Around the AFC East, Week 1: Buffalo Rumblings

The AFC East writers of SB Nation will be having a roundtable discussion over the course of the offseason. Brian of Buffalo Rumblings answered a question from me regarding his team's coaching situation.

After three unremarkable seasons and a collapse to end 2008, many believe Dick Jauron is on the hot seat. What do you think the odds are that Jauron is not the head coach of the Bills in Week 17? Under what circumstances will not make the year? (from John B)

The last time a Bills head coach was fired mid-season was 1986; the team fired Hank Bullough and brought in the one and only Marv Levy, who would help guide the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls in the early '90s.

It's therefore quite literally been two decades since the Bills let a coach go by season's end.  On that fact alone, I do not believe that Jauron will be fired during this season.  If Rod Marinelli can last 16 full games in Detroit, then Jauron will certainly make it through the entirety of next season unscathed.  They're certainly not going to fire him based on any sort of personality quirk or disruption with the team; Jauron's players play their hardest for him, and he's about as professional as they come.

I can only speculate, but to make it as this team's head coach beyond 2009, I would guess that the Bills will need a winning record (i.e. 9-7 or better), and they'll need to have shown impressive enough improvement in key areas to owner Ralph Wilson and COO/GM Russ Brandon as well.  He is most certainly on the hot seat - but it's not nearly hot enough for the team to make a change prior to the close of the 2009 season.

Check out Buffalo Rumblings for more AFC East discussion.