By Frank Pingue
Jan 5 (Reuters) – For struggling NFL teams the end of the regular season triggers an annual exercise in bloodletting known around the league as Black Monday and this year proved no exception as a number of head coaches were fired.
After failing to make the 14-team playoff tournament that will culminate with the February 8 Super Bowl, the Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals showed their coaches the door in hopes a change will turn things around.
The Browns parted ways with Kevin Stefanski after six seasons, one day after the team put the finishing touches on a 5-12 campaign that left them in last place in the AFC North division for a second consecutive year.
Stefanski led Cleveland to two playoff appearances and became only the second coach in team history to record multiple seasons with at least 11 regular season wins. He was also named NFL Coach of the Year twice.
“We appreciate all his hard work and dedication to our organization but our results over the last two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change at the head coaching position is necessary,” Browns Managing and Principal Partners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement.
The Raiders relieved Pete Carroll of his duties after he went 3-14 in his first season with the team, which was tied for the worst mark in the league with the Cardinals, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans.
The 74-year-old Carroll, who won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in February 2014, signed a three-year deal with the Raiders last January.
Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement that general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady will be in charge of identifying the team’s next coach.
The Cardinals moved on from Jonathan Gannon after three losing seasons and one day after their dreadful 3-14 campaign ended with a nine-game losing streak. Gannon went 15-36 during his tenure and the team missed the playoffs each year.
The Atlanta Falcons got the ball rolling on Sunday as they parted ways with head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot after the team extended their playoff drought to eight seasons.
“The decision to move away from people who represent the organization so well and have a shared commitment to the values that are important to the organization is not an easy one, but the results on the field have not met our expectations or those of our fans and leadership,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement.
The head coaches of the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants were both fired during the season.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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