NFL Coaches are droppin’ like flies….

There has been a frenzy of NFL head coaches fired within the past 48 hours, but the most stunning dismissal is Mike Shanahan from Denver.

Shanahan just finished his 14th season as head coach of the Broncos, which only ranked 2nd in the NFL behind Jeff Fisher’s 15 seasons in Houston/Tennessee.

Denver completed their meltdown on Sunday night, as they were unable to secure a 3-game lead in the AFC West & lost 52-21 to San Diego, which resulted in their omission from the playoffs for the 3rd straight season.

By the way, this is the first time under Shanahan that the Broncos have missed the playoffs in 3 consecutive seasons, which led to his firing.

Shanahan had good & bad moments in his 14 years in the Mile High city.

Shanahan was able to lead Denver to two back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in the late 90’s..and won them both against Green Bay & Atlanta.

Denver’s Super Bowl XXXII win over Green Bay was the most impressive, since the Broncos entered the game as heavy underdogs & got a big performance out of MVP Terrell Davis (157 yards & SB record 3 touchdowns).

Since Elway’s retirement though, Denver went just 1-4 in the playoffs.

Here’s some pop quiz trivia for you: Who was Denver’s last head coach BEFORE Shanahan was hired in 1995?

He’s currently coaching in the NFL..that would be Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys.

Another head coaching firing that surprised me was the dismissal of Eric Mangini from the New York Jets.

Just 2 years ago, Mangini led the surprising Jets to a playoff appearance in his 1st season there as head coach, but was blown out 37-16 by the Patriots during Wild Card weekend.

Everyone knows how terrible the Jets’ were in ’07 with their 4-12 record, but they decided to trade for a legendary quarterback in hopes of getting back into the playoffs.

Early on, it looked like the Brett Favre experiment in New York would work.

It certainly did throughout the first 11 weeks of the season, with the Jets standing at 8-3 & flying high after their dominating 34-13 win over previously-unbeaten Tennessee.

However, that’s when the collapse began.  The Jets would wind up losing 4 of their last 5 games & needed a late defensive touchdown to knock off the Bills 31-27, otherwise it would’ve been 5 straight losses to end the season.

So Mangini’s time in New York is up, and it may be the same very shortly for Brett Favre.

Here’s two firings that were expected though….

Romeo Crennel was ousted in Cleveland yesterday after finishing a disappointing 4-12 season just 1 year after the Browns won 10 games & barely missed the playoffs.

It wasn’t entirely all of Crennel’s fault though, as Cleveland lost both Derek Anderson & Brady Quinn to season-ending injuries & were forced to rely on journeymen such as Ken Dorsey & Bruce Gradkowski.

The Browns were so awful down the stretch that they finished their last 6 games without a single offensive touchdown.

Bill Cowher has already turned down an interview with the Browns, as that move wouldn’t sit well with Steeler fans…Cowher spent 15 years in Pittsburgh as the team’s head coach & won Super Bowl XL.

However, Cowher has shown some interest in possibly becoming the Jets’ next head coach…stay tuned!

You knew someone was going to lose their job from the Detroit Lions becoming the first NFL team to go 0-16, and that person was head coach Rod Marinelli.

Marinelli’s 3-year record in Detroit was a woeful 10-38, as he was unable to deliver the Lions their first winning season since 2000 & their first playoff appearance since 1999.

Lions fans shouldn’t get too down on this, as Atlanta, Baltimore & Miami are all in the playoffs after suffering 12, 13, & 15 loss seasons in the previous year.

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