The bad taste after the Bills' 41-17 loss to the Titans in Week 10 just wouldn't go away.

For the eighth time in nine games, Buffalo's offense — which replaced the struggling Trent Edwards with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center with three minutes remaining — failed to gain 300 yards.

Making matters worse, Bills WR Terrell Owens, who was signed to a one-year, $6.5 million deal back in March just days after having been released by the Cowboys, had an animated exchange with several coaches on the sideline.

"It's embarrassing," said DE Aaron Schobel, the Bills' longest-tenured player, shortly after the Titans dropped Buffalo's record to 3-6. "It's like what ... are we doing here?"

At his home in Detroit, 91-year-old Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. was no doubt pondering that same question, wondering if there was any way he could reverse the fortunes of his downtrodden team (5-14 in its last 19 games).

Last Tuesday, Wilson decided the best thing to do was to pull the plug on Dick Jauron, who had led the Bills to three straight 7-9 records entering this season and appeared to be going nowhere fast this season with an injury-plagued team that appears to be a virtual certainty to miss the playoffs for a 10th straight season.

According to sources close to the scene, Wilson's decision to switch head-coaching gears in Buffalo for the fourth time in less than nine years was an act of mercy for Jauron, who continues to command great respect around the league.

"Dick looked so bad on the sideline," one source said. "The whole team was walking dead in a lot of ways, but he is the one who gets the spotlight.

"It's (screwed) up. He looked so drawn (in the Titans game). He protects himself from the sun and never had much color, but he just looked so much more drawn, tense and long-faced. To me, it seems like it might have been the best thing for Dick.

"There are a lot of people responsible for where the team is at, but he takes the biggest hit. When you saw T.O. acting out (screaming on the sideline), you knew it was going to be a problem. Jauron is such a purist, and he had a particularly unusual day. He is not going to deal with any b.s."

For the foreseeable future, the daunting challenge of filling the Bills' head-coaching job falls on the 47-year-old shoulders of Perry Fewell, the team's defensive coordinator the last four seasons. The way we hear it, Fewell, who is a lot more fiery than the usually unflappable Jauron, is not considered a serious candidate to remain the head coach after this season.

Not after Wilson made it emphatically clear in a telephone interview with The Associated Press last Thursday that he had his sights set on a full-scale organizational overhaul.

"We have a lot of work to do," said Wilson. "We've got to revamp and take a look at the whole operation, and that's what we're going to do."

While Wilson indicated a thorough evaluation of the Bills would begin at the end of the season, rumors are already flying fast and furious, suggesting the Bills' owner already has approached some very high-profile individuals currently on the outside looking in, with former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan at the top of the list.

A two-time Super Bowl winner in Denver, Shanahan has made it known that he is ready to re-enter the NFL fray in 2010, and ESPN has reported that he will be meeting with the Bills and Wilson sometime this week.

We also hear that Wilson wasted no time throwing a call into former NFL head coach-turned-ESPN color commentator Jon Gruden and former Packers and Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, but that Shanahan looks to be Wilson's primary target for now.

Criticized in the past for refusing to spend money on a high-profile head coach — Jauron was paid about $3 million a season — Wilson implied in the AP interview that money was no object in his latest coaching search.

"Anybody that says I'm cheap is looking down the wrong side of the street," said Wilson.

Wilson also indicated that just about everybody in the organization could be on thin ice, a long list that may include chief scout Tom Modrak, pro personnel director John Guy and senior VP of football administration Jim Overdorf, who is currently responsible for overseeing the team's salary cap and handling contract negotiations.

However, chief operating officer/GM Russ Brandon, who was running the marketing department before moving to the football side of the operation, is expected to remain on board, although the likelihood is great that Brandon will relinquish his GM duties to an experienced football man.

"Brandon is a marketing guy. He is looking for sizzle and splash to sell tickets," said one league insider. "He has no clue how to build a successful football team and clearly paid no attention to the locker room that is so important when he signed Terrell Owens. At best, he should be in charge of business operations. He is not qualified to be an NFL general manager and has no business evaluating talent, even though he might pretend to act like he knows."

In addition to Shanahan, Gruden and Holmgren, plenty of interesting names have made their way to the rumor mill.

Included in a long list are:

• Beleaguered Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, a former Bills head-coaching finalist in 2004 who was beaten out by Mike Mularkey.

• UFL Florida Tuskers head coach Jim Haslett, a linebacker for the Bills from 1979 to 1985.

• Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who was the Bills' offensive coordinator in 2002-03 when QB Drew Bledsoe had his most productive seasons with the team.

• Marc Trestman, the current head coach of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, who posted a CFL-best 15-3 regular-season record and is one victory away from a Grey Cup championship.

A potential GM candidate who has been mentioned is Colts VP of football operations Chris Polian, but we hear it's more likely he will stay put in Indy and become the Colts' GM when his father, Bill, decides to retire.

League insiders we've talked to this past week believe the Bills will continue to be a relatively hard sell for Wilson.

"Buffalo is not the most attractive place to live," said one insider. "It's why they typically struggle to attract talent in free agency, and it is likely to be the same story with an elite coach, such as Jon Gruden."

Then there's the Bills' current roster to consider.

"Last year, the Bills had Jason Peters and Langston Walker, and Peters was dealt because of his big contract," said one source familiar with the intimate details of the organization. "Brad Butler went down. Demetrius Bell was not ready physically and went out with injury. Jonathan Scott quit on the team. They have cycled through four or five offensive tackles, and it has been the same at free safety and linebacker — injuries wear on any team.

"They are a 9-7 roster when they are fresh, and they just couldn't absorb all the hits. (Starting LB Keith Ellison was the team's 12th player to be placed on injured reserve last week, and on Sunday, starting ORG Eric Wood, a 2009 first-round pick, fractured his leg.) Especially with a guy like T.O. on the sidelines. He is a front-runner. You got a chance with him when you are winning, but when things are not going his way, you have no chance."

All that said, we hear it's still possible a big-time proven commodity looking for a new challenge could come to Wilson's rescue.

Someone, perhaps, like Dolphins executive VP of football operations Bill Parcells?

Stranger things have happened.

"After new ownership arrived in Miami, Parcells' contract was modified, allowing him to leave at any time," said one league insider. "Ralph Wilson initially structured the organization the same way as Miami, with Marv Levy hiring Dick Jauron. And if Parcells is willing to go to Buffalo, it's conceivable they can put the same structure in place and let a more experienced football man attract a head coach. A guy like Parcells can identify unknown coaching talent and develop one.

"In a division that Bill Belichick has dominated for most of the decade, it's going to be a big challenge to succeed, especially without an established quarterback, and a guy like Parcells, who has proven he could clean up a bad roster and win the division in his first year, has to be attractive.

"Shanahan will not make any decisions until the end of the season, and his desire to wait could block him from taking the job."

One other interesting name could be former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, who seems to fit the blue-collar mold that would play well in Buffalo  

"Cowher fits the bill," said a league insider. "But he needs to have good assistant coaches and a quarterback to be successful, and a lot of the coaches that carried him in Pittsburgh are under contract — Ken Whisenhunt, Russ Grimm, Dick LeBeau."

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