Los That Links 11-23-2010 (Firing Squad)

Now that Brad Childress has taken the nice long walk off of a really short pier, which NFL coach will be next?

Of the seven teams with three wins or less, two (Cleveland and Buffalo) aren't likely to remove their coaches this season or next. The Browns have been competitive all season, defeated the Super Bowl champion Saints, and Super Bowl contending Patriots, and have looked good enough in losing to the Jets, Bucs, and Chiefs to secure Eric Mangini a return in 2011.

The Bills won't get rid of Chan Gailey for three reasons: 1.) He was hired in January. 2.) He wasn't their first, second, third, or fourth choice. 3.) Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden aren't walking through those doors.

BONUS: The Bills may be moving to Los Angeles.
So that leaves Mike Singletary (49ers), Josh McDaniels (Broncos), Marvin Lewis (Bengals), John Fox (Panthers), Jim Schwartz (Lions), Jason Garrett (Cowboys), and Leslie Frazier (Vikings). Garrett and Frazier are both filling in as interim coaches, but they count because neither has much job security beyond Week 17.

But the coaches most likely not to last until the end of the season have to be Singletary, Lewis, and McDaniels. In that order.

Singletary has to go. The York family gave him the vote of confidence early in the season (even foolishly saying he'd lead them to the playoffs). The 49ers are 3-7, they were just shutout at home by the Bucs, they have one win over a .500 team (Oakland)... and this was supposed to be a playoff season.

Now he's asking fans to blame him for the awful season. They already have.Check out these comments on the "Fire Mike Singletary" Facebook page.

• Alex A. Tame - My question is, the owners don't care about the team or what? Singletary should be fired since he was so stubborn to keep Alex "useless" Smith in the first place. Now we are screwed no matter what. Why teams like the vikings and the freaking cowboys woke up and fired their lousy coaches and we can't do the same?
• Eddie Darosa - The smoke screen that is Mike Singletary has evaporated and unfortunately when the smoke cleared all that's left is a bad football team still.
• Chris Baker - The 49ers just lost to the 0-5 panthers! They have a 1-5 record don't you think it is time to fire Mike Singletary. It should be as simple as this win more than 50% of your games keep your job. Lose more than 50% of your games and you should be fired. Lose 80% of your games and you should be canned for sure.

But for a really classy website, you have to visit the one dedicated to Josh McDaniels. The firejoshmcdanielsnow site serves as a weekly reminder why McDaniels needs to be outed as the head coach of the Broncos. It's best captured with this excerpt of the site's most recent posting:

"The win against the chiefs was a total mirage. Tonight was The reality and The reality is The broncos never had a chance to win this game and The broncos are a bad team.

3-7 on the year.

5-15 in the last 20.

Last place in the AFC West.

Where is the light in this tunnel?

Fire Josh McDaniels Now!"

Well said.

McDaniels was given a ton of personnell leeway with the Broncos, and hasn't proven to be a savvy arms dealer. He allowed Jay Cutler to rub him wrongly enough that there was nosalvaging their relationship, and essentially traded him outright for Kyle Orton. I'll actually call that a wash, given that Orton has performed admirably in Denver (90.7 QB rating, 6,825 yards, and 38 TDs in 26 games).

McDaniels also gave up Brandon Marshall for two second-round picks, Another wash for now since Brandon Lloyd, Marshall's replacement, is having a career year (10 games, 54 catches, 1,046 yards, 7 TDs). McDaniels spearheaded adding Virgin Mobile (Tim Tebow) with a premature first-round selection, then added another high profile quarterback (Brady Quinn) a week later, even though the starter (Orton) isn't in danger of losing his position to either.

Simply put, McDaniels has the look of a guy in over his head. He's been given everything he asked for, and it hasn't translated to on-field success. In fact, since the 6-0 start last season, the team's 5 wins are only better than the Detroit Lions (3).

Marvin Lewis, the most tenured of the coaches, only has two winning seasons in his eight years in Cincinnati. The Bengals won the AFC North last season, and this year were picked by some to be Super Bowl contenders. But the team is 2-8, and as wide receiver Terrell Owens said after the 49-31 loss to the Bills this weekend, they are "terrible".

Lewis has also battled perceptions of, as the NCAA would dub, a lack of institutional control. Twenty Bengals have been arrested since the 2005 season, and that was before they signed Adam "Pacman" Jones and Tank Johnson. There is also the tragic Chris Henry saga.

Team owner Mike Brown is one of the most frugal (cheapest) owners in the NFL, so don't expect anything in the way of an in-season firing. Lewis returning next season is an entirely different question.

However, it wouldn't be the first time Lewis escaped the grim reaper. Check out the headlines that come up when you Google "Fire Marvin Lewis". People were calling for his job back in 2007, and earlier.

49er's Mercy Kill

Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network is reporting that the San Francisco 49ers have decided to fire offensive coordinator, Jimmy Raye. This follows the Sunday's 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, in which the 49ers ammassed only 251 yards total offense, went 4-17 on third down, and gave up five sacks.
There were already rumblings of discontent after the team layed a similar egg in the season opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, a game in which the offense produced a whopping six points against a conference foe that they were projected to dominate. Un-named sources in the locker room hinted that part of the offense's problems were Raye's inability to relay the play calls quickly enough. This lead to a week's worth of finger pointing and "rat sniffing" (Head coach Mike Singletary's words).

See, Raye is "long in the tooth", and that may be putting it lightly. I don't ever want to be accused of discrimination based on age, but the man is old enough to remember when Y. A. Tittle was a young punk. Combine his "experience" with Alex Smith's "I can't believe this team hasn't figured out than I'm a bust. Not on Jamarcus Russell's level, but not far from it." talent, and you get a clearer picture of why the team is struggling. All that continued into the Monday Night Football matchup against the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints.

The 49ers finished strongly against the Saints, and it was thought that the game would be used as a positive to correct the course of the season. Then... Sunday happened.

San Francisco 49er fans, who had playoff aspirations, and talked a lot of trash to their friends during the offseason about as much, are more than disappointed by the teams showing so far. (Who has two thumbs, and chooses the Green Day song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" to describe the team's 0-3 start? Me, that's who.)

Los Put Up Or Los STFU

Last week, via Twitter, Anthony Ramsey (@A_Ramsey) and I (@marcusjnorris) got into a debate over the Philadelphia Eagle starting QB situation. My position was Michael Vick should be the starter because he gives them the best chance to win. His argument was that Kevin Kolb is the future of the franchise, and shouldn't lose his job to injury after only one half of one game.

We both were right. Just ask us.

It was announced yesterday by head coach Andy Reid that Vick would remain the starter, but that was only hours after Reid said Kolb was the man. Amid the confusion, I was inspired to create a list of this weeks four "Los That Put Up, or STFU" sports storylines. These are the three stories where there is a lot of scuttlebutt about a particular situation, but there needs to be no more talking, just action.

(It could become a running theme, or my ADHD could kick in, and it will pass like bad gas. Either way...yeah...)

1.) Mike Vick is an NFL Starter Again, Now What?

We know (hope) he isn't fighting dogs anymore. We know (hope) he is studying and preparing better than he ever has in his career. But we also know (know) that he's still stuck behind a shaky line, and he leads the league in being sacked. Reid says that he's "Playing out of his mind" right now, but really, he's playing the same way he did when he was at an all-pro level with the Atlanta Falcons. Back then, he had great running games, good passing games, and the occasional 40 percent completion game. He's still a running QB, but he's shown that he's thinking at least a split second longer before deciding to run, and Reid is probably having visions of some Steve Young-in-his-prime type of performances.

Vick has always been a rallying source for every team he's ever played on, and the guys in the locker room seem to be his biggest fans (save Kolb). Ultimately, this is Vick's time to show and prove. He must win games, and he must win them now.

2.) Shed Not One Single Tear for Singletary

The San Francisco 49ers came into this season expecting to make the playoffs. They also apparently thought that once their opponents found out what they expected of themselves, that they'd just lie down, and let them reach their destiny. That's the only rationale I can use to explain their first 5 quarters of the 2010 season.

Now I admit, I'm a fan, so my views are skewed. I also know that head coach Mike Singletary is given the credit for his leadership ability, his motivation tactics, and his requirement that everyone hold himself accountable. Well, Mike, after watching the 49ers begin the season on such a flat note (against a division opponent, no less), and then the in-fighting about the play-calling, its best you carry the weight.

You lost to Pete Carroll, and his college-like enthusiasm. You decided to hire Old Man River (Jimmy Raye) to run your offense. You decided that Alex Smith was your best option at quarterback, when you could've pursued Donovan McNabb, Vick, or even kept Nate Davis. Your team almost completed an epic comeback against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night, but bonehead/untimely turnovers ultimately did you in, and now your team is 0-2, and a statistical longshot to make the playoffs. Bible quotes won't get you out of this one. Put up, or STFU.

3.) Carmelo Will Definitely, Maybe be Traded to Somebody or Nobody

I haven't heard the man himself, Carmelo Anthony, come out publicly and demand to be traded. But every two weeks or so, an un-named source speaks to reporters about a possible trade either being in the works, or totally out of the question. This is really infringing on my ability to focus entirely on the NFL start/MLB playoffs during the month of September, when the NBA should be in the further back recesses of my mind.

But Anthony is a top ten-to-fifteen NBA talent, and him switching addresses will have a definite impact on the landscape of the league. If he goes to New Jersey, as is rumored, then four- fifths of the NBA Futures (Lebron, D-Wade, Melo, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Durant) stock will reside in the Eastern Conference. If he moves to Los Angeles (Clippers), as is rumored, then he will be the first legit superstar NBA player to play for the Clippers while still in his prime. No, Elton Brand doesn't count.

Of course he could also just sign his max extension, stay in Denver, and the entire conversation is moot.

Either way, put up, or STFU so I can get my focus back to its proper place. Ya'll already got me for 82 games, plus playoffs, and an occaisional "Decision". I promise to DVR LaLa's new show if you wrap this situation up within the week.