Four coaches sacked as NFL season wraps

Jim Caldwell may have been the Detroit Lions’ most successful coach in the Super Bowl era, but the Lions fired him on Monday after a season in which the team raised hopes before fading and missing the playoffs.

Caldwell was 36-28 in four seasons and 0-2 in two post-seasons with the Lions.

Also on Monday, the Chicago Bears fired John Fox after a 5-11 season, ending one of the least successful coaching stints in team history. The Bears announced the dismissal one day after a loss at NFC North champion Minnesota. Chicago has had four consecutive losing seasons — each with 10 or more losses.

The Bears haven’t finished above .500 since they let Lovie Smith go following a 10-6 finish in 2012. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010. Fox was 14-34 in his three years with Chicago.

Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio was fired Sunday after his third year when the impressive turnaround job he engineered for his hometown team collapsed with a disappointing six-win season. Del Rio said owner Mark Davis told him after the team’s season-ending 30-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that he would not be retained as coach in Oakland.

Del Rio signed a four-year contract extension last February after Oakland ended a 13-year playoff drought with a 12-win season.

The Indianapolis Colts fired coach Chuck Pagano on Sunday, less than two hours after they ended a 4-12 season with a 22-13 win over Houston. The move comes after Indy missed the playoffs for the third straight year, the team’s longest post-season drought since a seven-season absence from 198894.

Meanwhile, Bruce Arians of the Arizona Cardinals has announced his retirement, while Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals says he’s still discussing his future with team management.