Black Monday: Marc Trestman, Rex Ryan among coaches fired

Trestman joins the Ravens after two disappointing seasons as head coach in Chicago, going 8-8 in 2013 and 5-11 in 2014. Despite his lack of success, Trestman has a strong offensive background and substantial experience as a coordinator at the NFL level.

Trestman also has ties to the Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who played for the Browns while Trestman was on the staff as quarterbacks coach (1988) and offensive coordinator (1989).

Black Monday has come and gone in the NFL, a day infamous for the cavalcade of head coaches and executives who lose their jobs. It is an awful day for those people and their families, but it is not without a silver lining.

For many other hardworking coaches, the Monday after the regular season is over marks the beginning of their ascension into the big chair. Assistants, after toiling in obscurity for years or even decades, finally receive their chance to take command of an NFL team, a lifelong dream rarely realized in professional football.

Fox comes into a promising spot with the Bears, replacing Marc Trestman. Trestman only stayed in the job for two seasons before being ousted, compiling a 13-19 mark.

With the seventh overall pick and $27.5 million of projected cap space, Fox will have opportunities to change the look of the Bears, along with recently hired general manager Ryan Pace.

Many will relate Fox’s firing to Manning’s slide. Manning will turn 39 in March, raising legitimate questions of how much longer he can play. The Broncos have to start looking ahead to the future, and to John Elway and company that apparently means finding a new head coach to handle the rebuild.

Update: It appears the Broncos will have an entirely new coaching staff next season as Vic Lombardi reports all the assistant coaches were also let go. Jeff Darlington of NFL.com reports the entire staff has been told it should look elsewhere. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase is a popular head coaching candidate while defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.

Coughlin took the blame for the Giants’ struggles, but admitted that a shakeup in the coaching staff was needed:

Fewell was the interim head coach for the Bills in 2009 for the final seven games of the regular season after Dick Jauron was fired and led the team to a 3-4 record.

Washington and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett have “mutually agreed to part ways,” the team announced Wednesday. This comes following a tumultuous season that saw the team finish 4-12 with the 20th overall defense in yards allowed.

Head coach Jay Gruden released the following statement: “Jim and I have had discussions over the last few days and have decided that it’s best for everyone that we have a new defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins. I wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Ryan was recently fired by the Jets on Black Monday along with general manager John Idzik after the Jets finished at 4-12. Ryan was on the hot seat for over a year after the Jets missed the playoffs for the last four seasons, putting together an unimpressive 26-38 record in that span. Ryan finished his career with a 46-50 record in the regular season in six years with the Jets.

Emery chose Trestman, and that did not sit well with Marinelli. Arians went on to lead the Cardinals to 10-6 and 11-5 records, narrowly missing the playoffs in 2013 before leading Arizona back to the postseason this year. The Bears went 8-8 then 5-11 under Trestman.

Tucker didn’t pan out in Chicago. The Bears fell from fifth in total defense during Smith’s and Marinelli’s final year in Chicago, to 30th in 2013 and 2014. According to Mullin, Tucker’s tenure as defensive coordinator was torpedoed, in part, by the mistrust sewn by how Emery treated Smith and Marinelli.

This news comes as no surprise to anybody familiar with Ryan and his bombastic personality. Ryan would be a terrific television persona, especially given the platform to speak his mind and not just analyze tape. Still, this appears to only be a backup plan.

Shanahan, who has been out of the league since being fired by Washington after the 2013 season, expressed interest in returning to NFL sidelines by hinting at a return in an appearance on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown last week.

“Only one thing I want to do is win,” he told Chris Berman. “It’s not just coaching but going to the right organization that will make a strong commitment ‘cause there’s only one team that’s happy at the end of the year and that’s the team that wins the Super Bowl.”

“I am responsible just as much as Smitty is for the success of this organization and the downfall of this organization,” Dimitroff said. “We think we have some good football players on this team. We know that I have made some mistakes.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank, chippy and noticeably agitated by the media’s repetitive line of questioning, refused to dive into the details of his decision to fire his coach and keep his GM.

Tom Coughlin is returning to coach the New York Giants for a 12th season after rumors he was on the hot seat following a 6-10 season, per Dan Graziano of ESPN. The Giants are expected to make changes to Coughlin’s coaching staff.

Coughlin was speculated to be out the door nearly all season as the Giants have regressed over the last few seasons, from nine wins in 2011 and 2012 to just seven last season and this year’s six-win campaign. Fortunately, the Giants have showed signs of life down the stretch with three wins in their final four games. The emergence of a stronger passing game anchored by standout rookie Odell Beckham, Jr. gives Giants fans reason to hope if the defense can turn things around.

“We’re not winning so I thought this was something I had to do,” Johnson said. “I made my final decision today, but it became pretty apparent during the year that we weren’t getting better. You are what your record says you are.”

While Johnson cited fans on multiple occasions during the presser, he said that their input wasn’t taken into consideration for his decisions to fire Ryan and Idzik. “I work for the fans, but I don’t listen to the fans. The fans that are the most vocal may not represent the fans,” he said.

Even after the apology, Cutler was reportedly angry about the comments behind closed doors, although he said publicly that he wasn’t upset about the criticism. The 31-year-old quarterback signed a seven-year, $126.7 million last offseason.

If Cutler returns to the Bears in 2015, he would work with a fifth different offensive coordinator since he was acquired by the team via trade in the 2009 offseason.

Emery was also reported to be one of the biggest proponents of head coach Marc Trestman’s hiring in 2013. Chicago took heavy criticism for choosing Trestman, who had previously been coaching in the CFL, and the move has backfired so far. The Bears have gone just 13-19 in the two seasons since.

Hired in 2012, Emery has yet to construct a team capable of making the playoffs. While his offseason upgrades to the defensive front paid significant dividends in run defense this season, the secondary remains a mess and the defense ranked as second worst in total points allowed to the Oakland Raiders.

The Atlanta Falcons announced today that head coach Mike Smith was released from his contract. The Falcons finished another subpar season at 6-10 and team owner Arthur Blank decided it was time for Smith to go.

“You’re up 21-0,” Blank told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There’s no way you lose that game -- just no way. There’s nothing else I can say.”

On Monday, owner Woody Johnson released a statement about his decision to fire Ryan, which was coupled with the firing of general manager John Idzik:

It was more of the same in Ryan’s second year. New York finished with an 11-5 record and made the playoffs as a Wild Card. The Jets again went on the road and notched two wins -- including one against New England -- before coming up short in the AFC Championship.

The firing comes despite a report in mid-December from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports that Idzik was working with Jets’ owner Woody Johnson in the early stages of a coaching search to replace Ryan.

Ryan was also fired Monday morning, the team announced. Ryan was fired after six seasons as the head coach of the Jets, which included trips to the AFC Championship in his first two seasons, but no postseason berths in the four seasons since.