We’re 11 weeks into the NFL season and we’re still learning important information from each weekend of football. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it’s as good a time as any to reflect on what we’ve picked up.
Congratulations Jeff Fisher. You did it!
With an epic fourth-quarter collapse that only a Jeff Fisher-coached team could make, the Los Angeles Rams lost 14-10 to the Miami Dolphins and, in doing so, moved Fisher into a tie for second place in the All-Time NFL head coaching losses list. Fisher is now tied with Tom Landry with 162 losses, but don’t let the company fool you. It took Landry 29 years to register 162 losses. It’s taken Fisher just 22.
Best Mannequin Challenge ever has got to go to Jeff Fisher. His Rams offense hasn't moved in 5 years!
— Tony Shrek (@shrek_13) November 21, 2016
Fisher is now three games into his rumored four-game shot to save his job. He’s 1-2 and a field goal away from being 0-3. Fisher is now just three losses behind Dan Reeves as the NFL’s All-Time losingest coach and the only question about whether he’ll hit that mark or not is if Stan Kroenke actually fires him before his contract expires at the end of the season. If Fisher coaches all 16 games for the Rams, he’ll not only tie Reeves, he’ll likely best him by a game or two.
And, again I have to note, Reeves set his losses record in 23 years, rebuilt two teams, took four teams to the Super Bowl and picked up nine losses in the postseason. Something Fisher hasn’t sniffed in nearly a decade.
Jeff Fisher told reporters that Jared Goff showed today that he could be the guy that leads the Rams to 8-8 seasons for the next decade
— The Front Office (@FrontOffice69) November 21, 2016
This Sunday, as we begin our Christmas shopping and celebration, the Rams will travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints. The opening line is Saints -7 and there may not be a safer bet in sports. It will be Fisher’s 163rd loss and put him all alone in second place.
There’s a part of me that wants Fisher to remain the coach for the entire season so he can watch his team not only threaten 7-and-9 bullshit, but surpass it. He said himself on Hard Knocks that this team is too good to go 7-and-9, or 8-8 or 9-7 or 10-6. And he was absolutely right. This Rams team is much too talented to be 4-6 right now, but they are. And the idea that Fisher, who smugly stated, “I know what I’m doing” locking down the top spot as the NFL’s All-Time loser would be pretty sweet.
#Rams' record after 10 games through Jeff Fisher's tenure as HC
2012: 3-6-1
2013: 4-6
2014: 4-6
2015: 4-6
2016: 4-6https://t.co/nVVhHqogeu— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) November 21, 2016
But then there’s another part of me that wants him shitcanned so hard he breaks his tailbone. That wants him fired and timed as he’s forced out like Bobcat Goldthwait in Scrooged. I’m still scared that rumored extension is hanging out there like a turd from a dog’s ass. Which, pretty much sums up the Jeff Fisher experience.
Jay Cutler out for the year
Jay Cutler will never throw an interception in this town again. The poster child for untapped potential, Cutler tore his right labrum Sunday. He’s not expected to play for the Chicago Bears again this season, or ever really.
#Bears QB Jay Cutler believed to have a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, per @MikeGarafolo & me. He's hoping 2nd opinions say different
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 22, 2016
There was never really any chance the Bears were going to keep Cutler past this season, but the decision becomes a lot easier now. Cutting Cutler before 2017 would have resulted in monstrous cap penalties, but his 2017 cap charge is $2 million. It’s one the Bears will surely pay.
As of this writing the Bears are sitting with the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft. While I feel there is only one quarterback worth taking in the first round (Clemson’s Deshaun Watson), other scouts disagree and if they’re right (they’re not), the Bears could still nab their guy at that spot. Even if they try to pull in a free agent, they’ll still draft a guy high. If not in the first round, then the second.
Cutler ends his season completing 59.1 percent of his passes for 1,059 yards, four touchdowns, five picks and a career low 40.4 quarterback rating.
Andrew Luck in concussion protocol
Any chance of a season-defining win for the Indianapolis Colts evaporated Monday when Andrew Luck was placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol. There’s virtually no chance he’ll ebe removed from it before Thursday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The #Colts announce QB Andrew Luck is in the concussion protocol. They play the #Steelers Thursday, a very quick turnaround.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 21, 2016
The Colts are planning to start Scott Tolzien so make your bets accordingly.
