Black Monday should really be called Black Week 19. All the underperforming teams around the NFL have been chopping off the heads of their coaching staffs throughout this week for their, respective, teams missing the playoffs.
This is always the most interesting time of the NFL year.
With the NFL regular season officially over and over half the league sitting at home until next September for missing the playoffs, there have been coaching heads rolling all over the league by the underperforming and just downright awful teams in the league. And, even though no one likes to see people losing their jobs, it is always fascinating to see what teams make good firings…and which ones make completely asinine ones.
So, its Week 19. The most dreaded time of the year if you’re an NFL head coach.
I know the label “Black Monday” is given to the Monday right after all the Week 18 games are played given that’s generally the time when the majority of coaches are fired and let go by their, respective, franchises, yet I’m contending that the WHOLE week should be called “Black Week 19” given how many firings actually happen from now to the end of the Wild Card round.
And, don’t think for a second that some coaches who have held their job security after the regular season will automatically keep it after the playoffs as there’s at least FOUR head coaches (Nick Siriani with the Eagles, Mike McCarthy with the Cowboys, Mike Tomlin with the Steelers, and Sean McDermott with the Bills) who could seriously face the risk of being fired if their team doesn’t perform in their Wild Card matchup.
But that’s a topic for Monday morning of next week for there have already been a lot of head coaching firings to get into, and some of them were even good ones.
First off, let me recap the firings of the coordinator positions on teams that really underperformed this season: the Jags fired DC Mike Caldwell and his staff for utterly choking 5 of their last 6 games to miss out on a playoff spot and division title, the Giants fired O-Line coach Bobby Johnson, special team coordinator Thomas McGaughey, and DC Wink Martindale resigned, the Chargers let interim HC Giff Smith go, and the Panthers fired GM Scott Fitterer for being utterly useless.
Okay, with the less notable firings out of the way, let’s get into the meat and bones of why people religiously follow all NFL news accounts on “Black Monday”: head coaching fires.
Well, aside from one firing, I really don’t think any of these should be all that surprising. The Washington Commanders fired Ron Rivera after 4 seasons, a 26-40-1 record, no winning seasons in 4 years, a sole division title in 2020 (in which they finished 7-9), and they are coming off a 4-13 record that has given them the 2nd pick in the draft. Yeah, Riverboat Ron will be sailing all the way back to his native California as he just never got this team going.
The Falcons fired Arthur Smith after 3 years, three straight 7-10 finishes, three straight 3rd place finishes in the NFC South, three straight seasons missing the playoffs (6 in total going back before Smith), and never really nailing down a competent starting quarterback.
To be honest, the most notable thing Arthur Smith did during his time as the Falcons head coach was getting in the face of Saints HC Dennis Allen after that fake victory formation debacle this past weekend…which ended up in Smith getting fired a few hours later as the first HC to be dismissed from his post.
Now, for the most controversial firing of them all, the Tennesse Titans decided to fire one of their most successful coaches in franchise history in Mike Vrabel.
The reason why this is an utterly baffling move for me is not only due to the fact that he went 54-45 in 6 seasons in charge (a .545 winning percentage), had four winning seasons (2017-2021), made the playoffs three times (which is two more times than the Titans reached from 2009-2017), he won 2 division titles (which is only 1 less than Jeff Fisher…the winningest coach in the franchise’s history…managed in 15 seasons), won the 2021 Coach of the Year award, and he even reached the AFC Championship game with the Titans in 2020, but that he was fired. Not traded.
Mike Vrabel surely has SOME trade value on the market for the work he did with the Titans, and the last two seasons of losing record (2022: 7-10; 2023: 6-11) shouldn’t have damaged his reputation all that much. I mean, the guy had Ryan Tannehill as his quarterback for all this time, he saw key pieces of his defense traded away this past offseason, and the only notable addition made to the Titans was the signing of DeAndre Hopkins (who played really well this year).
I really think the Titans owner, Amy Adams Strunk, is a complete buffoon, so this decision really doesn’t shock me; nevertheless, any team who picks up Vrabel has a bonified winning, determined, and NFL-proven coach on their staff who has shown the ability to win and perform at the highest level.
Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see for some more coaching decisions to come out (such as Bill Belichick, Dennis Allen, interim Antonio Pierce, Matt Eberflus, and all the playoff coaches I mentioned) as I really doubt these three will be the only guys fired this season.
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