6. Vic Fangio, Broncos : A reminder, Fangio declared that Covid-19 is showing "who the whiners are" around the NFL, which is one of the dumbest "fake tough guy" quotes I think I've seen in some time about a disease that's killed 270,000 people. This is in addition to his terrible opinions on police killings of African Americans in the off-season that were completely unnecessary for him to even opine about in the first place. If it were only "on the field" failings, I think Fangio would be in trouble, but that AND his mouth are making him a likely candidate for getting the boot at year's end.

On the field, though... “Mr. Covid Tough Guy” Fangio Denver just moved to 4-7 after trying to play a game with a practice squad WR, Kendall Hinton, who was a mediocre backup QB at Wake Forest for 3 years… that was who they were forced to put under center. He went 0-7 passing for 0 yards and an INT in the first half. Denver managed 37 yards of total offense on 22 plays in that half. The Saints hardly got a lot more out of Taysom Hill (125 total first half yards, but 17 points, 10 on Denver turnovers that set them up in scoring position), but New Orleans was running the ball far better. Seriously, this looked like a game from around the time the forward pass was created. Denver finally completed a pass to a TE in the second half so Hinton could finish with the line of 1/9 for 13 yards and 2 INTs. Denver had 113 yards of total offense in a 31-3 loss.

Next week, the Broncos have to go off to Kansas City. The final month goes an east-coast early game against Carolina, hosting the Bills, a trip to LA to play the Chargers, and ten closing out at home versus the playoff-contender Raiders. Translation: This feels like another 6-10 year in Denver, and that’s not good enough to have job security in Big D.


5. Mike McCarthy, Cowboys) Again, first year coaches don't usually get fired. But, given the preseason hype where the Cowboys were, I s*** you not, the NFC Super Bowl pick by Dan Patrick… and they're 3-8, that’s not good. They look far worse than that record. The offensive line that made them so threatening only a few seasons ago is already dilapidated due to injuries (they just got both tackles back and BOTH went down with injuries again on Thursday), and right now, it's second stringers across the board. That decline in talent across the O-Line wasn't glaring when Dallas had Dak Prescott keeping them in games with gaudy numbers through their first five this year (RIP Dak's ankle, I think it died of the 'Rona or something), and they’ve ended up starting four different guys at QB. They’re actually relieved they got ginger legend Andy Dalton back to manage the kind of mediocre output that has been the hallmark of his career.

So, on Thanksgiving, I’m watching the game with my dad while its close in the first half, and driving home as the first half winds down with Dallas trailing 17-13. I’m listening to a radio broadcast that normally is *********centric, with former Dallas QB Danny White calling the game… and he’s furious that neither team is playing like it even cares. And they’re supposed to be playing for first place in the division. And he’s more pissed off because Mike McCarthy and his infinite wisdom, went for it on 4th and 1 from his own 34 with the game tied in the second quarter and an additional personal foul when they blew on their play it gave the WFT the ball on their own 19.

This is Dallas’ broadcast losing it.

The second half… it got worse. WFT is only up 20-16, and Mike McCarthy called a completely dogs*** fake punt that had no chance of succeeding, again giving Washington a short field. It was never close after that, as overall in the second half, they were outscored 24-3. WFT only had 149 yards passing (he did get some yardage from the Cowboys’ secondary in penalties). This is because they realized Dallas’ defense is so s***ty that they should just run the ball on them, because the home team wanted to go home and eat some turkey. On one of RB Antonio Gibson’s three TDs against the Cowboys, he turned, looked back, and waved at the Dallas defense, mocking them as he went into the end zone (it could have been a taunting penalty in theory, but even the refs just wanted the game over by that point, it was sad). Late in the game, Dallas was down 41-16 (the pathetic final score) and was going for it on 4th down in a game where it was impossible for them to have any sort of comeback… they failed again, and turned it over on downs for the third time in the game.

Going forward, this team has dropped all its money into skill position players and no one is left who can block for Zeke, or buy enough time to throw to Amari Cooper. For the last three years he was in Green Bay, Mike McCarthy was considered to have been more of a hindrance to Aaron Rodgers from the point they won a Super Bowl going forward, and he doesn't seem like his return to coaching after a year away is going to prove Rodgers was the problem. Hell, after Thursday, he made it pretty clear that he wasted the prime of Rodgers’ career. Whether or not Jerrah and Son are dumb enough to stick by him in 2021 so he can make their franchise a laughing stock for a second year… we’ll have to see.

4. Zac Taylor, Bengals: At least they didn’t get blown out this week. They still lost… to the Giants, who had Daniel Jones leave the game with a hamstring injury, and alas, Brandon Allen could not manage a comeback against the now 4-7 G-Men. This puts Cincinnatti’s record at 2-8-1, and oh yeah, Joe Mixon is also on IR with a foot injury for the next several weeks. Between this and the Joe Burrow injury... The lights are out, all hope is lost.

The story here of why Taylor might not get fired is "Mike Brown is a f***ing cheapskate." Remember all the years where people thought FOR SURE Marvin Lewis would get fired because he couldn't win a playoff game? And Cincinnatti kept him around? Well, the talk always was because Mike Brown couldn't find a cheaper, better option than that, and the skinflint would never spend money on a good coach. So I look at Zac Taylor, and think they're gonna give him at least until the end of the year and maybe longer because as bad as the Bengals look outside of Joe Burrow and as disgruntled as this locker room is... Zac Taylor still only makes between $400,000 and $600,000 a season. He is valued at roughly 1/20 of Bill Belichek, and maybe like 1/16 of an Andy Reid.

Still, Taylor has “no regerts” on having Joe Burrow out there until he got hurt, so… not the kind of sound bite a coach can have and hang on…