Steve Mariucci was fired last week as coach of the Detroit Lions. While this was clearly a panicked move by an unsuspecting Matt Millen, Mooch was just the first of several head coaches who won’t survive the aftermath of the 2005 season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some current HCs. from the NFL that they should update their resumes and how it relates to the deficit of the last four games of the season.
Mike Mularkey: Buffalo Bills
He’s closing in on number one with a bullet after Buffalo’s incredible fourth-quarter meltdown in Miami. Mularkey had received a vote of confidence from Bill’s owners earlier in the week, but that likely went south with each of the Dolphin’s three scores in the final 11:35 at Pro Player Stadium.
Mularkey certainly deserves some freedom as he was forced to play JP Losman at quarterback when the sophomore from Tulane clearly wasn’t ready. The Bills defense has been hit hard by injuries and apparently hasn’t been able to make a save since Takeo Spikes went down.
Buffalo has been a horrendous road team of late that, until this year, was blamed on Bledsoe’s lack of production leading him away from Ralph Wilson Stadium. Before Sunday, the Bills were 0-5 on the road, losing by an average of 18.4 points. The Dolphin loss is clearly on Mularkey as the Bills’ last eleven Buffalo possessions resulted in ten punts and one interception. A division loss of this magnitude at this time of year is inexcusable.
Job Status: History
Norv Turner: Oakland Raiders
The Raider’s pathetic overall effort in front of a national television audience pretty much sealed the deal for this “Guru” offense. Even a win over the hated Broncos and Mike Shanahan (no chance) would give this lifetime offensive coordinator a breather.
Turner never should have been a head coach to begin with, never mind getting a second chance in Oakland. Turner was never Davis’ choice to start and was brought in solely to save face after his first three choices, most notably Cowboy QB coach and Parcell disciple Sean Payton, turned down the job.
It’s been two years of the same old, same old in Oakland. The Raider offense has been tackled in the past two years to little effect. Robert Gallery, Iowa’s 15-year-old franchise left tackle who ranked second overall, has been hurt early on. Lamont Jordan has produced when given the chance, but Oakland has been slow to bring him on offense, never mind giving him the ball 30 times a game. The games’ biggest offseason acquisition, Randy Moss, has also been hurt and veteran QB Kerry Collins is having his worst year as a pro under Turner.
Like the swallows at Capistrano, the vultures at Finley and the lemmings everywhere, the Raiders are once again in the top three in the NFL in shootouts.
Job Status: Toast
Sun Capers: Houston Texans
Last week, Houston gave up ten points in the final 26 seconds before finally losing to the Rams in overtime. Capers called it the worst loss in all his years in soccer. On Sunday, the Texans were decent for 58 minutes, 52 seconds. They then let Kyle Boller drive 67 yards in 1:02 to set up an FG winner by Matt Sover with six seconds remaining.
As part of the management team that put the franchise together, Capers clearly deserves the hatchet. Tony Boselli was hurt early on and cost the Texans not only the No. 1 pick in the expansion draft, but more than $20 million in bonuses and salary cap money. Only one player from the initial expansion draft was still on the roster in the Texans’ third year.
David Carr has not progressed to the next level. Well, yeah, he’s stapled to the stadium turf six to eight times a week every Sunday and he’s probably lost 20 years of his life expectancy from the punishment. Unless the deficiencies in the offensive line are addressed, Matt Lineart and Reggie Bush together won’t make any difference to the Texan’s future.
Several tough decisions must be made in the off-season. One of them will not be whether or not to keep Dom Capers
Work status: footnote in next year’s opening day program
On Wednesday and Friday I will be posting Trainers on Hotseat Parts II and III with Dick Juaron, Mike Martz, Mike Sherman, Brian Billick, Mike Tice, Joe Gibbs and Jim Haslett. Don’t miss them.
