Black Monday lived up to its name. The NFL now has eight vacancies — a quarter of the league — after four firings Monday morning.
The biggest surprise of the day came in Miami, where Adam Gase was fired after his third season, a stretch over which he went 23-25. Gase quickly made headway in Miami, going 10-6 and earning a wild-card berth in his first season on South Beach. Things only went downhill from there.
After Ryan Tannehill suffered a season-ending injury in training camp last season, Gase brought Jay Cutler out of retirement in what ultimately was a doomed experiment. With Tannehill back this year, the Dolphins could only improve by one win, going 7-9 even after a miracle win over the Patriots.
“It’s probably one of the tougher decisions I’ve made,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told reporters in Miami. “I really like Adam. He’s a great guy. He worked his tail off. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way we all hoped. I didn’t make a decision until probably last night after our game thinking about it.”
Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio are on the Dolphins’ wish list, per ESPN.
In Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis’ 16-year tenure came to an end without a single playoff win. Seven times under Lewis the Bengals lost the wild-card game. For the past three years, they haven’t sniffed the postseason, going 6-10 with a last-place finish to cap off this season. The Bengals are expected to interview Hue Jackson, who finished the season on Lewis’ staff after being fired by the Browns, per NFL Network.
While Lewis’ firing was a long, slow divorce, Steve Wilks’ was more like a shotgun wedding gone bad. The Cardinals canned Wilks after all of one season — a 3-13 finish in which the talent on the roster couldn’t have done much better.
Finally, the Broncos got rid of Vance Joseph after two disappointing seasons. Their decline from the high of winning Super Bowl 50 spiraled under Joseph, who went 11-21.