11-16-2017, 08:51 PM
(11-16-2017, 08:15 PM)Wyche Wrote: Personally....I think he fired Wyche because they butted heads over personnel. He's the outlier.
The Wyche thing was a crazy situation for sure.
After their meeting following the end of the season, Sam said he was fired - "I was simply fired by Mike Brown at a meeting today."
Mike said that Sam quit, to which Sam responded - "I have no idea why the Bengals have chosen to announce this as my decision to leave."
Sam was still owed around 1m on his contract, and him and Mike later came to a settlement.
Remember to, that during his final season, Sam said he had better things to do and there was "golf to be played and tennis to be served up" among other comments that didn't sit well with some, like Reggie Williams:
"I don't think there was any question that some Bengals felt Sam was becoming too sidetracked," Williams said. "His comments about winning startled me, because it was not the Sam Wyche I knew. Coaches demand that their players be focused and say that when your mind wanders you hurt your chances to win. I thought the comments about winning was a psychological ploy for his team, at first, and then I thought maybe he was losing some of his zest; he operates with such an emotional overload."
Mike was also critical of Sam's sideline conduct, following instances of a penalty for arguing with an official on the field and a heated argument with Jim Anderson during MNF.
It seemed like Mike wanted to move on and choose his own guy, and Sam was just burn out and needing a change.