So, I would like to present the following for your entertainment. I have no inside information, don't know Adam Gase, or any of the detailed circumstances that have led the Dolphins to this "juncture". However I do believe there is enough cumulative data to begin to understand him and this teams circumstances a bit more clearly. It's obvious that one of the issues irritating fans the most is his "management style", which includes personnel decisions, of course lack of winning does not help, but this "style" seems to make it worse.
The Ever Thoughtful VIPER
I think there are a couple of problems with your conclusion:
1) Lets compare Gase in the context of your thesis to Belichick. He doesn't yell and scream. Of course, players who are late, fight with his coaches, don't play up to expectations, freelance, don't know the playbook better than they know the names of their kids and wives, etc, with the lone exception of Tom Brady just disappear into the night like in a bad mobster movie.
What's the difference between the two situations? BB has a nucleus of a team and system humming along and everyone other than Brady is replaceable. He's proven he can win, so, he can get away with a straight up, no room for any deviations, 'My way the the highway' team. No one says a word other than 'Wow, he got rid of X and the team hardly missed a beat'. If you look at all the other high performing coaches throughout the years -- including Shula -- that is a consistent pattern. One or two stars get some leeway and the rest of the team is on a very, very short rope.
Gase doesn't have the luxury here to put his foot down. He knows he has to find ways to win NOW. He doesn't have a track record to fallback on (yet, we hope). This team isn't stocked with talent and some of our #2 are a big drop-off in play, so how quick can he afford to be with just quietly firing players? I would guess that it had to take a ton of crap to push him to make the JA trade.
2) You contend that his style is making things worse, yet the team came from nowhere last year and made it to the playoffs. We can see from the play this year, just how balanced on a razors edge we were, and now are, in talent. That would suggest that while he's not in BB's league (and let's face it, that's a lonely place), he's not incompetent.
3) The NFL is a complicated place. The players are slowly gaining more and more power. 40+ years ago, if a player screwed up, they would be out of the game -- no second chances. Since free agency, there are almost always second and third chances so the coaches power has diminished. All too many of these kids come from a middle class or less life and suddenly find themselves millionaires over night. That means many of them have FU money day one and they know if it doesn't work with team A with a little contrition they get to play with team B.
Finally, with the WIN NOW mentality that permeates the league, the better players have even more power over their teams as the drop off from a #1 to a backup can be huge and when you combine that with the number of players that will go out with injuries, most coaches (rightfully?) can't afford to play hardball during the season.
