Bills Fire Rex Ryan Days Before Clash with Jets

Well, Sunday's season finale between the Jets and Bills will not have Rex Ryan involved at all. The Bills made it official on Tuesday firing both Rex Ryan and his brother Rob from their positions of head coach and defensive coordinator, respectively. Offensive coordinator, and former Jets running backs coach, Anthony Lynn will be the "interim" head coach for Sunday's game.

Ryan was on the hot seat for an entire calendar year in Buffalo. When the Bills missed the playoffs last year after Ryan professed (as he usually does) that his team would be a Super Bowl contender, the pressure was on Ryan to deliver this year. Instead it was a flame out season as Buffalo stands at 7-8.

The hot seat really heated up on Ryan after the Bills dropped a 27-20 decision to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home a few weeks back, with many speculating that Ryan was going to be fired shortly after that game. Instead Terry Pegula decided to keep Ryan around and let him finish the season. That changed after the Bills 34-31 meltdown against Miami on Christmas Eve.

The Bills blew a 31-28 lead late in the fourth quarter as Miami stormed back to put themselves in the playoffs. Ryan drew heavy criticism for not icing the kicker with six seconds to go in the game before the Dolphins tied it at 31. He claimed he was calling for time out but the referee never heard him. He later drew heavy criticism for not going for a fourth and two with 4:09 to go in overtime. Instead he punted the ball back to Miami, and the Dolphins proceeded to score the winning field goal.

Thus ends a wild and crazy two year stay for Ryan in Buffalo, and likely a wild and crazy eight-year run as an NFL head coach. From boastful proclamations that his teams would win the Super Bowl, to sticking with dreadful quarterbacks (Mark Sanchez and Tyrod Taylor) for way too long, to embarrassing himself with a foot fetish and ridiculous new conferences -- it's been, how should I say it, real.

Now Sunday's clash between Ryan's Bills and Ryan's old team the Jets will not be about two head coaches with their heads on the griddle. Instead it will be about whether its the last game for Todd Bowles. If the Jets win on Sunday and Bowles keeps his job, he can thank Rex Ryan.