There won’t be a lot of debate on what we learned this weekend, so there’s no reason not to get to it.
Ken Whisenhunt will not be a head coach in the NFL again
The news broke Monday morning with the humorous headline, “Ken Whisenhunt relieved of duties as Titans head coach.” Of all the ways to phrase getting canned, that one has to be the most gentle. “Relieved” they say. I think Titans fans can probably agree.
Whisenhunt was put in a tough situation when he took the Titans job, having to rebuild a team basically from the ground up. He was able to draft his quarterback, Marcus Mariota, but an injury to Mariota’s knee took him off the field for the last two weeks and the Titans, of course, lost both games.
That’s nothing new for Whisenhunt. Going back to his final season in Arizona, he’s 4-31 and the Titans had finally seen enough.
“After thoughtful consideration, the decision has been made to relieve Ken Whisenhunt of his head coaching duties,” Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “We have expected more progress on the field, and I felt it was time to move in a different direction. I would like to thank Ken for his efforts with our team, as he worked very hard to try to move us forward.”
It’d be nice if we were all fired so gently. Mike Mularkey will move over from assistant head coach to interim head coach and if you think there’s any chance that he will get to keep the job, that answer is “no.” He’s already bombed out as a head coach in the NFL twice himself, first with the Buffalo Bills from 2004-2005 and then with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012.
Whats next for Whisenhunt? Back to being an offensive coordinator unless he goes after a head coaching job in college. Certainly guys that have fizzled out in the pros have found success and new life in the University ranks. Just look at Pete Carroll. In the NFL, Whisenhunt will likely be on the short list of coordinators available after having plenty of success in that role for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers.
The 49ers have decided to tank their season
First off, this isn’t just about benching Colin Kaepernick for Blain Gabbert. Yes, that’s bad, but Kaepernick is terrible. Sure, benching him is the wrong move if you think he’s the long term quarterback option for the team, but performance-wise, no one can make the case that Kaepernick has done anything to keep that job.
The biggest clue is trading tight end Vernon Davis Monday to the Denver Broncos for two near-worthless sixth-round picks. Now, I say near-worthless because as we know some great players can show up in that round. Steelers wideout Antonio Brown was a sixth rounder. So was Bills tigh end Charles Clay. Hell, Tom Brady was a sixth round pick of the Patriots and hasn’t stopped crying about it yet.
The picks are worthless because the 49ers will almost certainly waste them unless they make a complete organizational overhaul and send Trent Baalke and Jim Tomsula packing to the nearest Greyhound depot the minute the season ends.
A few years ago Davis was one of the most potent offensive weapons in the league. Then, for some reason when Kaepernick was handed the QB job, his performance seemed to plummet. Now, teamed up with Peyton Manning in Denver, I have a feeling that Davis will somehow return to his 2010-2011 form.
Joseph Randle will never get to finish that bone
Back in the preseason Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle made some news by claiming that his former teammate, DeMarco Murray, could have done better than his 1,845 rushing yards he racked up for the team in 2014.
“He (Murray) had a good year last year and I got to sit back and watch a lot,” Randle told the Dallas Morning News. “And I felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone.”
The implication was, of course, that Randle though he could do better than one of the best rushing performances in NFL history and he got his chance as the starter for the Cowboys this season and in doing so not only left meat on the bone, he dropped the whole turkey in the floor and watched it get carried out the door by the Bumpus hounds.
Today, Randle was escorted out that same door when the Cowboys cut him for basically being a head case.
“I’m always concerned as to any issues regarding the (mental) healthy of a player,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Sunday about Randle’s absense. “It’s a lot more serious than a the football (injury).”
And all that would have really meant something until Jones sent Randle down the garbage chute Tuesday.
