EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants have fired coach Pat Shurmur after the once-proud franchise took a step back by winning four games in a season marked by a franchise record-tying nine-game losing streak.
The Giants also announced Monday general manager Dave Gettleman will return despite seeing the team win only nine games in his two seasons.
Co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch informed Shurmur of the decision Monday, less than a day after the Giants (4-12) failed to play the spoiler role and saw the Philadelphia Eagles beat them 34-17 to win the NFC East.
“Steve and I have had many extensive discussions about the state of the Giants,” Mara said. “This morning, we made the very difficult decision that it would be in the best interest of the franchise that we relieve Pat of his duties. The last three seasons have been extremely disappointing for the organization and our fans.”
Mara said the owners share in the responsibility for the slide, which included a 3-13 record in 2017 and 5-11 in Shurmur’s first season.
This was Shurmur’s second head coaching job. He went 9-23 in two seasons with the Browns, the same record he had with the Giants. He came to the Giants after a successful stint as the offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings.
His firing is the Giants’ third coaching change since Tom Coughlin was fired after the 2015 season. Offensive guru Ben McAdoo, who had been hired from Green Bay as a coordinator, replaced Coughlin in 2016 and led the Giants (11-5) to their only playoff bid since winning the Super Bowl after the 2011 season.
The four-time Super Bowl champions have missed the playoffs seven times in eight years.
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Redskins search for coach, GM and team president
ASHBURN, Va. — Bruce Allen was mocked four years ago when he proclaimed that his perennially last-place Washington Redskins were “winning off the field.” More eye rolls arrived more recently when Allen defended the club’s “culture.”
After a lot of losing on the field and all manner of public-relations disasters off it, Allen is out as president of the NFL team once coached by his father. He was fired Monday, a move announced by owner Daniel Snyder a day after a 3-13 disaster of a season was capped by one last embarrassing loss, 47-16 at rival Dallas.
From the outset of the 2010 season, the Redskins went 62-97-1 with Allen serving as Snyder’s right-hand man, a stretch that featured only two playoff appearances and zero playoff victories.
Jay Gruden, who was given a contract extension by Allen, was fired after an 0-5 start to this season, his sixth — the longest stint for a head coach under Snyder — and replaced by offensive line coach Bill Callahan on an interim basis.
So the always-in-disarray Redskins are now in need of a president, a general manager and a coach; whoever is hired to those jobs will need to oversee a massive rebuilding project.
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Kitchens out after one season
BEREA, Ohio — Freddie Kitchens made a great first impression. Everything after that was underwhelming.
Kitchens, who famously crowed “if you don’t wear brown and orange, you don’t matter” at his introductory news conference less than a year ago, was fired Sunday night by the Cleveland Browns following a season in which he failed to lead a talented team to a .500 record — let alone the playoffs.
Kitchens was dismissed shortly after the Browns returned to team headquarters following a 33-23 loss to the lowly Cincinnati Bengals (2-14), who ended Cleveland's disheartening season and an inglorious 16-game run for the former running backs coach who was hoping for more time.
The Browns (6-10) didn’t come close to meeting expectations. Neither did Kitchens.
Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam decided one season was enough for Kitchens and parted ways with the 45-year-old, who is the ninth coach fired by the Browns since 1999. Kitchens was a surprising hire a year ago. He had no previous head coaching experience, but his successful eight-game stretch as the team’s offensive coordinator and relationship with quarterback Baker Mayfield sent his stock soaring.
Kitchens is the fifth coach fired since 2012 by the Haslams, who have shown little patience in a failed attempt to resurrect one of the league's proudest franchises.
Cleveland hasn’t had a winning record since 2007 and has gone through seven coaches in that 12-year span.
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