The Bills did the inevitable thing today when they fired head coach Dick Jauron. He was just 3-6 this year and 24-33, in his career with the team after three straight 7-9 seasons. Jauron had no long term future with the team, and he had played his last ace when he fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert right before the season started, so it was just a matter of time. There are reports that Jauron and the team were both caught off-guard by the move, but I don’t see how they could be. The fourth quarter against Tennessee last weekend was quite possibly the worst quarter of football a team has played all year. After they had played a solid game to tie it at 17 through three quarters they allowed 24 unanswered points. 14 of those points came from two interceptions returned for TDs, and in both cases the receivers did a pathetic job of earning their money on the plays. It was a clear sign that the coach had lost the team, and the only thing that made sense at this point was to make a change and get a head start on next year.

That being said, I have very little expectation that this team is going to accomplish anything down the stretch. The interim head coach is defensive coordinator Perry Fewell . He hasn’t exactly been having a stellar year to begin with – the run defense is dead last in the league, and there is no sign of progress on that front.Fewell has never been a head coach before, and the Bills gave him his first coordinator gig. Before that he had coached the secondary for the Bears, Rams, and Jaguars, and he had worked for Jauron in Jacksonville. To boil it down, Fewell obviously has the same basic approach as Jauron , and he’s another defensive guy – and one who isn’t doing a great job this year – so it seems highly unlikely that the team will change dramatically, or that he will command enough respect to work miracles.

There is not a lot to like about this team right now. They have no clearcut starting quarterback, their offensive line has been a problem, the running game is bleak, the passing game is worse, the defensive line is virtually non-existent – I could go on and on. Not only is that going to make it hard to turn things around this year, but it will make it very hard for the team to attract a top notch coach with a high likelihood of success – there just isn’t a whole lot of talent to build from here.