NFL Postseason - Black Monday Roundup

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The NFL Regular Season has come to a close, and as 12 teams prepare for the 2014 NFL Playoffs, the dark side of the business comes to pass today as Black Monday in the league has gone into full effect, with head coaches and general managers finding themselves unemployed. It's an ugly day, but a necessary evil for the league as these teams look for new leadership to turn their fortunes around. So who has been let go so far? Here's a look at the current football minds that have either parted ways, or been let go. 


1. San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.  Jim and the executive brass of the 49ers clearly were headed for a breakup. We may never know all the exact reasons as to why, but what matters is that the team went from NFC Darling and NFC Champions to middle of the pack in too quick a timeframe.  That kind of performance falls on the Head Coach and what makes this separation interesting is that Harbaugh and San Francisco cited this as a "mutual agreement" so clearly both sides realized it wasn't working out.  That kind of realization is actually quite rare when it comes to these situations and of all of the coaches leaving NFL jobs today, Harbaugh will likely be unemployed for the shortest amount of time, since as of press time he appears to be headed back to college football to coach the University of Michigan.

2. Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith.  This is another rise and fall story when it comes to coaching. In his seven years with the team Coach Smith ignited the Falcons franchise early on and during his tenure even took the squad to the NFC Championship game.  But, a Super Bowl appearance never came to fruition and two ugly years and a last minute and failed shot at the NFC South Division Title was too much for owner Arthur Blank to bear as he terminated Mike Smith's contract this morning.  

3. New York Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan and General Manager John Idzik. It was a complete and utter housecleaning at the Jets facility this morning as owner Woody Johnson said goodbye to his two top men and with good reason.  Despite the fact that Rex took the Jets to two AFC Championship games, the many years of decline and getting the least out of his players was the last straw.  Throw Idzik's poor choice of Geno Smith in the draft, the lack of quality free agents and the weird Percy Harvin trade into the mix and a housecleaning makes total sense.  

4. Chicago Bears Head Coach Marc Trestman and General Manager Phil Emery. A franchise that did everything wrong this year, finally made some solid changes for the future. Trestman clearly lost the team this year, with his squad at times looking completely unprepared on the field and of course the lack of development of quarterback Jay Cutler finally did Trestman in. Speaking of Cutler, it was his poor performance and the wild and crazy contract that Emery gave the QB that ended up being the nail in his coffin as the Bears also decided to do a little housecleaning.  

Sadly, this is just the beginning as often times in the NFL Black Monday is the first wave of firings.  Today marks the day when the obvious choices are let go, some of the tougher and surprise decisions still await us and we'll be keeping our eyes peeled to ESPN for more coaching changes as they develop.  

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