Just hours following the
conclusion of the 2013 NFL regular season, six teams have already fired their head
coaches due to their team’s under-performance. When a team wins it’s because of
the players, but unfortunately when a team loses, the head coach is to blame.
The Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Minnesota
Vikings, and Washington Redskins have all fired their head coaches, after
entering the season with much promise to succeed with the talent available on
each team.
The Houston Texans fired
head coach Gary Kubiak midway through the season even with a staring quarter
back who was prone to throwing interceptions. But with a top wide receiver in
Andre Johnson, running back Arian foster and a top ranked defense, a record of
2-14 is inexcusable. But it does look like they are trying to more forward and
are in serious talks with Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien to become the
new head coach.
The Buccaneers finished the
season 4-12, but after a season full of controversy inside the locker room
with
players not respecting their coach and trading starting quarterback Josh
Freeman, they decided to fire Greg Schiano, who had three years remaining on
his contract. The Buccaneers entered the season with hope of making a playoff
push following a 7-9 season and signing Darrelle Revis to help improve their
team already consisting of a promising your running back in Doug Martin and big
play wide receiver Vincent Jackson.
The Cleveland Browns gave up
on their coach Rob Chudzinski after just one season finishing with a
The Detroit Lions were in
place to win their division just a few weeks ago, with a banged up Chicago Bear
and Green Bay Packer teams behind them in the standings. But with all of the
talent on their team consisting of Calvin Johnson, the best wide receiver in
the game, Reggie Bush, Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh, they still found a
way to be eliminated from playoff contention entering the final week of the
season. Finishing the season 7-9, the Lions were left with no choice but to
fire head coach Jim Schwartz.
Unfortunately for Minnesota
Viking’s coach Leslie Frazier, he was fired due to the teams’ inability to find
a quality quarterback that can help take the team to the next level. Although there
was much hype about the teams entering the season with a healthy Adrian
Petersen and the addition of wide receiver Greg Jennings, there was still a
question mark about who would throw the ball to their expensive players. The
Vikings finished the season 5-10-1, even after trading for quarterback Josh
Freeman from the Buccaneers.
After finishing 3-13 and
plenty of quarterback controversy, the Washington Redskins fired coach Mike
Shanahan. Rumors have been swirling for the past few weeks about his possible
firing due to a difference in opinion on who should be the team’s quarterback
with the front office. Maybe RGIII was rushed back before he was fully healthy,
but the firing of Shanahan has been expected due to the teams overall poor
performance this season.
When a team loses, someone
needs to be blamed and the coach is usually at fault, except if the team is the
Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets. The Dallas Cowboys have been known to let
their fans down when it matters most and always find a way to lose. I can’t
even imagine what it’s like to be a fan of the Cowboys when their postseason
destiny was in their own hands and they could not pull out a victory.
With all of the firings,
teams will be busy finding replacements that can help their team succeed and
make a push for the Super Bowl.
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Alexa Fontanella is a freshman Sport Management Major at Drexel University, from Totowa, NJ. This winter she will be working with Drexel Athletics on marketing strategies and game day operations for the Drexel Dragons basketball team. Alexa is looking forward to participating in her first co-op next fall and is excited for such an amazing opportunity. She is a huge New York Sports fan, specifically the Yankees and the Nets.
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