Reid among 7 NFL coaches sacked in firing frenzy

With the regular season ending the day before, the firings came at a furious clip and within a 2 1/2-hour span the following were sacked: Andy Reid in Philadelphia, Lovie Smith in Chicago, Norv Turner in San Diego, Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona, Pat Shurmur in Cleveland, Romeo Crennel in Kansas City and Chan Gailey in Buffalo,

Though he also had a losing record, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan held onto his job while general manager Mike Tannenbaum was let go. Jacksonville fired its GM, Gene Smith, and coach Mike Mularkey could go soon, too.

The Chargers, Browns and Cardinals made it a clean sweep. San Diego dismissed GM A.J. Smith along with Turner. Cleveland fired GM Tom Heckert along with Shurmur. Rod Graves was let go as Arizona GM.

Reid was the longest tenured of the coaches, removed after 14 seasons and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005 — a loss to New England.

Smith spent nine seasons with the Bears, leading them to the Super Bowl in 2006 — a loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Turner went 56-40 with the Chargers, the third team to fire him as head coach. San Diego won the AFC West from 2006-09 — he was 3-3 in the playoffs — but didn't make the postseason the last three years.

“Both Norv and A.J. are consummate NFL professionals, and they understand that in this league, the bottom-line is winning,” Chargers President Dean Spanos said in a statement.

Whisenhunt was fired after six seasons, including taking the Cardinals to a Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh after the 2008 season. The 50-year-old Whisenhunt had more wins than any other coach in Cardinals history, going 45-51, 4-2 in the playoffs. He had a year worth about US$5.5 million left on his contract.

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