Jerry Sullivan's Take

No indecision: It is time Jauron goes

That’s it. I’m done. Sunday put me over the edge. Dick Jauron must go. I’ve seen and heard enough. The man is simply not cut out to be an NFL head coach. He should be fired at the end of the season, if not sooner.

This is not a task I relish. Asking for people’s jobs is difficult, even if they’re paid millions to coach a silly game. I called Jauron an uninspired choice at the start, but was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He has his virtues. His players like him. But he is the worst game-day coach I’ve ever seen.

That’s saying a lot in Buffalo, where we lived through Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey. But at least it was their first time. Jauron had done it before, with one winning season to show for it. We were warned that he was dull and conservative, lacking in conviction, a man who coached not to lose.

After Sunday’s loss, Jauron was asked if he’ll be coaching for his job in the next month. He couldn’t summon an ounce of defiance. Why not clear up the nonsense about his contract extension once and for all? Does he know how weak he looks?

Well, I don’t need more time. The evidence is compelling. Sunday was just the latest in a string of dysfunctional coaching efforts. They waste timeouts. They run when they should throw, throw when they should run. Opponents tell you they knew what the Bills were doing. Bills players say it, too.

Jauron said the timeouts are a problem of communication. If the coaches can’t get plays to the team in time, what does that say about Jauron? When are we going to stop believing the myth that Jauron is some great communicator? Aren’t the news conferences proof enough that he can’t think on his feet?

It gets tiresome, hearing how smart he is. So he went to Yale. I’ve been watching and listening for three years and Jauron doesn’t strike me as an uncommon intellect. Anyway, book smarts aren’t the main requirement for a successful football coach. It’s more about commanding the group, making snap decisions and responding to pressure situations.

Jauron has been brain-locking since he got here. Sunday was a microcosm. It started with his decision to defer the opening kickoff, one week after scoring 54 points. It’s not so much the strategy, but Jauron’s willingness to fall in line with the other NFL coaches for whom deferring has become all the rage.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bills had fourth-and-2 at the 49ers’ 7. On the Buffalo sideline, the coaches fiddled, fretted and finally called timeout. It wasn’t a matter of what play they called, but the fact that, in the clutch, they didn’t know what they wanted to do.

So what does Ralph Wilson do now? He wanted desperately for Jauron to succeed. Jauron was Marv Levy’s choice. When Levy left, Wilson didn’t want to hand over the football department to an outsider who might want his own coach. That’s one reason he elevated Russ Brandon from marketing whiz to COO.

Wilson wanted continuity, and he got it. It has been one continuous run of weak, indecisive coaching. Big game at New England, big Monday night game, pivotal home game — shine the spotlight on Jauron and the bumbling begins.

So fans are left with this: An organization clinging to an inferior head coach, a career loser, because they’re afraid of change. They have a big problem, because Jauron can’t even measure up to management’s own low standard.

It’s time for Brandon to come out of the shadows and show who’s in charge. He’s been a quiet bystander. If he really is a strong football guy, with his own competitive vision, he should be having serious doubts about Jauron.

When Wilson elevated Brandon, people questioned whether Brandon would be his own man. That won’t be the case until Brandon sees the light and brings in his own coach.