Buffalo Bills All-Drought team: Head coach

We’ve finally assembled our “team who wouldn’t miss the playoffs during the drought”, and now we need a coaching staff to run it. As much as we love the work done by Sean McDermott and his staff, they won’t be eligible for this team, as their selection wouldn’t fit the spirit of the Drought team. Plus, they’d be easy favorites. Instead, these are your candidates, the best of the rest of Buffalo’s head coaching carousel from this era.

Wade Phillips

Phillips took over from Marv Levy at the end of the 90’s, and saw his Bills make the playoffs in 1998 and 1999. What we’re interested in is what happened next. After the Flutie-Johnson quarterback battles led to a controversial loss to the Titans in the playoffs, Phillips would coach the first season of Buffalo’s burgeoning playoff drought before Ralph Wilson gave him the hook. The Bills went 8-8 and finished fourth out of five teams in the AFC East, with an average offense and defense by points scored and a top ten ranking by total yards.

Mike Mularkey

Gregg Williams lasted three seasons in Buffalo after Phillips, and with a 17-31 record, the Bills ditched him and hired Mularkey from the Steelers. After starting the 2004 season 0-4, the team rallied to 9-6, keeping them in playoff contention in week 17. A loss to the Steelers (and other results around the league) kept the team at home. That would be the last winning season for ten years to come. The 2004 team had one of the best defenses in the league. Everything regressed in 2005, and the offense and rushing defense were among the league’s worst. After finishing 5-11, the Bills brought on new management, including Marv Levy as GM, and Mularkey resigned. He finished with a 14-18 record as a coach.

Dick Jauron

Next up to the plate was former NFL safety and Bears head coach Dick Jauron. His tenure in Buffalo was marked by bend-but-don’t-break defense and offensive disarray. The Bills went through three offensive coordinators in four years, went 7-9 from 2006 to 2008, and experienced a new “QB controversy” between J.P. Losman and Trent Edwards. In 2009, Jauron began the season 3-6 and was fired, with Perry Fewell finishing out the season. He ended 24-33 as Bills head coach, and the Bills essentially turned over their entire franchise in the aftermath.

Doug Marrone

Jauron’s replacement, Chan Gailey, weathered the storm of turmoil with a 16-32 record, and after Buffalo got their affairs in order, the Buddy Nix - Russ Brandon - Ralph Wilson team picked Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone as their latest choice. With a rookie E.J. Manuel under center in 2013, the Bills devoted their offense to the ground game, with the most rushing attempts and second-most rushing yards in the league. The defense was also much-improved, setting a franchise record for sacks, but the team went 6-10 in his first year. In 2014 the defense clicked again, with the second-best sack total in team history and improved pass defense. The offense still struggled, and midseason Marrone turned to Kyle Orton to take over at quarterback. The team was in playoff contention in week 15, but a loss to the Raiders and other results took them out of the picture. With a 9-7 finish, Marrone hit the first winning record since 2004. After Ralph Wilson’s death, Marrone infamously enacted an out clause in his contract, resigning from the team. He finished with a 15-17 record as a Bills head coach.

Rex Ryan

Russ Brandon, Doug Whaley and newly-minted owners Terry and Kim Pegula selected Rex Ryan as the latest helmsman. Ryan embraced a ground-heavy offense with athletic quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and the team led the league in practically every rushing statistic in both 2015 and 2016. Despite Ryan’s billing as a defensive guru, however, the team took a step back in that realm. Formerly effective players like Marcell Dareus, Jerry Hughes, and Mario Williams stopped playing at their best, and the team became less effective at generating turnovers or sacks. The Bills finished their first season 8-8, being knocked out of playoff contention by two mid-December losses, and Ryan was fired after going 7-8 in 2016, with the Bills again out of the picture due to December losses. He finished his time in Buffalo 15-16, which was the best record since Wade Phillips back at the turn of the century.

Time to vote - who was the best head coach during the playoff drought? All that’s left is to evaluate the best offensive and defensive coordinators from this stretch. We’ll have a summary of the team up after that.