Robert Saleh has been fired as head coach of the New York Jets after Sunday's defeat to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Jets have endured a miserable start to the NFL season despite star quarterback Aaron Rodgers being back to full health, with their latest setback against the Vikings leaving them with a losing 2-3 record.
And just days on from that loss to Minnesota in London - where he controversially wore a Lebanon flag on the sidelines - Saleh has been relieved of his duties in New York.
'This morning, l informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as the Head Coach of the Jets,' Jets owner Woody Johnson confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. 'I thanked him for his hard work these past three-and-a-half years and wished him and his family well moving forward.
'This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction.
Jets Coach wears Lebanon flag in final press conference before recent firing
Robert Saleh has been fired as head coach of the New York Jets after their latest defeat
Reports initially claimed Johnson was planning to hire a permanent replacement for Saleh by Monday, when his team hosts the Buffalo Bills. Instead, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has been elevated to interim head coach until the end of the season.
'Jeff Ulbrich will serve as our Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season,' Johnson continued. 'He is a tough coach who has the respect of the coaches and players on this team. I believe he along with the coaches on this staff can get the most out of our talented team and attain the goals we established this offseason.'
Saleh, who became the NFL's first ever Muslim-American head coach when he joined the Jets in 2021, departs with a dismal 20-36 record after failing to make the playoffs in each of his three full seasons.
The Lebanese-American went through six different starting quarterbacks in his time at MetLife; with Rodgers coming after Zach Wilson, Mike White, Trevor Siemian, Tim Boyle and Joe Flacco.
His firing on Tuesday marks the very first time Johnson has dropped the axe on a head coach in the middle of a season in his 25 years as owner. The last head coach the Jets had to replace mid-season was Lou Holtz back in 1976.
There were high hopes for the Jets in 2024 with Rodgers back to full fitness, following the season-ending Achilles injury he suffered four snaps into his highly-anticipated debut last term.
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It marks the first time Woody Johnson has fired a head coach mid-season in 25 years as owner
Yet even with the four-time MVP now available, Saleh's team have struggled offensively in the first five games of the campaign, including in a disastrous 10-9 home loss to the Broncos.
And while Sunday's shortcoming against the 5-0 Vikings was by no means as humiliating, Johnson has ultimately decided that Saleh is not the right man to take his team forward.
According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, his dismissal as head coach has taken New York players by surprise, particularly those on the defense.
Saleh arrived at the team's practice facility for business as usual on Tuesday before he was informed of the shock decision taken by Jets owners.
In what proved his final game with the team, he also sparked controversy by wearing a Lebanese flag below the Nike logo on the sleeve of his hoodie on the sidelines at at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The night before Sunday's game - the first of the NFL's international fixtures in the British capital this season - Israeli bombing continued on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, amid the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut was hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, which were heard across the city, with smoke still seen billowing from the site after dawn, Lebanon's official National News Agency said.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh sparked controversy by wearing a Lebanese flag on his sleeve
Saleh, who is of Lebanese heritage, previously wore a similar patch last October but his decision to bear the flag Sunday raised eyebrows as the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Gaza approaches.
Amid the Jets' underwhelming start, his relationship with Rodgers had also been under the microscope early on this season.
The pair appeared to have a tense moment on the sidelines during their blowout victory over the New England Patriots last month, only for Rodgers to play down the incident after the game.
Following their subsequent loss to the Broncos, radio host Boomer Esiason, who played with the Jets between 1993 and 1995, then claimed there was a 'major issue' between the team's star quarterback and its coach.
'I try to watch to see if I see any interactions (between Rodgers and Saleh) on the sideline or anything - nothing, nothing. I see a guy walking right past another guy,' he began on WFAN's Boomer and Gio show.
'I had those days with two coaches in particular, and it's because I didn't trust the guy, and I didn't like the guy. I didn't (know) what he was doing and it p***ed me off. And if you read my body language in those days... you could tell that I was p***ed off.
Saleh with his wife Sanaa and their seven children after the Jets' recent win over the Patriots
'And when I see Aaron Rodgers on the sideline and I see him after the game in the postgame press conference... there is a major issue there. Both will deny it, I guarantee it, but there is an issue there. And it's because you have this 40-year-old Hall of Fame quarterback to be dealing with a coach that I think he doesn't respect.'
Esiason's comments came after an awkward answer from Rodgers in his postgame press conference regarding Saleh's comments on the team's pre-snap cadences.
After the Jets had five false starts against Denver, Saleh questioned whether his team was 'good enough' to handle the current pre-snap cadence. But Rodgers appeared to take issue with the suggestion it needed to be 'dialed back'.
'That's one way to do it. The other way is to hold them accountable,' he said. 'We haven't had an issue... until this.'
