Football
Related: About this forumIt's Black Monday in pro football, as the bill comes due for coaches of losing NFL teams
The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson in what's likely to be the first of multiple "Black Monday" terminations across pro football. Pederson and New England's Jerod Mayo were the first casualties of the NFL's dark annual ritual of finding fall guys for a disappointing 2024 season, which came to an end on Sunday.
The Patriots jumped the gun, axing their rookie head coach Mayo on Sunday, moments after completing their 4-13 campaign. Pederson ended his three-year Jacksonville tenure with a disastrous 4-13 season after going 9-8 in both 2022 and 2023. It's been a long fall from grace for Pederson, once the wunderkind field general who led the Philadelphia Eagles to the 2018 Super Bowl title. He'll always be credited for calling the "Philly Special," a fourth-and-goal trick play that paid off in Philadelphia's title game win over the New England Patriots.
Head coaching jobs with the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys could also open later on Monday. The New York Jets, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints were already operating with interim coaches and are expected to start searching for permanent replacements on Monday.
The New York Giants took themselves out of the Black Monday carousel, announcing that coach Brian Daboll would stay for his fourth season at the Big Blue helm. The Giants went 3-14 this past season and Daboll's three-season record stands at 18-32-1 (.363). The team set a franchise record for losses this season and will have the third pick in the upcoming draft.
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nfl/black-monday-nfl-rcna186386
LisaM
(28,818 posts)Honestly, watching the Lions the last few weeks, it seems like all the announcers want to give away our coaches. Hands off! Can't we have nice things for a few years?
Angleae
(4,669 posts)Ben Johnson is going to be the most sought after HC candidate this year.
Botany
(72,785 posts)Get a good coach and keep him and if needed get new players. This has worked for something like
50 years. BTW outside of one Super Bowl win with Jimmy Johnson's old players Dallas has not done
shit after Jerry Jones fired Johnson.
catbyte
(36,101 posts)look at the Lions now. The Lions prove that there are no quick fixes. It took a couple of rough years before we really became contenders.
#OnePride
Morbius
(137 posts)So far, six openings.
New England has a really, really bad roster I thought they made a mistake using their high second round pick on a receiver last year, when they clearly need o-line help. They have needs everywhere. No coach will come in and turn this around immediately.
Jacksonville has a stay-at-home owner and they've already decided they're keeping their GM... which means it's likely the current GM will be replaced next year, because the Jags need lots of help on defensive and the offensive line. Who's their running back? Do you even remember? Trevor Lawrence looked pretty good as a rookie but not so good last year.
The Raiders are in a poor state cap-wise, and whoever gets this job gets to coach in a division with Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton. Yikes. They have QB issues and holes in their secondary. They've also demonstrated a lack of patience with head coaches. Including interim coaches, they've had five in five years.
New Orleans is in salary cap hell, some $65 million over, worst in the league. Their team doesn't seem to be making any effort to fix this. They need a QB too.
The New York Jets are... the Jets. No team in any professional sport has had a longer playoff drought. They owe Aaron Rodgers a ton of money and he clearly can't play anymore. Their defense is good but not elite, and the Bills will continue to be good as long as their QB is Josh Allen.
The Chicago Bears have a tradition of losing. In the last 15 years, their record is 112-148, dead last in the league. They've developed the habit of getting a new coach every three years for 12 years running. This is a seriously screwed up front office. They hired a team President, which is good, but he's focused on getting a new stadium built as opposed to putting out a good product. Also, their GM, Ryan Poles, is clearly on the hotseat. And oh yeah, they're in the NFC North with the Lions, the Vikings, and the Packers.