Yeah just let Rob Ryan coach out his contract

The older I get the more convinced I am that pro football is pretty much a crapshoot every season.  Might as well succeed or fail randomly with people who don't seem like they're total jerks on board.

Ryan believes things flew off the rails in the offseason when the defense was being hyped up in the media as one of the better units in the NFL. That would have been fine, but many players began believing the hype.

“We’re dealing with human beings,” Ryan said. “Obviously we drank the Kool-Aid too much, I think. If they don’t think so, well, then I think that’s wrong. I think that’s an honest opinion.”

Besides, as Larry Holder points out,  there are all sorts of downsides to Payton firing yet another defensive coordinator.

For starters, unloading Ryan would mean Payton would be hiring his fifth defensive coordinator while entering his 10th season in New Orleans. It would be Payton's fourth defensive coordinator in five seasons.

It would look like Payton, one of the brightest offensive minds in the game, has no idea how to manage the other side of the football or find the right man to do so.

If the Saints have an exit strategy for Ryan in place, they probably already have his replacement in the bag (former Saints secondary coach and fired Raiders head coach Dennis Allen). If not, what defensive coordinator worth his salt would want the job if he knew he'd better find a place with a month-to-month lease.

Being the Saints' defensive coordinator isn't exactly the most stable gig in professional sports.

Anyway, the defense was shitty this year. In 2012 it was shitty and the coach was a jerk.  In 2009-2011 the coach was also a jerk and the defense was shitty and it didn't really matter that much.  Rob Ryan isn't quite as much of a jerk. He has one shitty season and one pretty good one.  Might as well let him hang around for a third.