Tracking the NFL coaching changes at the end of the 2018 regular season.<\/b>
\nThe Bengals fired coach Marvin Lewis on Monday, ending a 16-year stay in Cincinnati that included seven playoff appearances without so much as one win.
The move ends the second-longest head coaching tenure in the league. New England\u2019s Bill Belichick is wrapping up his 19th season with another postseason berth. He\u2019s won five Super Bowls and made eight appearances in the title game, both NFL records.
Lewis leaves Cincinnati with an 0-7 mark in the postseason that is the worst in NFL history. The Bengals haven\u2019t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, tied with Washington for the fifth-longest futility in league history.
A third straight losing season punctuated by plummeting attendance prompted change-resistant Mike Brown to finally cut ties with Lewis, whose loyalty and close working relationship with the owner brought him repeated contract extensions even as the playoff losses piled up.
The Bengals (6-10) lost in Pittsburgh 16-13 on Sunday and finished last in the AFC North for only the second time under Lewis. Attendance at Paul Brown Stadium has fallen to the second lowest in the league, ahead of only the Chargers, who are playing in a small, temporary stadium.
The Miami Dolphins\u2019 coaching carousel is spinning again.
Adam Gase was fired Monday after going 7-9 this season, his third with the team. Gase confirmed his dismissal in a text message to The Associated Press.
Owner Stephen Ross made the move after Gase went 23-26 with the Dolphins, who will miss the playoffs for the 15th time in the past 17 seasons.
After beating New England on the play of the season \u2014 a pass and double lateral for a touchdown as time ran out \u2014 the Dolphins were outscored 100-41 in their final three games by other also-ran teams, including by Buffalo 42-17 on Sunday.
The next coach will be the Dolphins\u2019 10th since 2004, including three interim coaches. Stuck on a treadmill of mediocrity, they\u2019ve finished with six to eight wins in nine of the past 10 seasons, and haven\u2019t won a playoff game since 2000.
Vance Joseph was fired as coach of the Denver Broncos on Monday after back-to-back double-digit losing seasons.
Joseph met with general manager John Elway after completing a 6-10 season and was dismissed with two years and about $6 million left on his contract.
\u201cI spoke with Vance this morning and thanked him for all of his hard work as our head coach. Although we decided to make this change, I believe Vance is a good football coach who has a bright future in this league,\u201d Elway said in a statement ahead of his news conference scheduled for later Monday.
\u201cVance made a lot of strides and deserves credit for how hard and competitively the team played this season. There\u2019s always going to be a high standard here \u2014 the bottom line is we need to win more football games. We\u2019re excited about the foundation that\u2019s being built and look forward to putting in the work to get the Broncos back on the winning track.\u201d
Jets fire Bowles
Todd Bowles\u2019 tenure with the New York Jets began four years ago with plenty of promise. It ended with too many losses and no playoff appearances.
The team announced the long-expected decision that it moved on from Bowles on Sunday night, a few hours after the Jets wrapped up their season with a 38-3 loss at New England.
\u201cI would like to thank coach Bowles for his dedication to the New York Jets for the last four years,\u201d Jets Chairman and CEO Christopher Johnson said in a statement. \u201cAfter carefully evaluating the situation, I have concluded that this is the right direction for the organization to take. I would like to wish Todd, Taneka and their family only the best.\u201d
Bowles, 54, was hired in January 2015 after New York fired Rex Ryan. The Jets got off to a solid start under Bowles, who guided them to a 10-6 record. But they fell a win shy of the playoffs in his first season after losing a win-and-in game against Ryan\u2019s Bills. Still, many expected the Jets to take the next step under Bowles.
The Jets entered this season with their focus on developing rookie quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall draft pick in April, and Johnson did not set a playoff mandate for Bowles or Maccagnan. But the former USC star threw a league-leading 14 interceptions before straining his right foot against Miami on Nov. 4 and sitting out three games.
There were glimmers of promise when Darnold returned from the foot injury, with the rookie throwing for 931 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception \u2014 and looking very much a quarterback who can lead the team into the future.
Darnold will have to do that with a new coach, though.
Dirk Koetter seemed resigned to his fate.
The coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was fired Sunday night a little more than three hours after the Bucs concluded a disappointing season with a 34-32 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Koetter was promoted from offensive coordinator to his first NFL head coaching position when Tampa Bay fired Lovie Smith in January 2016. He led the Bucs to a 9-7 record that year, but followed up with consecutive 5-11 finishes.
His successor will be the sixth coach will be the fifth coach the team has had since firing Jon Gruden after the 2008 season. The Bucs have missed the playoffs 11 straight seasons and haven\u2019t won a playoff game since their Super bowl run under Gruden in 2002.
\u201cI\u2019d love to finish out my contract, of course I would,\u201d Koetter said during his postgame news conference.
\u201cWhatever is going to happen is going to happen, and that\u2019s just the way this business works,\u201d he added. \u201cIf this is the last one for me, I appreciate the opportunity they gave me. It\u2019s awesome to be a head football coach in the NFL. Coaching in the NFL period is awesome. It\u2019s the best of the best.\u201d
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