Giants, Browns fire head coaches on otherwise quiet 'Black Monday'

While it's probably not much comfort for Freddie Kitchens and Pat Shurmur, the NFL's normally torrid slate of head coach firings has been pretty mild so far in the wake of the league's final week of games.

The Cleveland Browns, following a massively disappointing 6-10 season, let go of Kitchens on Sunday evening after just one tumultuous season that saw the long-suffering franchise fall well short of lofty expectations. The New York Giants announced Monday they're moving on from Pat Shurmur, whom they'll look to replace after just two unfruitful seasons.

But other than that it's been one of the quieter "Black Mondays" — the term given to the Monday after the final week of the season when numerous head coaches are usually given their pink slips — in recent memory. Last year, for instance, two coaches were fired on the last Sunday of the season, while four more received the news the next day. Taking into account two mid-season firings, there were eight head coaching vacancies last season.

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This year, two head coaches — the Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera and Washington Redskins' Jay Gruden — were fired mid-season (Rivera, though, is reportedly set to replace Gruden in D.C.), and a couple of other coaches are still on the hot seat, namely the Jacksonville Jaguars' Doug Marrone and the Dallas Cowboys' Jason Garrett. There's at least a chance they'll both be back next season, however.

All in all, there could still be somewhere around six open spots, but for now things are surprisingly peaceful on the coaching front. Read more at ESPN.