Monday’s Mashup: Jets fire head coach Todd Bowles after 4-12 season

"I would like to thank Coach Bowles for his dedication to the New York Jets for the last four years," Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said in a statement. "After carefully evaluating the situation, I have concluded that this is the right direction for the organization to take. I would like to wish Todd, Taneka and their family only the best."

Chairman & CEO Christopher Johnson has informed Todd Bowles he will not be returning in 2019.-- https://t.co/JgKBKH0I2h pic.twitter.com/X1m1Ri34Sk

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 31, 2018

Hate to see a Top 10 Coach get fired.Farewell Todd Bowles pic.twitter.com/xLDjI9DJPU

— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) December 31, 2018

The back page: Jets fire Todd Bowles after lopsided loss to Patriots https://t.co/7WEfrBYNOv pic.twitter.com/ttUDOdxpEI

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) December 31, 2018

“I don’t talk about my job,” Bowles told reporters after Sunday’s loss. He also said he will meet with Johnson on Monday. “We meet like we always meet, no different than any other game. I’ll meet with him, probably tomorrow or whatever, and we’ll go from there.”

“As a coach, you are supposed to win, regardless of who is on your roster,” Bowles said. “And you know, we have guys that can play and we have guys that are coming along that are young. We have guys that got injured, but that’s everybody in the league. So you know we don’t use that excuse.”

After letting go of HC Todd Bowles, Jets’ GM Mike Maccagnan will work closely with owner Chris Johnson on the search for a new HC.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 31, 2018

The Monday @NYDailyNews back page...The 5 best candidates to replace Todd Bowles...Story:  https://t.co/eMGmOuwB7JBack page: -- pic.twitter.com/nZSXY9yESS

— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) December 31, 2018

The Jets lost to the Patriots 38-3 on Sunday.

-- LeBron James declared himself the GOAT on his HBO show, More Than An Athlete, recently because of his win over the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.

What @kingjames considers being the GOAT -- ⁣⁣New episode of More Than An Athlete out on @espn+. pic.twitter.com/7XSQ2GpOVo

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) December 30, 2018

Here is what James said in giving himself the “greatest of all time” title:

That one right there made me the greatest player of all time. That’s what I felt. I was super, super ecstatic to win one for Cleveland because of the 52-year drought. Like, I was ecstatic. That day, the first wave of emotion was, everyone saw me crying, that was all for 52 years of everything sports that have gone on in Cleveland. And after I stopped, I was like ‘That one right there made you the greatest player of all time.’ Everybody was talking about how they were the greatest team of all time. Like, they were the greatest team ever assembled, and for us to come back, the way we came back in that fashion, I was like ‘You did something special.’ That was, like, one of the only times in my career I felt like ‘Oh s—, you did something special.’ I haven’t really had time to really sit back and think, but that, that was a moment.

LeBron James is the most humble guy on the planet pic.twitter.com/XXO7jOMNN7

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 31, 2018

James (and the Cavaliers) beat the 73-9 Warriors to take the 2016 championship. James was the Finals MVP.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The bye is huge. It’s huge. That was basically a playoff win right there. To get that win today, now we don’t have to play next week. It basically won us a game for next week. So we got a bye, rest up, get the mental part and physical part. Clean up the bumps and bruises, because every game you’ve got those. So it’s always good to have that and you just have to treat it the right way and take advantage of it so we’re ready to go when it comes to playoffs.” -- Rob Gronkowski, on the Patriots’ first round bye