Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Firings

The following people in the NFL should be fired:

1. Mike Sherman (Packers) - Injuries aside, this team doesn't even try to hide the fact that they've mailed it in. Ultimately, if wins are an impossibility, a coach has to at least get effort from his players. Sherman's not running a tight ship up there and it's time for the culture to change in Wisconsin.

2. Mike Martz (Rams) - In effect, this has already happened. He let a good thing get away and tried to be too cute when he had all of those chips working. He never understood the need for a strong running game to balance the 45 pass attempts per game. He's also a bit of a megalomaniac and I don't know if that works well on a rebuilding team.

3. Mike Tice (Vikings) - The recent winning streak and unlikely playoff contention aside, there are three things that work against Tice in my opinion. First, his team was expected to win their division this year (not by me, but that's beside the point). Second, the team discipline on the Vikings is clearly lacking. Third, assuming the Vikings go 1-1 to end the year, at the end of the day, Tice has still never done better than 9-7 in a season. He's had all sorts of talent to work with since 2002 when he took over. He's just not getting it done. As far as I'm concerned, coaches should only be allowed to save their jobs when the team plays hard and rebounds from on-field adversity. Off-field and disciplinary issues should always cost a coach his job, especially in the face of consistent underperformance, as the case has been in Minnesota.

4. Dom Capers (Texans) - A truly clueless individual. To regress from 7-9 in 2004 to possibly 2-14 in 2005 is unconscionable. He has no idea what to do with the offensive gameplan. He's just lost out there.

5. Jim Haslett (Saints) - A hurricane, even of biblical proportions, is no excuse for the fact that his teams are never prepared to win games and always find convenient excuses for their losses. This isn't the first year the Saints have completely sucked. At a certain point, Haslett has to answer for his 45-49 career coaching record.

6. Brian Billick (Ravens) - Last night's win notwithstanding, the supposed offensive mastermind and his staff of supposed offensive masterminds have still not figured out a way to score points on a consistent basis. The team's drafting has been astute. Now it's time for management to use that intelligence on a young head coach with a smaller ego and a better work ethic.

7. Norv Turner (Raiders) - Exhibit A in the case of racism in NFL hiring practices. For a man that failed spectacularly in Washington and could not generate any offense in Miami as a coordinator, I think it's quite obvious that this guy can't make it work if Troy, Emmit, Moose and Michael aren't on his roster. He should be fired and never re-hired.

8. Mike Mularkey (Bills) - Taking a team on the cusp of the playoffs in 2004 to the bottom of the conference in 2005 is bad. Not communicating with star players, employing a revolving door at QB and allowing a once-stout defense to become Swiss cheese merits termination.

9. Dick Jauron (Lions) - I only suggest his firing because the whole organization needs a housecleaning, starting with Matt Millen. It's not Jauron's fault the Lions are in this mess but if the ownership in Detroit is serious about fixing the Lions' problems, they need to expunge the entire front office and coaching staff, throw a lot of money at player personnel directors Scott Pioli (New England) or Joe Banner (Philadelphia) and let those guys hire their own people.

I'm giving a pass to Jeff Fisher (Titans), Herman Edwards (Jets), and Dennis Green (Cardinals) because their teams were either being rebuilt, ravaged by injuries at key positions, or haven't had enough time in their position to make an impact.

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