Shame. I feel he is a pretty good coach, and was let down to a degree by the front office.
Good on the defensive side of the ball. I’ll even say great there. However, he desperately needs to work on assembling a coaching staff on the offensive side. He had 4 different offensive coordinators and 4 different offensive line coaches in three seasons. I know some of Grier’s picks look like misses, however development is going to be badly stunted regardless with that much turnover and turmoil.
Also, he’s not the easiest to deal with. Don’t get it twisted, even the nicest coaches in the league who players will run through walls for have a major asshole side to them and aren’t afraid to use it. You have to. If you don’t, like Steve Wilks, you end up with Wilks Head Coaching career. There’s a line between complete hardass and unbearable. Bill Belichick’s players are never going to sing kumbaya and do family game night with him, and probably call him a bastard behind his back. However, if (strictly hypothetically here), he were fired tomorrow, every single one of them would have his back and sing his praises. When Flo got canned, know how many players or coaches spoke on his behalf? One. Byron Jones, who never has a cross word to say of anyone. That tells you everything. Point blank, he rubbed a LOT of people the wrong way in three years and made far more enemies than allies. He carries a huge chip on his shoulder and a “my way or no way” mindset. Keep this noted, his old boss isn’t even that brash, and if anyone could be, it’s him.
People also don’t realize exactly how damn close Flo was to being fired after the Jaguar loss. Had there been an adequate coach who could take over on an interim basis and not a bunch of guys under Brian’s thumb, he probably would have been. I’m fully convinced the decision was made then however. Had they made the playoffs, would he have saved his job? I honestly think it would have delayed the inevitable. However, he would have been gone in the first sign of trouble in 2022.