Well, the pink slips are starting to fly out of team HQs around the country. Cleveland beat the holiday rush and fired Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller Greg Chudzinski yesterday, presumably to protect others in the organization from being dragged into the Cleveland sewers and eaten alive. The next ex-coach will be hired any minute now.
No surprise to anyone, Mike Shanahan and his entire staff were jettisoned by Daniel Snyder and his band of renown. I feel bad for RG III as this revolving door of coaches and FO staff will start spinning at breakneck speed for the next few years while the team that shall not be named out loud continues on its merry way to mediocrity.
Leslie Neilson Frazier is out in Minnesota despite their playoff appearance last year, and the return of AP. His struggle was just figuring out who to play at QB, Ponder battled injuries, Cassell played well some of the time (and awful at other times), and Josh Freeman (urk) pretty much puked on his shoes every chance he got. Revolving QBs rarely works, and it failed miserably in Minnesota. Plus the defense went south big time in a division that was soft to say the least.
May the Schwartz be with you won’t be with Deetroit anymore. He guided a very solid team to very underwhelming results during his tenure in Ford City. Although he did take over a 0-16 team, they certainly didn’t get enough out of their offensive weapons, and their defense, while tough, shoots itself in the feet regularly with dumb penalties and mental lapses. The Lions collapse was especially gruesome as they had the division lead at 6-3 after beating the Bears in Chi-town and having a relatively easy schedule to close out the season. They summarily lost 6 of their last 7, including losses to the Vikes, the Bucs, the Giants, and the Ravens. That’s some serious suckage.
Perennial schoolyard bully Greg Schiano was kicked to the curb in Tampa like the drity dog he is, along with his GM Mark Dominick. They started under the curse of Josh Freeman, cut him, and flailed around looking for a QB while the staggering losses piled up. Mike Glennon actually emerged from the Tampa Bay muck to look fairly decent. After going 0-8 to start the year, TB won 4 of 5, but closed the year losing their last 4.
The Texans, of course, fired their HC Gary Kubiak 3 weeks after collapsing on the field after suffering a stroke during a game vs Indy. “how ya feeling, coach?” “Good. Getting better.” ” Oh, by the way, you’re fired!”
And so it goes. By the time today ends, I’m sure there will be a few more (Dennis Allen? Mike Munchak? Tom not-so-Terrific Coughlin?) Perennial moron Jerry Jones is sticking with (for now) Jason Garrett as his sock puppett, uh head coach, although he did get rid of Lane Kiffin’s dad the full Monty as the Dallas DC. Frankly, since they are local, but I still don;t give much of a rat’s ass, I think the Raiders should stick with Dennis Allen. They are desperately in need of SOME continuity, and with Dirty Al gone, Prince Valiant must try to engender some team unity as they dig themselves out from re-un-dead Al’s pit of contract and draft choice hell.
So, who’s next?
Forty Niners Forever 
I just wonder when these so-called soft teams like Deetroit, Dallas, and Cleveland go for someone like Teflon Mike, or even Aluminum Mike. Both these guy did instill a sense of discipline and order and at least get the team sort of moving in the right direction. One would think Nolan had learned a thing or 2 in his time as a DC in these various spots after his tenure as HC here.
For an out of the blue opinion, I’m not that big on Bellicheat and the Pats, though Brady is clearly one of the all time greats. These guys have gone to the playoffs with home field of some sort just about every year since the tuck rule Raiduhs debacle because they play in such a crap division. Other than the year or two the Jets were good, who do they play six games a year for the last decade? If not the worst, it has to be near the worst division, consistently over that period, in the NFL. The Bills. The Jets. The Dolphins. What a joke of a division. At least when the Niners sucked, the rest of their division pretty much sucked, too, unless you want to go back to the days of the Best Show on Turf Rams…
Yup, but unlike Peyton Manning, who also plays in a crap-ass division (Titan, Jags, and Texans? Oh fuck!), Brady and Co. have won the whole enchilada a few times. Manning has had more chances than Brady, and I know it ain;t just the QBs, but Indy has had some good teams over the years that fell short.
Chuck, I wouldn’t give up on McDonald just yet we will need him down the road. As far as drafting WC’s we gotta be on the low end of the pole. It is a situation that must be reflected by scouting and coaching decisions, our long-term track record really sucks. Patton may very well turn into a gem but until he’s played a bit who’s to know. We are a running team but we now have a rocket-armed QB and to not utilize him is a down right shame. I still feel we are the best team in the playoffs, we just can’t afford many mistakes. “If” the refs do their job properly we should make the SB.
Oh, bust may be too strong, but he hasn’t done very much. Like I said though back up pass catchers don’t fare well here.
BLEEP cold weather.
New thread is up . . . . …………………