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I think it will be Lynn or Austin.

Is Lynn going to want this job after today? If I were him, I would be hoping that another team is interested.

Seems that the decision to sit Taylor makes sense if it is really about Taylor and the injury clause. Does not necessarily mean that he will not be brought back. Could renegotiate his contract.

It is odd that we have not heard from Whaley since Rex was fired (unless I missed an interview or other press interaction).

Did not see the press conference, but I wonder if he wants the job after the season? If he gets other interviews, it may be interesting.

The theory would be something like this: Brandon and Whaley, assuming they are acting in a coordinated manner, want Lynn because other head coach candidates would want more power over personnel matters, which would erode the current powers shared by Brandon and Whaley. Lynn would be accepting of the current structure and would not challenge the roles of Brandon and Whaley.

I hope you are right about the list of possible HC candidates, but any chance that the NE coordinators would really consider the HC position for the Bills? Not sure either would want to be in the same division as BB.

Yikes. I hope this is not a one game audition for DC.

Okay, I may have gone a bit overboard on the title, but I did not like the leaks and the criticisms of Ryan without any accountability for the members of the front office for this situation. I was not a Ryan supporter, but this whole thing was unpleasant and I don't think continuity is the answer under the current circumstances. Is it a conspiracy? Probably not, but clearly there are people with agendas and Whaley seems to have won the battle for now. Simply put, I do not have confidence in Whaley and I think the Bills would have been better served with a clean sweep of the head coach and front office.

Not sure how the answer here can possibly be to turn to Whaley to head up the coaching search and then select someone already on the staff, but is seems it is going in this direction. Over the last number of weeks, Rex is blasted and Lynn gets glowing press. Someone leaks that Rex's demise is near, and that the talented roster is not playing up to its potential. Simultaneously, we only hear how Lynn will be a hot candidate for head coaching openings and after Ryan is fired, that Lynn is a strong contender. Something smells bad here. This feels very orchestrated. I think Whaley knows that hiring Lynn is the best result for Whaley. Prevents questions about the GM, the organization or the talent from potential coaching candidates. I don't like it and it is depressing. After 17 years of not making the playoffs, we deserve a real process and the best possible candidate. We will see.

This sucks. We needed a fresh start, including a new GM.

If it is Lynn, he will have a hard time attracting a quality DC candidate. I wonder if the other current coaches will remain or whether they will be released from their obligations following the final game.

Seems pretty obvious what is going on here. Lynn gets elevated now so that he has the best (and maybe only) opportunity to become HC of the Bills. Whaley does not want a real and open process because he is concerned that the Pegulas will hear HC candidates raising issues about the GM (including what happens if he is dismissed), the organization and the talent. Whaley is trying to make the hiring of Lynn a fait accompli to protect his own position. All of this is supported by the positive articles and mentions that Lynn started getting over the last few weeks in the press. He was built up by some with an agenda to make this go more smoothly.

Do any of us really know that Whaley did not support the hiring of Marrone or Ryan or that they were not his first choice? Seems like there is a lot of information being put out there about the Bills, and much of it seems to be an effort to support a narrative about Whaley not having full say about the hiring of our recent HCs. This is similar to the who drafted EJ and who traded for Hughes arguments. Seems like anything negative about the Bills is attributed to Brandon, the Pegulas and Nix. Anything positive to Whaley. Makes no sense.

It is kind of nuts that Whaley is conducting the HC search. After Marrone and Rex, you would have thought the Pegulas would retain a consultant to help with them the football side of things.

I hope the Bills conduct a real search for a new coach. I wonder if they Bills did this because Coughlin already was scheduled to speak to the Jags?

The talent on this team is not good enough now, and we may have less talent on the roster next year with all of our free agents in the off season. Better coaching would help, but the reality is that we have not been able to beat quality teams. Until we can do that, we will not make progress.

I agree. We need culture change. Lynn may be fine or even better than fine, but we need a clean start.

I would think that Whaley wants Lynn to replace Rex instead of having an open head coaching search. It would be in his best interests for surviving this year. Other potential head coaching candidates would, at a minimum, ask the Pegulas about the GM situation and want to do due diligence about why there have been issues between Whaley and Rex/Marrone. If Rex is fired, I do not think this will be a very attractive head coaching opportunity. We are not quite Cleveland, but there is tremendous pressure to win now, our QB situation is unsettled, the GM would be involved in a third head coaching search, and the last coach is being fired after only two years with a .500 record (guessing).

More speculation from Rapoport about Lynn possibly being a possibility to replace Rex. I have a feeling this is how it will play out and I am not enthusiastic about it at all.

Seems if you want long-term continuity this is not the way to go. I like Coughlin, but I would expect him to coach for only a few years. If you had a team that was really close to being a Super Bowl contender, maybe this would make sense, but that is not the case with this team. We still have holes and need some rebuilding, particularly with all of the free agents that we have this offseason.

We will have a better sense next year because this year's schedule turned out to be fairly easy. I think we have the talent of a .500 team, no better, and much of the "talent" was acquired through free agency (McCoy, Clay and Taylor) rather than through the draft. Whaley needs to go (and so does Ryan) to start fresh.

I have no issues if the Pegulas decide to move on from Rex, but I do think we have more holes than people realize. Seems like this roster is an 8-8 type roster, but no better. With a better QB, we would have the potential to win more games, but based on our current level of talent, I think we are about where we should be.

Great article. Whaley had the benefit of salary cap flexibility in part because we lacked a franchise QB. He loaded up and overpaid for some and has masked the real deficiency, which has been his drafting.

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