After four seasons, 24 wins, and a fair share of disappointing losses, the New York Jets have parted ways with Head Coach Todd Bowles.
Hours after the Jets’ season finale loss in New England, New York announced that Bowles’ fourth season would be his last.
Bowles came to the Jets in 2015, improving a 4-12 record in 2014 to 10-6. Things went downhill from there, however, as the Jets went 5-11 in both 2016 and 2017.
A glimmer of hope came before the 2018 season with New York drafting the highly-touted QB Sam Darnold to help right the ship. Despite blowing out the Lions in Week 1, the Jets’ season was hampered by nagging injuries and inability to finish close games, the most glaring of which coming in Weeks 16 and 17, blowing 4th quarter leads to Houston and Green Bay respectively. A third straight losing season was too much for Jets’ brass to handle and Bowles was promptly let go.
The news was made official via a tweet from the Jets’ Twitter account Sunday evening:
Chairman & CEO Christopher Johnson has informed Todd Bowles he will not be returning in 2019.
? https://t.co/JgKBKH0I2h pic.twitter.com/X1m1Ri34Sk
— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 31, 2018
Many things contributed to Bowles’ downfall. Quarterback play was inconsistent through Bowles’ tenure, with 5 different QBs starting in four years. It also didn’t help that 2015, 10-6 starter Ryan Fitzpatrick did not play near as well in 2016. The Jets also struggled to establish a consistent ground game to even out the offense.
However, Bowles’ biggest downfall was the defense. Bowles was brought in to be a “Defense first” coach after he had success in Arizona as D-Coordinator. The same success was not replicated in New York though as the Jets gave up an average of 27.6 points per game in 2018.
Following today’s 38-3 loss, Bowles was reluctant to talk about his future as head coach:
Todd Bowles on if he thinks he'll be fired: "I don't talk about my job" pic.twitter.com/jDDyjiv28f
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 30, 2018
It’s still way too early for a possible successor to be named, but it is expected the Jets will be looking for an offensively savvy coach to help the development of young QB, Sam Darnold.
While Bowles has already gotten the boot, it appears New York is going to retain current GM Mike Maccagnan.
Bowles, whose career record with New York ended up being 24-40, had been signed through the 2020 season.
