3 NFL coaches on the hot seat after Week 8

This is the time of the NFL season that teams are taking shape. It’s clear which teams will be contending for a division title and a playoff spot and which teams are going to start preparing for the offseason. 

Along with team success (or failure) comes coaching decisions. Which struggling teams still believe in their coach and which ones are ready to move on? As of now, the list isn’t long of which teams are already looking for a new one. 

That said, there are certainly some teams that have coaches on the hot seat and possibly even on the way out the door. 

Let’s take a look at the teams with some questions to answer. After Week 8, which featured every NFL team playing, there are a few coaches that are now closer to being fired than coming back next season. As losses pile up, the scrutiny builds. Here are some coaches that are on the hot seat. 

3. Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots

I feel like it's harder to lose your job in year one of a contract than it is to keep it, but Jerod Mayo is proving that might not be true. Mayo hasn’t had a great start to his tenure in New England. Before Sunday’s three-point win against the equally bad New York Jets, the Patriots had dropped six straight. 

The Patriots entered the post-Tom Brady era with optimism. Sure they knew it wasn’t going to be easy because you don’t simply replace Brady. It was never going to be easy because, for 20 straight seasons, it was the same guy under center. Very few teams have that continuity at quarterback. 

But with Mayo on the verge of losing the locker room with some of his comments, it may be something to monitor if the Patriots don’t build on Sunday’s win, they may hit the reset button on the coach after just one season. 

They haven’t found a franchise quarterback. Mac Jones didn’t pan out like they wanted and there’s still a lot of questions on if Drake Maye can be that guy to turn things around. But whether he does or not, Mayo’s job isn’t contingent on having a quarterback. 

He’s gone out of his way to publicly criticize his team, even calling them “soft” which drew a lot of criticism. It’s one thing to try and fire up your team, but calling a bunch of grown men soft isn’t going to bode well moving forward. 

I’m not saying Mayo is all the way out, but Sunday’s win better start a win streak or he may be pushed out of New England by season’s end. 

2. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals

This isn’t likely, but if Cincinnati can’t figure out how to string some wins together, Taylor’s rear end may start getting warm in his office at Paycor Stadium. The Bengals have just three wins this season and were embarrassed at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Sunday was a game the Bengals needed to prove they could turn the season around. Instead, it gave fans more questions than answers. It’s Taylor’s job to figure out how to fix the issues the Bengals have. They had way too many turnovers and could hardly get a stop. 

Cincinnati figured they found their long term coach when they played for a Super Bowl what seems like forever ago (three seasons ago). Yet, since then, they’ve made the playoffs just once and haven’t figured out how to get back to the postseason. 

All is not lost for Cincinnati just yet, however. The Bengals have three games left before their bye week and all three are winnable. The Las Vegas Raiders are struggling as well, the Baltimore Ravens needed overtime to beat them earlier this year and the Chargers aren’t a crazy threat either. 

If Cincinnati isn’t .500 or better at the break, Taylor could be playing for his job the rest of the way. 

1. Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Doug Pederson probably won’t be on the Jacksonville sidelines next year. The Jaguars just signed Trevor Lawrence to a lucrative contract and only Deshaun Watson is playing worse per dollar earned. Since Pederson took the job back in 2022, the Jaguars haven’t really gotten better. 

They’ve finished 9-8 each of the last two seasons, sneaking into the playoffs in 2022 and stunning the Los Angeles Chargers in a crazy comeback in the playoffs. Last year, they started 8-3 before losing five of the last six games. 

And this season, they have just two wins in eight games. It looks like we’ve seen how far Pederson can take the Jaguars. Even if they have a winning season (somehow) in 2024, it shouldn’t be enough to prove to Shad Khan he’s worth bringing back in 2025.