case may be, we just didn’t get it done

Sean Payton despises the term “Black Monday.” And he’s one of the coaches who always survives it.Six head coaches were fired as the NFL season concluded Boomer Esiason Jersey , four of them on Monday. Two, Mike McCarthy in Green Bay and Hue Jackson in Cleveland, didn’t even make it that far.Saints coach Payton, finishing his 13th season in New Orleans and now owning the second-longest tenure with a team after Cincinnati fired Marvin Lewis , had some strong words about how the coaching carousel gets derailed every year.“Our owners’ network that they own have created this,” Payton said, referring to NFL Network that is owned by the league, “marketed this and sold this ‘Black Monday,’ and that’s just disappointing.”In reference to Lewis, who was with the Bengals since 2003, but went an all-time worst 0-7 in the playoffs, Payton added: “He’s been a fabulous coach, but I don’t want to comment on anyone or all of them (who were fired).”He added that the whole Black Monday scene, which some media outlets promote the way they do actual competition, is “ridiculous.”Payton and every other coach in pro sports recognize that change is understandable and at times necessary. As long as it is thought out and includes a plan for the future, revision can make sense.When it’s more on an owner’s whim or due to some serious impatience, that’s another story.Steve Wilks , fired after a 3-13 record in his first — and only — season in Arizona Jordan Evans Jersey White , might be a case in point. Had Bruce Arians not retired, he still would have been with the Cardinals, but Wilks was a hot candidate for several openings last offseason following his work as Carolina’s defensive coordinator. Barring a full-out revolt by the players, as happened with Ben McAdoo and the Giants in 2017, how is one year enough to judge a head coach’s capabilities?Also fired on Monday were Vance Joseph in Denver and Adam Gase in Miami. On Sunday night, Todd Bowles with the Jets and Dirk Koetter with the Bucs were let go.A year ago, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, Arizona and the New York Giants made changes. That’s 14 franchises out of 32 with different head coaches since 2016. The Cardinals and Giants will have had three coaches from 2016-19.Also taking a hit has been the NFL’s initiative on diversity in coaching. The Rooney Rule is exemplary in purpose, though it sometimes gets criticized for how it is implemented.Of the eight head men released, only Koetter, Gase and McCarthy are not minorities. Just three minority head coaches remain: Ron Rivera with the Panthers, Anthony Lynn with the Chargers, and Mike Tomlin with the Steelers.Impatience by owners can’t be blamed for the moves by the Bengals or Jets, both clearly on a downward spiral.Otherwise Boomer Esiason Jersey White , well, it normally takes at the very least three years for a coach’s program to take root. Joseph got two, Gase got three injury-ravaged years, and Koetter also got three.Jackson simply lost too often, particularly with a vastly improved roster early this season, to remain on the job.McCarthy, a Super Bowl winner, had seen things go stale in Green Bay, and he often has been blamed for the Packers getting to just the one Super Bowl with a generational quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.Still, the word stability seems to have been dropped from owners’ dictionaries. They give lip service to wanting to be like the Patriots, Saints or Seahawks.Then, if things turn sour for one season, they begin wondering if the right people are in place. Imagine if John Mara had done that with Tom Coughlin before the 2007 or 2011 seasons, when fans and media were calling for the coach’s removal.Yet, we hear things like this from Broncos boss John Elway:— “Vance made a lot of strides and deserves credit for how hard and competitively the team played this season. There’s always going to be a high standard here. The bottom line is we need to win more football games. We’re excited about the foundation that’s being built and look forward to putting in the work to get the Broncos back on the winning track.”In most places, that winning track has lots of potholes. Not many coaches get the opportunity to navigate around them. BALTIMORE (AP) — A once-promising season is spiraling dangerously out of control, and the Cincinnati Bengals can’t even agree on the proper path to turning themselves back into a postseason contender.There’s no doubt that the defense has to get better. Yet the offense hasn’t exactly been racking up the points without injured wide receiver A.J. Green.“That’s an individual that we need Carlos Dunlap Jersey White ,” Bengals safety Shawn Williams said.After watching his team give up more than 500 yards in total offense in three straight games, most in the Super Bowl era, coach Marvin Lewis fired defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and took over the unit.Lewis was pleased with the baby steps the Bengals took in a 24-21 loss to Baltimore on Sunday, even though they surrendered 403 yards — including 265 on the ground — to a team led by a quarterback making his first NFL start.With four losses in five games, the Bengals (5-5) find themselves lumped with several other AFC teams on a ledge, in danger of falling out of the playoff picture.“It’s a race now, and that’s what we’re here for,” Lewis said. “It’s now a race to the finish. And we’ll be a better football team coming out of this than we were coming in. That’s what’s exciting for me.”OK, the defense allowed the Ravens to convert half their 16 third-down tries and gave up 15 first downs rushing. But the 24 points allowed compared favorably to the previous four games — 28 to Pittsburgh, 45 to Kansas City, 34 against Tampa Bay and the final insult, 51 at home against New Orleans.“It was a step forward for us on defense,” linebacker Vincent Rey insisted. “Now we have to put the pedal to the metal.”Lewis knows all about leading a defense, given that he owns a Super Bowl ring from his time as a coordinator in Baltimore. The transition from Austin to Lewis was smooth, even if the results weren’t ideal.“I have no complaints,” cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said. “I got the calls, I got the checks, everything. We were playing fast Anthony Munoz Jersey , rallying to the ball.”Unfortunately, the defense didn’t get much support from the Cincinnati offense. Operating without Green, who has a toe injury, the Bengals were limited to 255 yards overall and scored only one touchdown before halftime.“We didn’t come out fast like we wanted to,” tight end C.J. Uzomah said. “Whether it was us hurting ourselves or just not executing, whatever the case may be, we just didn’t get it done offensively.”Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton engineered a 34-23 win over Baltimore earlier this season and orchestrated a comeback victory last year to knock the Ravens out of the playoff picture on the final Sunday of the season.On this day, he was a pedestrian 19 for 36 for 211 yards and two scores.“A.J., if he’d have been out there, the coverage may have been different,” Dalton said. “But I think at the end of the day, we just got to make the plays.”Dalton sees only one way for the Bengals to turn their season around: by winning next Sunday at Cleveland, possibly one of the few teams struggling more than the Bengals.“For us, it’s all about winning the next one. … It doesn’t matter if we don’t win. We’ve got to put our focus on this week.”