Rex Ryan's personality, not his teams, led to his firing in Buffalo

For a .500 coach in one of the NFL's smallest media markets, Rex Ryan was anything but anonymous.

The Buffalo Bills coach was a press-conference stealer, a headline maker and a fun haver.

He was a marketing director's dream — a transcendent personality at the head of an organization that desperately needed some positive buzz.

But while Ryan was able to transcend off the field, his teams failed to exceed expectations on the field in his two years in Western New York.

It's not too hard to see why Ryan was fired Tuesday — with his Bills-themed pickup, his sly callouts of Bill Belichick, and his stint as "Walt Patalski of the Buffalo News," Ryan's biggest wins came off the field.

His Bills teams on the field weren't terrible, but Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs in 17 years, either.

Ryan can't be blamed for nearly two decades of futility, but he didn't wear that burden every day, and that didn't help his employment status.

In the NFL, the head coach of a snakebitten team is supposed to be a forlorn figure, working day and night trying to "get the right answers for the people of Western New York." He's supposed to look ragged and tired and overwhelmed by the situation.

But Ryan never seemed to carry the plight of the region on his shoulders. And if he did, he carried it with incredible poise and grace.

Ryan had fun in a league that hates fun, in the last place anyone should have it. And that, more than the Bills teams on the field, brought about his firing Tuesday.

There were valid reasons for Ryan's firing, to be fair: His teams have missed the playoffs for six straight years now — his final four years with the Jets and his only two years in Buffalo — and he and his brother Rob (supposedly two of the greatest defensive minds in the league) had a downright bad defense in 2016.

But are we really going to hold Ryan's New York tenure against him? That's not exactly a model organization, either. And how many of Buffalo's problems were a byproduct of an incomplete roster and bad luck?

The Bills were a .500 team under Ryan — 8-8 his first season and 7-8 before his firing this year. Though Buffalo failed to make the playoffs, was anyone honestly expecting two or three more wins from those teams?

This is a franchise, after all, that's reportedly going to bench quarterback Tyrod Taylor (who is good, so don't blame him) so it can avoid possible injury guarantees in his contract — we're not exactly dealing with perennial powers like the Packers, Seahawks or Patriots here.

If any other coach were in charge of the Bills, he'd likely get another year to prove himself. But it was Ryan, and he refused to conform to the lame archetypes of an NFL head coach, so he won't.

Ryan brought attention to the Bills, and attention usually brings scrutiny. Perhaps everyone else in Orchard Park didn't care for the spotlight when it swung their way.

If Buffalo doesn't clean house in the front office, then we'll really know what was behind Ryan's ouster.

The NFL is a results-based business, but that truth applies to more than just the head coach. Ryan didn't lead the Bills to the playoffs, but he wasn't alone in that failure.

Because he was willing to be himself and not play the role so many other coaches willfully take — that of a man stuck in a Sisyphussian struggle against football — Ryan was an easy scapegoat.

Was Ryan the guy to get the Bills over the hump? Probably not. But it feels as if a more tortured coach would have been given a benefit-of-the-doubt third year.

Don't feel for Rex: He will leave Western New York with millions of dollars, every television opportunity imaginable and a defensive coordinator job offer or two as well. He'll be fine, and he's certainly not going to change.

But if the Bills don't change — if they continue to believe that a gregarious coach was the thing that was holding them back from greatness and not, say, doing things like taking E.J. Manuel with a first-round pick in 2013 — then that playoff drought is going to continue to grow.

And who is going to be around to take the fall then?