Seven NFL coaches, five GMs sacked

Quite a day for NFL sacks.

Seven coaches and five general managers were fired Monday in a flurry of pink slips that were delivered the day after the regular season ended.

There could be more, but so far, the sent-packing scorecard for the coaches looks like this: the Philadelphia Eagles' Andy Reid, the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith and the Arizona Cardinals' Ken Whisenhunt -- all of whom took teams to the Super Bowl -- along with the San Diego Chargers' Norv Turner, the Cleveland Browns' Pat Shurmur, the Kansas City Chiefs' Romeo Crennel and the Buffalo Bills' Chan Gailey.

The fired general managers were Mike Tannenbaum of the Jets, Gene Smith of the Jacksonville Jaguars, A.J. Smith of the Chargers, Tom Heckert of the Browns and Rod Graves of the Cardinals.

Three teams -- the Chargers, Browns and Cardinals -- made it a clean sweep, saying goodbye to the general manager along with the coach.

Reid was the longest-tenured of the coaches, removed after 14 seasons and a Super Bowl appearance after the 2004 season, a loss to New England.

Smith spent nine seasons with the Bears, leading them to the Super Bowl after the 2006 season, a loss to Indianapolis.

Turner now has been fired as head coach by three teams. San Diego won the AFC West from 2006-09 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, whose Cardinals lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl after the 2008 season, was fired after six seasons. He had more wins than any other coach in Cardinals history, going 45-51, and has one year worth about $5.5 million left on his contract. Graves had been with Arizona for 16 years, nine in his current position. A 5-11 record after a 4-0 start cost him and Whisenhunt their jobs.

Gailey was dumped after three seasons with the Bills and Shurmur after two with the Browns. Crennel had one full season with the Chiefs.

Reid took over a 3-13 Eagles team in 1999, drafted Donovan McNabb with the No. 2 overall pick and quickly turned the franchise into a title contender.

He led the Eagles to a run of four straight NFC title games, a streak that ended with a trip to the NFL title game. But the team hasn't won a playoff game since 2008 and after last season's 8-8 finish, owner Jeffrey Lurie said he was looking for improvement this year. Instead, it was even worse. The Eagles finished 4-12.

"When you have a season like that, it's embarrassing. It's personally crushing to me and it's terrible," Lurie said at a news conference. He said he respects Reid and plans to stay friends with him.

Shurmur went 9-23 in his two seasons with the Browns, who will embark on yet another offseason of change -- the only constant in more than a decade of futility. Cleveland has lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and made the playoffs only once since returning to the NFL as an expansion team in 1999.

"Ultimately, our objective is to put together an organization that will be the best at everything we do," Browns CEO Joe Banner said.

Crennel took over with three games left in the 2011 season after GM Scott Pioli fired Todd Haley. Kansas City will have the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft as a result of having one of the worst seasons in its 53-year history. The only other time the Chiefs finished 2-14 was 2008, the year before Pioli was hired.

"I am embarrassed by the poor product we gave our fans this season, and I believe we have no choice but to move the franchise in a different direction," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement.

-- AP