The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

These 5 guys need to win big this season. Surprisingly, this list is pretty much identical to the list I created about this time last season.

1. Marvin Lewis - As you may be aware of, I hate the Bengals and Marvin Lewis, and I also think that Lewis is an over-rated bum. They won their division by way of both the Steelers and the Ravens failing to play like they should have played during the regular season, IMO, and with the collection of misfits on the roster, Marvin Lewis needs to at least win a playoff game to save his job.

2. John Fox - Every year since the Panthers were in the Super Bowl, John Fox's Carolina Panthers have been a pre-season favorite to go all the way. I am having a difficult time remembering the Panthers doing anything of relevance in the post-season since their Super Bowl season, other than the 23-0 shalacking they handed my NY Giants (Eli's first playoff game) back in 2005. Since then, the roster is all but turned over with new players and coaching staff and not a win in the playoffs since, and some very pedestrian seasons mixed in there. It's all or nothing this year for Fox.

3. Lovie Smith - How many more mediocre seasons can the Bears have before Smith is axed in Chicago? Since making the Super Bowl in 2006, the team has done absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING at all, other than go 7-9 twice and 9-7 once, but being well out of the picture by season's end in a notoriously weak NFC. A 54-46 overall record with the Bears means that now - with Julius Peppers and a healthy Brian Urlacker AND a so-called "good" *cough* QB in Jay Cutler - is the time for Chicago to go deep. Personally, I think that he took Dick Jaroun's team and used it for the first 2 seasons of his tenure. Dick Jaroun, by the way, is a lighter version of Marty Schottenheimer or Dave Wanndstat, in the sense of building decent regular season teams only to fall flat when it counts.

4. Norv Turner - Someone is wearing out their welcome in a new city! Big surprise, right? Norv Turner EQUALS disappointment at every stop in his pro football coaching career, and San Diego will find themselves firing Turner at the end of the season. They have no excuse this season to perform well and get to the bare minimum of the AFC title game this season, not the lame-ass performance that they put up in the post-season last year. They have a big explosive offense and a defense that is good enough to make stops when necessary...so do they still come up short? Two words: Norv Turner.

5. Tony Sparano - I gotta tell you, folks: Sparano will find himself on the hottest of seats if the Dolphins fall flat this year and don't make the playoffs, if not win a playoff game for the first time in forever (10 years?). This is the third season of the Bill Parcells-led regime in South Florida, and this should be the year that the team fully understands the system and the culture of the organization, and makes a run for it. If he doesn't, you'll hear the clamoring for Parcells to come to the sidelines similar to what Erik Spolestra is already hearing about Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. The Heat will be on Sparano this year if he can't produce a winner with a shiny new WR in Marshall and a young but faster and much improved defense.

Not a chance.  Parcells and company call the shots around Miami now, not the owner and Parcells isn't gonna get rid of Sparano.  Conceivably he could fire Parcells and Sparano, but it won't happen.  Parcells and Sparano have done a great job in turning the franchise around, they're not about to blow it up again so soon.  The Tuna and his helpers will get at least a couple more years to see if they can produce a winner.  The only thing that will change that is another 1-15 season which just ain't gonna happen.

I think Sparano is 100% safe this season. Nothing but support will be heard all season long regardless of the results. If the Dolphins have a really disastrous season (like 6 wins), I could see Sparano getting the nudge AFTER the season.