NFL news: Black Monday Special Edition

San Francisco 49ers:

Head Coach

Out: Jim Tomsula

Carl the Neighbor just can’t catch a break.  If you want to blame this season on Tomsula, you’re just out of your mind.  Vince Lombardi, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry, and Hank Stram could have worked together on a collaborative effort and not gotten anything out of this team.  There just wasn’t any talent left on this roster.  Ultimately, Tomsula served as the sacrificial lamb that many knew he would be in the preseason.  That’s really too bad because he’s been a helluva coach during his time in the NFL.  He’ll get a job somewhere.

The big name here is Hue Jackson, and it makes a lot of sense for the 49ers.  Jackson has a solid reputation for working with quarterbacks and with disinterested players…which makes him seem like the ideal man to deal with Colin Kaepernick.  On top of that, the 49ers are poised to make a major power play in the media market with this hiring.  With the Raiders likely moving to LA, there will be a significant “free agent” fan base in the area.  San Fran and Seattle are the obvious choices to capitalize on that.  And with many Raider fans long believing that firing Hue Jackson was a mistake, this is a great way to capture a large part of that audience.

Other Names: Mike Shannahan, Chip Kelly, Sean Payton (NO), and Anthony Lynn (BUF)

General Manager

The 49ers have decided to retain Trent Baalke as the General Manager.  This is probably the right move to make.  While the 49ers have certainly fallen off the precipice since Jim Harbaugh left, a lot of that (on the talent end) has really been out of the control of Baalke.  Injuries, off the field incidents, and surprise retirements have really just crippled this roster.  However Baalke has proven himself in the past and one would have to think he can do it again if given some time.  But his first step will have to be to get a quality coach in place.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Head Coach

Out: Lovie Smith

In the “WTF…oh right, it’s the Bucs” move of the year, the Bucs made literally everyone go “WTF?!” when they fired Lovie Smith.  How does a team that manages to both set its foundation for the future and improve on the previous year come to a decision like that?  According to the team, it’s because Lovie Smith didn’t win enough in the past two seasons.  At best that reasoning is idiotic and completely ignoring the past decade of Tampa Bay football to expect Lovie to turn it around that fast.

However, the rumors around the reasoning are less idiotic (though still not warranting the firing of Smith).  Many analysts believe that the Bucs made this move in order to protect the future of Dirk Koetter.  The team apparently wants to keep him paired with Jameis Winston moving forward, and were worried that another team would offer him a head coaching job.  If that’s true, the logic of the move is at least understandable…though still tragically wrong.  Making a head coaching change on that premise is pretty irresponsible management, and one would have to wonder if Koetter would even want to stay with a team that makes those kinds of decisions.

Let’s not forget, this team once fired Jon Gruden for winning a Super Bowl.

Tennessee Titans:

Head Coach

Out: Ken Whisenhunt

A lot of people thought this was a bad move when it happened.  I don’t know what those people are thinking.  Ken Whisenhunt might be able to draw up some fancy X’s and O’s…but his real reputation is for getting his quarterbacks killed.  Don’t believe me?  Ben Roethlisberger built a reputation for playing hurt when Whiz was his OC.  Not nearly the same troubles afterwards.  How about Arizona?  How many quarterbacks did the Cards cycle through under the watch of Whisenhunt?  And then there is this season where rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota went down twice.  I loved this move by the Titans ownership because it protected their future in Mariota.

Mike Mularky took over as the Interim Head Coach, and it appears that he may have a real chance to keep the job moving forward.  That’s not really a bad decision.  The safest way to help Marcus Mariota is to give him some continuity in the organization and Mularky will provide that.  There are certainly some other names you could cite as being more attractive…or just flat out better options, but this move would be understandable.

Other Names: Hue Jackson (CIN) and Josh McDaniels (NE)

General Manager

Out: Ruston Webster

This move caught me a little bit by surprise.  The Titans allowed Webster to make a very crucial decision regarding the future of their organization when he chose to draft Marcus Mariota rather than accept one of the many trade offers Tennessee had received.  To follow that up by letting him go the next year doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me…especially with another top draft pick.  This was a great chance to build some real offensive continuity and cohesion by pairing Mariota with another top prospect, or flipping that top pick for a number of other quality options.  No matter what happens now, the future of this organization will have at least some level of disconnect simply because the decision makers for back to back top picks are different.

Oddly enough, the Titans opening move has been to interview ex-Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew.  While I can understand wanting a veteran guy for the position, replacing a fired GM with a fired GM lacks a certain level of logical thinking.  Maybe this is the right decision…it will just be hard to convince me of that until we see some real results.

Other Names: Jimmy Raye (IND), Marc Ross (NYG), Chris Polian (JAX), Jon Robinson (TB), Chris Ballard (KC), and Ted Sundquist