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“NFL-Final Weekend-Final Days for Coaches”

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The regular season comes to an end on Sunday in the NFL.

It will be the final day of employment for a truckload of head coaches and a trainload of assistant coaches.

The call it ‘Black Monday’, and there will be red-blood spilled around the National Football League.

Hop-Skotching around the league:

DENVER….GM John Elway has lots of issues on his plate. Vance Joseph is (11-20) and likely done. Not much leadership, lousy team play, lack of discipline, and up and down quarterbacking. Is there a reunion coming with Mike Shanahan or Gary Kubiak? Might be.

MIAMI…Adam Gase was a hot profile coordinator. Now that seems gone with back to back non playoff seasons. His GM Mike Tennenbaum might exit with him come Monday if owner Steven Ross has seen enough. They also have a decision on grossly overpaid QB-Ryan Tannehill.

NY JETS….Todd Bowles seemed to be making progress early on in his head coaching career, then he lost his players. Some bad citizens with big contracts took the team in the wrong direction. At least they have a QB in the making in Sam Darnold, but Bowles won’t be around to see him become a star, not after Monday.

CAROLINA….This might be a hard one to figure out, for there is Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly, but Ron Rivera has a 7-game losing streak around his neck, and an impatient new owner. GM-Marty Hurney might also be axed if Rivera is shown the door. However, Rivera would likely surface quickly if he became available.

TAMPA BAY….Dirk Koetter may design great plays on offense, but nothing else. They lead the world in turnovers, don’t play much defense despite a big spending spree, and need a different leader. They have QB-Jameis Winston, but is he truly a big game player?

CINCINNATI….Mike Brown’s team has never won a playoff game under Marvin Lewis, and might never. Maybe they’ve reached the end of the road together. They seem farther away than ever of being a force again in the AFC–North. But Brown has a history of being cheap. Who knows, maybe-maybe not.

ARIZONA…Seldom is it one-and-done but it might be in the Valley of the Sun. The Bidwell family reached the end of the road with the pushy Bruce Arians, but it appears they made a real mistake with Steve Wilkes. Even with high first round pick QB-Josh Rosen playing, they’ve gotten worse. A change has to come.

DETROIT….Who knows about Matt Patricia? He took a 9-win team he inherited and turned it into a 5-win team heading to Sunday’s finale. The only glaring thing that should scare Detroit ownership, Patricia might be another key assistant off the Belicheck coaching tree who is a failure, along the lines of McDaniels, Mangini, Cottrell, Weis.

GREEN BAY….Mike McCarthy was ousted as the free-fall began, and it continues. The Packers do have Aaron Rodgers brilliance, but the question, what kind of coach would work best with him. It’s not a bad job, but chemistry will be important in the hire.

CLEVELAND…This will be fascinating because interim coach Gregg Williams has given the team direction, but you have an erratic owner in Jim Haslem, an influential analytics guy in Paul DiPodesto, and a bright young QB in Baker Mayfield. Do you reward Williams, or go get an offensive guru for the kid quarterback? But they thought they had that with the last hire, Hue Jackson, so the question, can you trust Browns leadership?

That’s 10-potential coaching openings coming up. Where are they going to find proven replacements? What a week we have ahead of us, after this final NFL weekend.

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