According to Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan, his team had won this year’s offseason. Yet, here we are with only one more week to play during the 2016 regular season and the Bills at a 7-8 record prior to their season finale against the New York Jets. Despite Ryan’s bravado his team did not improve this year and is already out of postseason contention. The Bills will finish the season as the number three in the AFC East.
As a consequence, Buffalo has decided to let Ryan go, according to the team’s official Twitter account:
Rex Ryan has been relieved of his duties as head coach. Anthony Lynn will serve as interim head coach.
After six seasons as head coach of the aforementioned Jets, Ryan was hired by the Bills last year. In his first season as Buffalo’s head coach, the team went 8-8. However, it failed to take the next step this season and continued to struggle especially on the defensive side.
Seeing the defensive-minded coach — as well as his assistant head coach defense/brother Rob Ryan — get the boot does therefore not come as a surprise. The lone minor surprise is that the move was already made today. However, considering that the Bills now have a six-day headstart compared to other teams searching for head coaches, it certainly makes sense.
In the meantime, Anthony Lynn will take over as interim head coach. Lynn originally started the season as running backs coach before getting promoted to offensive coordinator following the firing of Greg Roman. Now he takes over for Ryan; most likely for only one game, though.