The Miami Dolphins lost out on the Jeff Fisher sweepstakes yesterday, and suddenly, the sky is falling. The world is coming to an end. The Miami Dolphins are going to cease operations as a franchise in the NFL, pack up the team facilities, and call it quits.
Or, maybe the team will continue to operate, continue to interview possible coaches, find the right guy for the job, and get ready for 2012.
Smart money is on the latter.
Fisher deciding to go to St. Louis is not the end of the world. Owner Stephen Ross' decision to not give final personnel decisions to Fisher over general manager Jeff Ireland isn't the dumbest thing in the world. Miami will be fine.
Three days ago, post after post explained how Fisher was a bad decision. He had six winning seasons out of 16. He only had the one trip to the Super Bowl, and was not a great coach. Yesterday, you would have thought the Dolphins had just told Don Shula, Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi to take a hike.
Miami has a plan. Trust them to execute it. The Dolphins aren't the first team to have a coach decide to go elsewhere. They won't be the last.
What exactly has made everyone so sure Jeff Fisher is worthy of the power he wants? A coach who operates as a general manager, or vice president with final say in personnel, typically does not do well. Mike Holmgren struggled in Seattle when he had both powers. It's not an easy thing to do. And, Fisher hasn't ever had the power to make personnel decisions, so who is to say he can do both jobs?
But, no matter what, the Dolphins are already moving on. Miami has already interviewed interim head coach Todd Bowles, Chicago Bears special teams coach Dave Toub, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, and Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Reports came out last night that the Dolphins have an interview setup for some time today, although no leaks of whom the team would be interviewing have come out. Speculation on Twitter last night stated it could be Toub returning for a second interview.
Toub and Zimmer are considered the front runners of the group already interviewed.
However, yesterday, Ross stated the team plans to interview "coaches in the playoffs." Speculating targets from the coaches in the playoffs, the Dolphins could have eyes on New Orleans Saint offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael and Green Bay assistant head coach Winston Moss. Coaches from playoff teams cannot be interviewed until their team has been eliminated, or during the off week before the Super Bowl.
Which means, the Dolphins could be without a head coach for a few more weeks, But, that's a few more weeks where the sun will come up every morning. The sky will remain above our heads. And the Earth will continue to spin. And, the Miami Dolphins will continue to execute their plan, picking up where they left off over the last three days of the Jeff Fisher watch.
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