Let's face it: New Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady is in a tough spot.

Not only is he tasked with building the Bills offense back up to the standard it held coming into the 2023 season, he's having to do it against a gauntlet of top defenses. And it all starts with the New York Jets in Week 11.

That, combined with the overall dysfunction plaguing Josh Allen and co., are pretty big hills for Brady to climb. But, the idea is the latter half will go away with Brady running the show and not Ken Dorsey.

While it's rare for interim coaches to stick around the following year, it's not unprecedented. There have been several guys who went on to have immediate success and stick around/get promoted after the previous guy was fired.

Brady has a great head start in Allen. And, if he plays his cards right, he could end up following in the footsteps of the following names:

Anthony Lynn

What happened: Lynn was the Bills' assistant head coach and running back coach back in 2016. The team fired Greg Roman two games into the season and Lynn proceeded to take over under then-head coach Rex Ryan.

Lynn's resumé as an interim: The 0-2 Bills immediately won four straight games after Lynn took over and they averaged 31 points per game over that span. The team went 7-7, overall, with Lynn at OC, but it wasn't entirely the offense's fault. The team scored 25+ points in nine of his 14 games – the problem was the defense gave up at least 25 points on seven different occasions.

Regardless, Lynn was named as the head coach of the then-San Diego Chargers the following offseason.

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Jim Caldwell

What happened: Caldwell held down the quarterbacks coach job for the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 until Jim Harbaugh made the decision to part ways with Cam Cameron after 14 games. Caldwell was obviously promoted to offensive coordinator.

Caldwell's resumé as an intern: He has one of the more notable stories in NFL history, as things got off to a bumpy start, but took off in the postseason. The Ravens scored 24, 38, 28, and 34 points en route to their second Super Bowl trophy. Joe Flacco and co. also out-dueled Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and a red-hot Colin Kaepernick over that span.

Sure, Caldwell had previous head coaching experience, but the point still stands as the Ravens were in jeopardy of missing the playoffs before he took over. He retained the job of Ravens OC for one more year before becoming head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2014.

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Brian Billick

What happened: Speaking of the Ravens, Billick's time as interim offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings is what ultimately got him the gig in Baltimore. He was Minnesota's tight ends coach when it fired Jack Burns after the offense scored a combined 17 points in the first two games. Even for 1993, that's bad, and the Vikings started 1-1, as a result.

Billick's resumé as an intern: The Vikings went on to average 18.6 points per game, which was good for 14th out of 28 teams. Billick became OC the following year and it set up a four-year run featuring the Vikings as one of the NFL's most dynamic offenses. Billick left in 1999 to become head coach of the Ravens and eventually won a Super Bowl.

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Freddie Kitchens

What happened: The Cleveland Browns fired both head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley after Week 8 of the 2018 season. At the time, Kitchens was running backs coach. He was promoted to interim offensive coordinator in hopes of building up both the offense and rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Kitchen's resumé as an interim: The 2-5-1 Browns came to life over the back half of the season and finished 5-3. Kitchens' offense averaged 23.8 points per game after averaging 21,1 points per game over the first half of the season, but most importantly, it looked like he and Mayfield were destined to do some pretty big things, which resulted in the Browns promoting Kitchens to head coach the following year.

Sure, that stint didn't last long, but the point is Kitchens helped turn the Browns' season around.

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There were some honorable mentions, such as Shane Steichen and the Chargers back in 2019, Jim Bob Cooter and the Lions in 2016, and even Rob Boras and the Rams in 2015. They just weren't as good as examples as the four guys listed above.

Another reason for optimism is the fact Brady has NFL playcalling experience on top of a stout resume when it comes to coaching quarterbacks. People shouldn't read too much his dismissal from the Carolina Panthers, as time proved Matt Rhule destroyed everything he touched over there.

At the end of the day, hope is not lost and the Bills aren't in a desperate spot. That should'nt tone down the sense of urgency the team needs to operate with over the next several weeks, by any means. Brady could certainly become the spark the team needs to get back on track.