NFL Coaching Hot Seat: Most Likely To Get Fired in 2018
By Erik Lambert
The NFL coaching hot seat is always occupied. That’s something fans need to understand. There’s never a time when everybody is safe.
No league is more unforgiving to its head coaches than the NFL. There’s a reason these men sometimes get just a few hours of sleep each week, doing everything in their power to win more games. It’s so difficult to get one of those jobs and even harder to keep them. Seven teams found new head coaches in 2018. Could that same number be in jeopardy going into this coming season?
Only the owners and front office people hold the answers to that question. The best thing to do at this point is to examine the landscape and determine which names appear to be in the most trouble. Some because they haven’t won enough games. Others because they’re underachieving in the playoffs. As the saying goes, “It’s all relative.”
Here are the five coaches who should be sweating when this season gets going.
DEFCON 5: John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens)
This sounds crazy to think about. John Harbaugh is the winningest coach in Ravens history. He led them to a Super Bowl championship. The idea he’d be on the hot seat is hard to fathom. Yet that’s a reality. He hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 and faces what could be a challenging transition at quarterback with Joe Flacco floundering. Harbaugh is a resilient coach though and may rally the troops this year. The Ravens are still a good team and did some solid work this offseason. Still, another season without the playoffs could lead to his time ending there.
DEFCON 4: Jason Garrett (Dallas Cowboys)
Terrell Owens made the news recently for calling the Cowboys out for not firing Jason Garrett over his failures to get this team to the next level. How 2017 went for them, missing the playoffs after a 13-3 season the year before and watching the Eagles win the Super Bowl? That had to sting and offer a grim reminder that this franchise is now over two decades without a championship. Jerry Jones has stayed patient with Garrett so far but the results have been lukewarm. At some point he has to fish or cut bait. If the Cowboys don’t make the playoffs this year, one would think it’s time for him to go.
DEFCON 3: Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals)
This offseason felt different. For the first time ever it seemed like the Cincinnati Bengals came genuinely close to firing head coach Marvin Lewis, a man who has run their organization for 14 years. Looking back it’s likely the last two victories to end the season saved him, especially the miracle over Baltimore in the finale. It bought him some time but unless Lewis can get the team back into the AFC title hunt soon, it was likely just a temporary reprieve. He’s still winless in the postseason for his career and many of the mainstays driving this roster are starting to get old.
DEFCON 2: Dirk Koetter (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
The excuses are gone now. Dirk Koetter has arguably one of the most talented and underachieving rosters in the NFL. His lone argument was the lagging performance of the defense last season which put too much pressure on the offense. After a series of heady moves to bulk up their defensive front with Jason Pierre-Paul and Vita Vea, they seem like a far more balanced team. If Koetter can’t get them over the hump this year, what likely should’ve happened last January will happen next January. To do that he has to get Jameis Winston under control above all else.
Next: 2018 NFL Season: Predicting All Eight Division Winners
DEFCON 1: Hue Jackson (Cleveland Browns)
As if there was any surprise here. Jackson, under normal circumstances, would’ve been fired already. He has one win in two seasons as Browns head coach. One. Uno. The only reason the team likely keeps him is that they’re trying to maintain some sort of continuity after burning through coaches at a fast clip for so long. Jackson has a new quarterback in Baker Mayfield and a talented offensive roster assembled around him. If he can’t get something out of this offense (ranked 32nd in scoring last year) and win some games, John Dorsey will find someone who can.