise to anyone including Nor v Turner who owned up to the inevitable after the Chargers 24-21 victory over the Raiders on Sunday.
The Arizona Cardinals have fired Ken Whisenhunt after 3 disappointing seasons. In his first 3 years at Arizona, Whisenhunt enjoyed a certain success posting a record of 27-21 and actually making the playoffs twice. However, after the departure of Kurt Warner after the 2009 season the Cardinals have spiraled downward finishing 2012at 5-11, again. General Manager Rod Graves was also terminated.
Pat Shurmur has been fired by the Cleveland Browns along with General Manager Tom Hackert, as expected.
The most surprising firing of Black Monday was Coach Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears. Granted that the Bear’s had just missed the playoffs for the second year in row. Somehow or another, after starting 7-1 to the delight of Bears fans, they managed to finish the season at only 10-6, barley missing the playoffs, again.
Lovie Smith coached the Bears for nine seasons winning 81 games to 63 loses.
Chicago also put in an appearance at the 2007 Super Bowl. Bears fans are unhappy and Bears star players Devon Hester and Brian Urlacher have expressed the possibility of leaving Chicago in the wave of Lovie’s departure.
The Kansas City Chiefs have fired head coach Romeo Crennel after only 51 weeks on the job. The Chiefs had the worst record in football. The only thing that they won in 2012 was the first round draft pick in 2013.
Andy Reid has been coaching the Philadelphia Eagles for the past 14 years. For 2012 the Eagles had a record of 4-12 and that was just not good enough for Eagles owner Jeff Lurie who fired Reid on Monday.
Perhaps the most unbelievable move of all came from the New York Jets who somehow decided to keep Coach Rex Reid on the payroll. Go figure!
