While Adam Gase prepares for the Cardinals, another 0-4 coach met his maker on Monday.
The Texans pulled the plug on Bill O’Brien’s tenure as head coach and general manager. O’Brien’s firing was long overdue, as he could not get anything out of the most expensive team in the NFL. Trading away DeAndre Hopkins for pennies and not giving Deshaun Watson much to work with in terms of weapons and protection as GM didn’t help his case, either.
Like O’Brien in Houston, Gase has gotten nothing out of his team in 2020. It took the Jets four weeks to show any signs of life after three non-competitive losses to open the year. Even then, it could not defeat a Broncos team ravaged by injury and throwing Brett Rypien, a third-string, undrafted free agent quarterback, to the wolves by placing him under center as a starter for the first time in his career on a short week of preparation.
Gase’s seat has grown hotter with each loss. New York isn’t just losing games, it is getting dominated to the point where you have to wonder if players even want to play for their head coach anymore. Reports indicate Gase isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but if Joe Douglas and Christopher Johnson want to act in the best interest of the organization, they’ll follow the Texans’ lead and fire Gase before the season comes to an end.
New York’s front office and ownership need to possess the same gall Houston’s did when it showed O’Brien the door. The Jets weren’t projected to be division title contenders in the AFC East like the Texans were in the South, but Houston’s brass recognized its head coach was holding the team back and acted to remove him from the equation. There’s no question Gase is holding the Jets back at this point. For that reason alone, he should be kicked to the curb with no hesitation.
The notion that firing Gase would harm Sam Darnold’s development is a ridiculous one and should not be a reason to keep him around any longer. What exactly has Gase done for Darnold’s progression? New York’s third-year signal-caller isn’t exactly lighting up the league under the supposed offensive mastermind’s watch. In fact, he somehow looks worse than he did when Jeremy Bates was dialing up screen passes every single play when Darnold was a rookie in 2018.
The Jets have never fired a coach in the middle of a season. Considering the historic ineptitude of the organization, that might come as a shock to many. That little tidbit should become obsolete before the end of the 2020 season, though. Gase might not be Rich Kotite bad, but he’s pretty close at this point.
The Texans had no issue ridding themselves of an underperforming head coach who wasn’t putting his team in any sort of position to win. The Jets should take a lesson from them and send Gase packing as soon as possible.