Sean Payton despises the term "Black Monday." And he's one of the coaches who always survives it.
Six head coaches were fired as the NFL season concluded, four of them Monday. Two, Mike McCarthy in Green Bay and Hue Jackson in Cleveland, didn't even make it that far.
Payton, finishing his 13th season in New Orleans and now owning the second-longest tenure with a team after Cincinnati fired Marvin Lewis on Monday, had some strong words about how the coaching carousel gets derailed every year.
"Our owners' network that they own have created this," said Payton, referring to the NFL Network that is owned by the league, "marketed this and sold this 'Black Monday,' and that's just disappointing."
In reference to Lewis, who was with the Bengals since 2003 but went an all-time worst 0-7 in the playoffs, Payton added: "He's been a fabulous coach, but I don't want to comment on anyone or all of them [who were fired]."
He added that the whole Black Monday scene, which some media outlets promote the way they do actual competition, is "ridiculous."
Also fired on Monday were Vance Joseph in Denver, Steve Wilks in Arizona and Adam Gase in Miami. On Sunday night, Todd Bowles with the Jets and Dirk Koetter with the Bucs were let go.
A year ago, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, Arizona and the New York Giants made changes. That's 14 franchises out of 32 with different head coaches since 2016. The Cardinals and Giants will have had three coaches from 2016-2019.
Also taking a hit has been the NFL's initiative on diversity in coaching. Of the eight head men released, only Koetter, Gase and McCarthy are not minorities. Just three minority head coaches remain: Ron Rivera with the Panthers, Anthony Lynn with the Chargers and Mike Tomlin with the Steelers.
Impatience by owners can't be blamed for the moves by the Bengals or Jets, both clearly on a downward spiral.
Otherwise, it normally takes at the very least three years for a coach's program to take root. Joseph got two, Gase got three injury-ravaged years and Koetter also got three.
Jackson simply lost too often, particularly with a vastly improved roster early this season, to remain on the job.
McCarthy, a Super Bowl winner, had seen things go stale in Green Bay, and he often has been blamed for the Packers getting to just the one Super Bowl with a generational quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.
Joseph finished 11-21 in his two seasons with the Broncos, and he has two years and $6 million left on his contract.
"Vance is a good man. He worked his tail off," Broncos President and General Manager John Elway said. "And unfortunately, we didn't get it done. We didn't win enough football games and ultimately that's what we have to do."
The Cardinals fired Wilks after one season and a 3-13 record, the franchise's worst in 18 years. He is the first Cardinals coach to be fired after one season since Joe Kuharich in 1952.
At a news conference, team President Michael Bidwill cited the number of losses and the lack of competitiveness in many of those games as a reason for the firing, saying the team went backward on offense and defense.
"It's a results-oriented business," Bidwill said, "and if you don't win everybody knows what happens."
Gase went 23-26 with Miami, including a playoff game in 2016. After the 2018 Dolphins beat New England on the play of the season -- a pass and double lateral for a touchdown as time ran out -- they were outscored 100-41 in their final three games by other also-ran teams, including a 42-17 loss at Buffalo on Sunday that sealed Gase's fate.
"Probably one of the toughest decisions I've made," Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said. "He worked his tail off, and unfortunately things didn't go the way we all hoped.
Sports on 01/01/2019