In his NFL coaching career, and especially in Buffalo, Dick Jauron was unable to rack up enough wins to keep his team moving forward and making progress when it came to making the postseason and placating the fans.

Tuesday, it cost Jauron his job in Buffalo. 

Owner Ralph Wilson Jr. fired the embattled coach after a 3-6 start to this season, a major disappointment given the addition of Terrell Owens on the offensive side of the ball.  They went to the no huddle offense, and with playmakers all over the offense (Owens, Lee Evans, Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson manning skill positions), things seemed to be looking up for a team that had not made the playoffs this decade.

Instead, the starters didn't score an offensive touchdown in the preseason.  Offensive coordinator Turk Schonert was fired less than two weeks before the season opener, and replaced by Alex Van Pelt.  They fumbled away two games they could have won (against New England, when Leodis McKelvin coughed up the ball on a kick return with just over 2 minutes to go, and against Cleveland, when Roscoe Parrish fumbled a punt leading to the winning field goal in the Browns lone win this season.)  The offense scuffled, and they've only broken 300 yards once this season as a team (in week two against Tampa Bay.)

There was the cutting of Langston Walker, a starting tackle, right before the season started, leading to yet another shuffling of a makeshift offensive line.  Then there were injuries, moving guys around to positions they were unfamiliar with.  Couple that with two rookies on the offensive line, and you have problems.  Lynch missed the first three games with a suspension from off the field issues.  Since coming back, he's been sub par at best, averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.  Owens leads the league in drops and has a catch to target ratio of about 45 percent. 

The defense has been riddled with injuries as well, especially in the linebacker corps.  Paul Posluszny broke his arm for the second time in his career.  Kawika Mitchell suffered a knee injury and is out for the season.  Keith Ellison has a quad injury.  There were other injuries as well.  Donte Whitner has had a thumb problem.  McKelvin is on injured reserve.  Terrence McGee has been banged up.  Ashton Youboty is hurt now in the secondary.  Bryan Scott has missed time as well this season, leaving Perry Fewell to try and mix and match as much as possible to make combinations work. 

The Bills have been shredded on defense, especially on the run game, giving up 5.1 yards a carry and are dead last against the run.  They've got their work cut out for them the last seven games of the season, with some tough opponents still on the slate with New England, Miami, Atlanta, and Indianapolis looming.  Instead, it looks like another year of discontent in Buffalo.

Fewell will get a seven game audition to show he can coach in the NFL.  He's already made one change, putting Ryan Fitzpatrick back under center instead of Trent Edwards.  Fitzpatrick was 1-1 in his two starts, but sparked the Bills to an overtime win over the Jets when Edwards suffered a concussion in October as well.  The speculation about who will be the new coach in Buffalo abounds with all kinds of names in the mix.

Apparently the Bills were chasing former Raiders and Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who just signed a multiyear extension with ESPN and Monday Night Football.  Mike Shanahan is being mentioned heavily at the moment and talk is that he will meet with Wilson and CEO/COO Russ Brandon next week.  There also has been former Super Bowl coaches Mike Holmgren, Brian Billick, and Bill Cowher mentioned as well.  It will be interesting if one of those big names decides to take over a reclamation project that the Bills obviously are, or if it will be someone else like Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett, Herm Edwards or Marty Schottenheimer for example.  It was really a form of business insurance for Ralph Wilson as he knows it's time for the Bills to make a shakeup.

The Bills' players downplayed the firing, saying that the focus was on Jacksonville and their attempt to snap a losing skid.  That game can be seen Sunday at 1 pm ET on CBS or you can listen to it on Buffalo's 97 Rock.  We'll see if the change makes any difference for the fortunes of the franchise.