Buffalo Bills fire head coach Rex Ryan; Rob Ryan gone as well
By Josh Hill
The Buffalo Bills have finally fired Rex Ryan, axing his brother Rob Ryan as well after a Week 16 loss to Miami.
There are five days left in the NFL regular season, but the Buffalo Bills wasted no time in getting rid of their head coach. With the playoffs an impossible dream this season, a team that hasn’t made a postseason trip since 1999 has moved on from yet another head coach.
According to the team, both Rex and Rob Ryan were fired on Tuesday. This comes days after the Bills blew a lead against the Miami Dolphins — at home — and lost in overtime. Miami has since clinched a playoff berth and the Bills are heading into another meaningless Week 17 game.
The Bills haven’t made the playoffs since that infamous ‘Music City Miracle’ game back in 1999. it was a sour way to exit the postseason and it’s been 17 years since they’ve been back. That’s a hard route to take, as a near-two decade long playoff draught is harsh.
Bills fans deserve better, but the question has to be asked whether or not this was a premature decision. Ryan may be a mediocre head coach on paper, but he won 8-games in 2015 with Tyrod Taylor as his quarterback. This is a guy who went to back-to-back AFC Championship games with Mark “Butt Fumble” Sanchez, so there’s something there.
The Bills have’t been getting blown out this year; they’ve been in games all year long. They haven’t won any of those games though, which is ultimately what this all comes down to. The team should be doing better, but there’s no reason Rex shouldn’t have been given another year. Injuries have ravaged the Bills in 2016, and there’s no way his system was fully implemented in the two years he’s been there.
Next: 5 replacements for Rex Ryan in Buffalo
The NFL is a business that you need to have immediate returns in. The Bills weren’t interested in being patient with Ryan and now it’s on to the next guy — whether or not he’s the right guy is going to be seen.