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Which NFL head coaches are barreling towards the unemployment line? Here’s our Halloween hot seat watch.
If it is Halloween it means a few different things in the sports media world.
It means that the NFL and college football seasons are heating up, the NHL and the NBA are getting rolling, the Formula 1 season is winding down, and here at SB Nation, the annual Halloween Candy Draft is upon us.
Tension remains high after last year’s debacle …
It also means that some NFL coaches are feeling the heat, meaning it is time to update our rankings of coaches that might not want to read the local papers, or tune into sports radio, anytime soon.
8. Brian Daboll, New York Giants
The Giants are a bad football team, but deep down the organization knows that Brian Daboll inherited a mess that will take a while to clean up — and still the team is capable of surprises.
If the Giants get a couple more wins then this is a moot point and Daboll’s job is safe. The offensive line is in need of major work, and Daniel Jones is clearly not the right quarterback moving forward. Couple this with Saquon Barkley’s dominance in Philly showing he’s still legit and it’s a bad combo to justify why a coaching change is needed.
The big thing is that if not Daboll, then who? He’s infinitely better than most coaches set to hit the market — and that means staying pat is the correct move for the Giants.
7. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
Make no mistake: Dave Canales does not deserve to lose his job after one year as head coach of the Panthers, but he also plays for the most impatient and mercurial owner in the NFL — and there’s no predicting what David Tepper will do.
The case for Canales is that he preached that this would be a slow rebuild with the aim of completely shaping the organization from the ground up. To his credit we’ve seen the Panthers offensive line play move forward in leaps and bounds, and the team is running the ball really well — which Canales said would be the focus.
On the other side we have a guy heralded for his work with quarterbacks and Bryce Young regressed, while also being weirdly non-committal on who will start week-to-week. Canales’ relaxed-to-the-point-of-infuriating approach is grating on fans and raising questions about whether or not he can be the guy long term.
Never say never when it comes to the Panthers making a weird move.
6. Brian Callahan, Tennessee Titans
Brian Callahan likely gets the benefit of the doubt in Tennessee. He inherited a roster that finished 6-11 a year ago, took over an offense that was betting on Will Levis being the answer at quarterback, and is now guiding a team that just traded away one of its best offensive pieces in DeAndre Hopkins and is starting Mason Rudolph as Levis works back from a shoulder injury.
Still, at 1-6 the Titans are a bad football team, and the poor start is the team’s worst since 2015.
Second-year head coach Ken Whisenhunt was fired after that 1-6 start.
Again, Callahan likely gets a bit of grace, but the seat is warming up.
5. Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders
It might be time for Tom Brady’s first big decision as an NFL owner.
We joke about the NFL legend’s minority ownership stake, but similar to Brian Callahan Antonio Pierce might be feeling some heat in Las Vegas. Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs dropped the Raiders to 2-6, their fourth-straight loss this year after starting 2-2. That start included a win over the Baltimore Ravens on the road, which looks like a quality victory that could help Pierce’s cause.
What might also help his cause is the fact that Las Vegas missed out on a quarterback during the last draft cycle. According to multiple reports the Raiders were hoping to land Michael Penix Jr., but when the Atlanta Falcons drafted him inside the top ten, and Bo Nix came off the board right before the Raiders were on the clock, Las Vegas pivoted to Brock Bowers. Ownership might give Pierce some grace given the quarterback card he was dealt this year.
But we will see what Brady thinks …
4. Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints
Dennis Allen got this job on an interim basis, with the hopes that Sean Payton would return after a leave of absence. That didn’t happen, but Allen kept the job. Now we’re in year three of this “era” and it’s just bad.
Sure, you could justify that Derek Carr’s injury has drastically hurt the team — and you’d be right, but not enough to hand wave off Allen’s mediocrity as a coach. With the Saints he’s now 18-24 in three years, taking his total overall coaching record to 26-52.
If New Orleans wants to keep treading water they’ll maintain the status quo, but if they want to get better there’s a need for change at head coach to usher in a new era.
3. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
It might be time for a difficult conversation about Zac Taylor.
The Cincinnati Bengals dropped to 3-5 on the season with Sunday’s 37-17 loss to the Philadelphia Bengals. As ESPN Bengals reporter Ben Baby pointed out on social media, this is the earliest the Bengals lost their fifth game of the year under Taylor since 2019, when they reached five losses in Week 7.
Making matters worse for Taylor is the fact that Joe Burrow is playing at a high level. Burrow is seventh in the NFL in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, is tied for third in the NFL with 15 touchdown passes (against just three interceptions) and leads the NFL in QBR.
But the Bengals are 3-5.
Taylor took the blame for a pivotal play in Sunday’s loss, a fourth-down playcall late in the third quarter where the Bengals went for it at their own 39-yard line. A swing pass to Ja’Marr Chase was stopped behind the line of scrimmage, and after the loss Taylor said the play call was “100%” on him.
His job might be 100% on the line as well.
2. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
After the Dallas Cowboys were blown out by the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs a season ago, conventional wisdom held that Jerry Jones was going to lose his patience, fire everyone, and back the Brinks truck up to Bill Belichick’s house and offer him the world to come to Dallas.
That did not happen. Instead Jones showed some patience with Mike McCarthy and kept the gang together for another run.
But at some point, that patience is going to run out. Sunday night’s 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers dropped the Cowboys to 3-4 on the season, three games behind the Washington Commanders in the win column. Even more inexplicable is the fact that Dallas is 0-3 on the year.
The Cowboys could still — theoretically — make a run in the division. They have five of their six division games left, including two against the Eagles and two against the Commanders, the two team ahead of them in the NFC East. But given what we have seen from this team this season, do you have any confidence such a run will come to fruition?
If it does not, Jones’ patience likely runs out.
1. Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars
Oh look, the Jaguars found another way to lose a close game.
In a 30-27 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Jaguars had everything they needed in their hands to pull off a miracle win. QB Trevor Lawrence rebounded from a bad fumble, taking the team down the field to tie the game with a little over a minute left despite not having his top three wideouts in the game.
And it all meant nothing because a mere three plays later backup QB Malik Willis hits a wide open Jayden Reed who takes the ball into the red zone and the Packers kneel it out until it’s time to hit a game winning field goal.
The Jaguars’ ability to find ways to lose is simply astounding to me, and it’s a reflection of poor coaching. The defense has completely fallen off a cliff, the run defense being the culprit this week. The offense can’t overcome every slow start like they did against New England, not figuring things out until the second half. Pederson seems checked out, the coaching staff is checked out, and Jacksonville has a gauntlet of a schedule ahead of them that includes the Eagles, Vikings and Lions.
At this point it’s not a matter of if, but when.
