Bills fire Rex Ryan ahead of regular season finale

Rex Ryan's time in Buffalo has come to an end.

The Bills announced Tuesday that the veteran head coach and his brother, Rob, have been relieved of their duties ahead of Sunday's regular season finale against the New York Jets.

Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, who was promoted from his position as running backs coach earlier this season, will take over on an interim basis to close out the 2016 campaign.

Team owner Terry Pegula released a statement shortly after the announcement.

"I spoke with Rex earlier today and we mutually agreed that the time to part ways is now," Pegula said. "These decisions are never easy. I want to take this opportunity to thank Rex for all his efforts and wish him all the best moving forward."

A head coach being shown the door is always major news, but the Bills making a change after a 17th consecutive season missing the playoffs was widely expected.

Saturday's loss to the Miami Dolphins, the latest defeat coming due to several mistakes that reflected poorly upon leadership, dropped the Bills to an uninspiring 15-16 record across 31 games since Ryan took the job in 2015.

Added to his six-year run at the helm of the New York Jets, Ryan will begin looking for work with a 61-66 record on his head coaching resume.

The roster talent in place should make the Buffalo job fairly desirable, and a strong Week 17 showing under Lynn's direction could bump him up the list of potential candidates.