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Rex Ryan reportedly tells Jets players that he expects to be fired after season

Rex Ryan's Jets surprised this season, but eventually came down to earth. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images)

Rex Ryan's Jets surprised this season, but eventually came down to earth.

It's been a wild season for Rex Ryan in New York.

The bombastic Jets coach entered the season as a dead man walking. Everyone, including us at SI.com, expected Ryan to be the first coach fired this year. But a surprising 5-4 start earned Ryan some early Coach of the Year buzz and seemingly guaranteed that he would finish out his contract, which runs through the end of the 2014 season.

Well, so much for that. With the Jets losing four of their last five, Ryan apparently believes he's right back on the chopping block. Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reports that Ryan told his team in a meeting Saturday night that "word on the street" is the Jets will have a new coach in 2014. Ryan asked the team (6-8) fight with him these last two weeks. The Jets face the Browns and the Dolphins in the last two weeks of the season.

There's no doubt some gamesmanship to this statement. Ryan is looking to light a fire under his team, and this statement could easily do that. Still, the fact remains that new GM John Idzik inherited Ryan as his coach and could be looking to put his imprint on the team with a hand-picked coach this offseason.

Ryan joins Jason Garrett, Mike Shanahan and others on the hot seat as the season winds down.