After the New York Jets ended the 2018 season with another loss to the New England Patriots, Jets CEO Christopher Johnson finally brought the Todd Bowles era to a merciful end. 10-6 (blowing a win-and-you're-in season finale), 5-11, 5-11, and 4-12 were certainly not records to be proud of. It was time. Looking back on these four years, Bowles really ended up just being a polite extension of the Rex Ryan era. Sure, Bowles is a stand-up guy and I wish him luck in Tampa Bay or Chicago. But come on: poor game management, boneheaded penalties, no answers during post-loss press conferences, lack of urgency from players on the field, no discipline in the locker room. Not to mention game after game of okay defense and all-over-the-place offense. Didn't feel much different to me.

There were a few events this season when I knew this year would be his last. There was a moment during a press conference sometime around mid-season. I don't remember the exact wording, but the reporter said something to the effect of, "What will you do to stop these kinds of penalties?" Bowles answered that it's on the players to behave themselves. I'm sorry, what? YOU'RE the head coach. One unsportsmanlike conduct penalty is on the player. A pattern of them every other week? No, sorry, that's on you and your failure to run a tight ship and a focused team.

The other event? The second loss to the Bills. We were bad at that point, but the Bills were way worse. A good defense, sure, but Josh Allen was still out and they had already given up on Nathan "Interception" Peterman, leaving some no-name guy to start at QB. Meanwhile, our defense was supposedly good. And what happens? We're completely blown out 41-10. It's one thing to lose, it's quite another for a "defensive-minded" coach to give up 41 points to a trash offense of a team that was supposedly worse than he was.

Todd Bowles is not a head coach. He's a defensive coordinator. Nothing quite proved that more than when DC Kacy Rodgers, who had fallen ill, had to miss a few games this year. Bowles took over play-calling duties on defense for those games. Guess what happened: our defense played lights-out. And that's all the proof you need.

Again, it's hard to hate on a nice guy. But being nice doesn't make you qualified. After all, I sure wouldn't sit my friendly neighborhood repairman down in front of a radar screen at air traffic control. With that said, I wish Todd Bowles luck in his new job as a defensive coordinator. Just don't promote him.