Darrell Bevell reportedly fired by Seahawks

Multiple sources report the Seahawks terminated offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell Tuesday night. The blame game has really just begun on social media.

The Seahawks have apparently parted ways with offensive coordinator/human punching bag Darrell Bevell. I write “apparently” because the team has not made an official announcement yet. When dozens of sources report it, among them ESPN, CBS Sports, the Seattle Times, and of course Sports Illustrated, it probably isn’t fake news. The news was first broken by Curtis Crabtree of Pro Football Talk.

My favorite reaction to the opening is quite true. Although I’m pretty sure Bill Walsh would have loved to coach Russell Wilson.

I was initially going to describe Bevell as a scapegoat for the Seahawks offensive woes. In a sense, he has been that, as he has easily been the main target of scorn by 12s for Seattle’s offensive shortcomings. But scapegoats by definition take on all the sins of the group, and aren’t at fault themselves. Darrell Bevell has indeed been driven off the cliff of the NFL coaching ranks into the abyss of unemployment, but he was hardly blameless. You may recall one play in particular that didn’t quite work out the way Bevell planned. People are still writing articles about that play…even across the Atlantic.

Was it really all on Darrell Bevell?

Thank you Darrell Bevell, for that bit of history that will obviously live forever. To be fair, the article doesn’t mention the wisdom of the call itself. One thing I’ll note: even if it hadn’t been picked off, Lockett was at least one foot outside of the goal line. Even if he had made the catch, Butler’s hit would have almost certainly stopped him short of the touchdown. See for yourself in this article about the play.

So maybe Doug Baldwin had a point when he said this, as reported by Gregg Bell of the News Tribune:

"“It’s not play calling. We go into a game, knowing what the defenses are going to give us, knowing what situations we are going to be in. We don’t execute, as a team. Offensively, that’s what we’ve seen countless times, and time again. We don’t execute as we should, and that’s on us as players.“You guys can blame ‘Bev’ all you want to. But the truth of the matter is, ‘Bev’ is not the problem."

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Yes, most of it was on Darrell Bevell

No, I wouldn’t have called that play. But the execution wasn’t there either, as Angry Doug points out in general terms. If Darrell Bevell didn’t see plays executed properly countless times, shouldn’t he have done a better job of correcting these issues in practice? Yes, that’s the job of the position coaches to a large extent. And all responsibility ultimately falls to the head coach. But Pete Carroll isn’t going anywhere, thankfully.

In 2015 the Seahawks offense ranked fourth in both points scored and total yards. In 2016 that dropped to 18th and 12th. Last year it was 11th and 15th. The touchdowns were actually up entirely due to Russell Wilson. You know, the guy who had a hand in every offensive touchdown this season except one? The guy who accounted for 4,569 yards? Yeah, that guy. With an average quarterback, Bevell’s offense would have been Indianapolis Colts bad.

So yes, Darrell Bevell was a big part of the problem for the Seahawks. Wilson’s legs, arm and especially his head are the only thing that got the offense any points all season. Except for that one touchdown run you had, J.D. McKissic, bless you. Mr. Bevell, we thank you for your service, but it was clearly time for you to go.