Tracking the NFL coaching changes at the end of the 2018 regular season.
The 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’s Bill Belichick is wrapping up his 19th season with another postseason berth. He’s 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’t 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’ 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 — a pass and double lateral for a touchdown as time ran out — 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’ 10th since 2004, including three interim coaches. Stuck on a treadmill of mediocrity, they’ve finished with six to eight wins in nine of the past 10 seasons, and haven’t won a playoff game since 2000.
