Jets 'Very Likely' to Fire Adam Gase on Monday If New York Loses to Browns

One NFL insider believes Monday could be the day the Jets fire head coach Adam Gase.

According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, New York is "very likely" to part ways with Gase on Monday should the Jets fall to the Browns Sunday afternoon.

Gase enters Week 16 with an 8-22 record over two seasons as the Jets' head coach. If it wasn't for New York's stunning upset victory over the Rams a week ago, the 42-year-old would have been staring down the barrel at an 0-16 season with only two games left to play.

There's no guarantee, however, that the Jets—even with their 1-13 record—will lose to Cleveland this week. 

On Saturday night, the Browns placed wide receivers Rashard Higgins, KhaDarel Hodge, Jarvis Landry and Donovan Peoples-Jones on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Those wideouts, along with linebacker Jacob Phillips, are ineligible to play on Sunday after contact tracing deemed them high risk.

Even with a handful of players sidelined, the Browns are still quite the formidable foe. Taking a 10-4 record to East Rutherford, expect quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Browns' offense to lean heavily on the running game. Cleveland ranks third in the NFL with an average of 152.6 rushing yards per game.

New York will also be missing key contributors, but due to a slew of injuries. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, for instance, was placed on injured reserve this week with a season-ending concussion and neck injury. His presence on the defensive line will certainly be missed against Cleveland's rushing attack.

Earlier in the season, another NFL insider said he didn't expect New York to move on from Gase until the conclusion of the regular season. After all, if the Jets didn't fire Gase at any point during their franchise-worst 13-game losing streak to start the year, what would a loss against the Browns do to change that?

New York showed weeks ago, however, that it's not afraid to fire a coach during the season. The Jets parted ways with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams after New York's gut-wrenching loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, a defeat that was ultimately a result of Williams' ill-fated all-out blitz call in the final seconds.

With one game remaining on the schedule following a clash with Cleveland this weekend, perhaps this move would be made in order to get the ball rolling on offseason plans one week early. An interim coach would step in and finish off the final week of the regular season while the organization begins to seek out Gase's replacement for 2021 and beyond. 

Gase still believes that his job is safe, telling reporters he's not concerned with his job security multiple times over the last several weeks. Only time will tell if he's still the head coach of this team as New York prepares to cap off a season to forget with a trip to New England in Week 17.

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