This is how dynasties end, even those headed by one of football's most brash, endearing and interesting head coaches: Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
On Tuesday, in putting Rex Ryan out of his misery, the Buffalo Bills didn't just fire their coach. The organization put an end to a once-proud football family that has swiftly moved from game-changing to captivating to disappointing to finally, if we're being kind, an afterthought.
The Ryan dynasty, once headed by Buddy and backed up by sons Rex and Rob, is over. Whatever magic it weaved belongs to the past.
This was a long time coming, and that's a shame. Rex is funny, engaging, likable, with a hilarious if over-the-top personality and a nickname -- Sexy Rexy! -- you want heading an NFL team as long as possible. It makes for fun, for good headlines, for rowdy times. It just didn't make for very many wins.
His brother Rob, if not as captivating, is still a peculiar draw, with his own style, and, again, a scion of a football family we'd all love to see continue with greatness and glory.
Problem is, these guys can't coach. Hence, the end of their run.
Rex Ryan went 15-16 in 31 games for Buffalo, an abject stretch of mediocrity over two seasons that does not capture all its awfulness. Take a single, glaring example: The last game, a 34-31 overtime loss to the Dolphins in which the Bills had only 10 men on the field on Jay Ajayi's 57-yard run that set up the winning field goal and sealed another failed Bills season.
This is the NFL. Jokes and guffaws get you only so far. It's wins -- or, in this case, a pile of losses -- that really determine where you're heading. And Rex Ryan is heading toward that long, silent fade from relevance because he hasn't had a winning season as a head coach since 2010.
His brother hasn't exactly been a star over that time, either. In 12 seasons as a defensive coordinator, he has mustered only two successful defenses, the 2006 Raiders (sort-of successful) and the 2013 Saints.
These brothers are busts. This firing, which will also clear out Rob, who joined Rex in Buffalo, means the end of the family's stay among the league's elite. That's a shame.
Their father, Buddy, who passed away this past summer, was a giant of the game. He molded NFL defenses around his vision, he helped to shape the way the league operates on the field, and in his sons we all thought -- or hoped -- there would be a continuation of that legacy and that excellence. We were wrong. It happens. The American story is full of sons and daughters who were not their fathers and mothers. It's easy to inherit a name, but unfortunately it is hardest to inherit the greatness that sustains one.
This is the end for this family fronting an NFL team, as it should be. There are only 32 NFL head-coaching jobs on earth, and they are the exclusive domain of those who have the potential to possess the best NFL minds in the world. Few get first chances, fewer still get second chances.
It has been six years since Rex Ryan's most recent successful NFL season. His brother, having joined him in Buffalo because he had few if any other options, hasn't been better. The Ryan brothers belong to history now, a fond memory and a failed duo who belong to the game's past.
