When the coaching carousel begins to spin in 12 days, a guy who has coached 348 regular-season and postseason games will be looking for a chance to grab a brass ring.
Jeff Fisher made it clear during the final episode of this year’s Hard Knocks series that he wants “to get back on the sideline” in 2018. More recently, Mike Jurecki of 98.7 FM reported that Fisher “could be eyeing” the Browns, Bears, and Colts.
The real question is whether the Browns, Bears, Colts, or any other team could be eyeing Fisher. The success of the Rams in his absence -- and the thriving of three former Fisher quarterbacks (Jared Goff, Case Keenum, and at least for one week Nick Foles) -- will make it a much harder sell. Balancing that out is the experience factor, along with a relationship with the league office that could put his team in position to win a few of the “jump balls” that the franchise currently can’t quite reach.
At this point, it’s probably smart to bet the under. But all it takes is one owner to decide that Fisher presents a better option than an unproven coordinator or a former head coach who hasn’t handled 348 games.
Said owner also would have to be unconcerned about the local reaction to hiring Fisher, who seemingly went from being viewed by most fans as adequate but mostly mediocre to horrible in the collapse that happened after the Rams opened 2016 with a 3-1 record. Given the manner in which social media mobilized to shout down Greg Schiano to Tennessee, NFL teams may be leery about having a similar outcome.
In this case, it actually may be better to roll the dice on an unknown commodity, because most fans will be of the opinion that, by hiring Fisher, the inevitable outcome is craps.