A number of NFL teams — the Atlanta Falcons among them — enter the offseason in search of a new coach.
Three teams dismissed their head coach mid-season while others awaited the close of the regular season to start anew. Here’s a look at the moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta fired coach Dan Quinn on Oct. 11, 2020, amid an 0-5 start. The team dismissed general manager Thomas Dimitroff — who drafted Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley — on the same day.
Quinn had led the Falcons since the 2015 season, departing with a 43-42 record. Under Quinn the Falcons finished the 2016 season 11-5 and won the NFC championship over the Green Bay Packers before falling to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI after blowing a 28-3 lead.
Raheem Morris was named interim coach, and went 4-7 the rest of the season. He is a potential candidate for the full-time position.
Detroit Lions
Detroit fired Matt Patricia Nov. 28, as the team headed to a third-straight losing season. Patricia’s record was 13-29-1 since taking over in 2018. The team also let go general manager Bob Quinn, who’d been with the team since 2016.
The Lions finished 5-11 with Darrell Bevell (1-4) filing in as interim the final five games.
Houston Texans
Houston dismissed coach and general manager Bill O’Brien Oct. 5, after going winless the first four games. O’Brien went 52-48, capturing four AFC South division titles and recording just one losing season (2017) in his seven-year tenure.
Romeo Crennel took on the role as interim coach and led the Texans to a 4-12 finish. (Two of those wins came against the league’s worst team — the Jaguars.)
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars fired coach Doug Marrone on Jan. 4, 2021 — Black Monday — after ending the season with a 15th consecutive loss. Marrone went 24-43 in four seasons in Jacksonville, falling a few plays shy of the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 2017 and then miring near the bottom of the league since. The Jaguars dropped 21 of Marrone’s final 24 games, including 15 by double digits.
Los Angeles Chargers
Anthony Lynn, the first Black head coach in Chargers franchise history was fired Monday. Los Angeles won its final four games to finish 7-9. Hired in January 2017, Lynn went 34-32 with Los Angeles, but just 12-20 over the last two seasons. He had one year remaining on his contract.
Credit: Kelvin Kuo
Credit: Kelvin Kuo
N.Y. Jets
Adam Gase was fired Sunday, Jan. 3, after the Jets finished the season 2-14 — the second-worst record in franchise history. Hired in January 2019, Gase went 9-23 with New York, including an 0-13 start that was the worst in franchise history.
With Cleveland making the playoffs for the first time in 18 seasons, New York now holds the longest playoff drought in the NFL. The franchise hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2010 season.
Philadelphia Eagles
Three years after he led them to the franchise’s only Super Bowl title, Doug Pederson was dismissed for going 4-11-1 in 2020.
Pederson was 42-37-1 in five seasons. He led the Eagles to two division titles and three playoff appearances.
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