Rarely as an NFL head coach is it a good sign when rumors begin swirling among the media and fanbase about your eventual demise.
It's even worse when rumors begin to emerge that the team, which still employs you, has preemptively hired a consulting firm to assist with the potential coaching search that would result from your having been fired.
For current - possibly not for long - Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith, the outlook on his tenure as the top guy in Atlanta seems increasingly grim with every passing hour.
The latest report from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter says that, yes, the team has hired the consulting firm of Korn Ferry to assist in a possibly, maybe, potential, "you never know it could happen," coaching search.
"Falcons have hired the search firm, Korn Ferry, to identify HC candidates in the event the team makes a HC change, via @mortreport and I," Schefter tweeted early Sunday.
Much like New York Jets owner Woody Johnson hiring Charley Casserly as a consultant who will assist him if, and only IF, he fires head coach Rex Ryan (who has, apparently, already cleaned out his desk) and GM John Idzik, it seems like almost a foregone conclusion that owner Arthur Blank's decision to hire a consulting firm whose sole function would be to assist in a coaching search, means that Smith is all but finished with the Falcons.
"But they believe that if the Falcons lose tonight, that there will be some big changes, included the firing of head coach Mike Smith," Ian Rapoport reported on NFL Network's NFL GameDay First on Sunday. "On the other side, if they win tonight, the belief is that they also need to win a playoff game to ensure that there are no changes in Atlanta."
In a multi-billion dollar, high visibility business like the NFL, moves like this are not made in the dark. You don't hire a company to assist with a potential coaching search with a single game remaining in the regular season, only to then decide everything is ok and you're fine with your coach staying on even though you've clearly communicated your unhappiness with his performance and effectively stripped him of all job security.
You hire a consulting firm because you've already made up your mind about your coach's (short) future with the team. There is no going back from this, no reinserting the cat in the bag.
Sorry, Mike Smith.
Playoffs or not, your tenure with the Atlanta Falcons seems to be almost at an end.
