Why Todd Bowles shouldn’t be on the hot seat

The New York Jets need Todd Bowles to work with this team beyond 2017 and shouldn’t be on the hot seat regardless of the final record.

Head coach Todd Bowles shouldn’t be on the hot seat, despite many experts projecting he is. It’s a joke that he’s even considered to be in this position, to begin with. He’s handled the New York Jets and while isn’t perfect, inherited a dire situation that needed a few years to correct.

If his seat is hot now, the Jets should’ve fired and replaced him after 2016. There’s only one reason to fire Bowles after 2017, a complete disaster of a season. Otherwise, the Jets need to look at the Cincinnati Bengals as the model for how to deal with the head coach.

In the 12 seasons prior to the Bengals hiring Marvin Lewis, the team had 11 losing seasons and one .500 season. Since Lewis was hired, the team has been consistently a contender for the NFL Playoffs and only had four losing seasons. Additionally, they’ve been to the playoffs seven times with four AFC North titles.

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The Jets need continuity to succeed. Recently, ESPN had a piece on job security for NFL head coaches and rated Bowles a 5 out of 5:

Bowles doesn’t have a playoff mandate, according to owner Woody Johnson, but he must move the franchise in the right direction. That’s a tall order, considering the Jets have one of the worst rosters. Is it fair? No, but Johnson is known for letting public sentiment cloud his judgment — and the public won’t be happy with Bowles if there’s no glimmer of hope. Bowles is 15-17. The most recent Jets coach to survive after beginning with three non-playoff seasons was Walt Michaels in the late 1970s. — Rich Cimini

Walt Michaels was the last coach to make it into season four after missing the playoffs in his first three seasons, just like Bowles is likely to do. In fact, they didn’t have a winning season until the fifth season under Michaels. He was allowed to guide this franchise to the playoffs in that season, then, the AFC Championship Game in his sixth year.

Michaels unexpectedly resigned after losing to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game. So, who knows what could’ve transpired after. The Jets need to allow Bowles to work with this young group, install his philosophy, and see if it works. Once that is established, then we can truly judge if Bowles is on the hot seat or not.

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