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The Jets waited until after the season to fire head coach Todd Bowles.

But in reality, their coaching search started much sooner, and Bowles knew it.

As part of an in-depth look at the Jets coaching search, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY reports that the Jets began their coaching search in earnest shortly after the Jets’ embarrassing Week 10 loss to the Bills, a 41-10 thrashing that dropped them to 3-7 and sealed Bowles’ fate.

That was the week that CEO Christopher Johnson kicked off what he called an “extensive” search that included a brief flirtation with Jim Harbaugh (confirming what had been previously reported here, and denied by the Jets), and plenty of interviews before they hired former Dolphins coach Adam Gase (who wasn’t even available when they kicked off the process).

The idea that Bowles was on the hot seat entering the season wasn’t earth-shattering news, and Bowles seemed to know it as well. Vacchiano reports that Bowles was talking to his old boss Bruce Arians about possible defensive coordinator jobs before the regular season had ended, knowing he’d be needing work soon. Arians ended up landing in Tampa Bay, and hired Bowles to join him.

The report also includes a few other nuggets (such as Peyton Manning calling Johnson to stump for Gase), but paints Gase as the right mix of experience and offensive skill they were looking for to pair with quarterback Sam Darnold and a General Manager in Mike Maccagnan who wasn’t inclined to yield influence to other coaches (such as Mike McCarthy).