We've reached the midway point of the 2025 NFL season, and already one head coach has been fired. The Tennessee Titans let Brian Callahan go after a rough start and there's a good chance several head coaches will follow.
These five head coaches might not get fired midseason like Callahan, but they all find themselves on the hot seat, and have different reasons why they're in this position.
Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
Fireable offense: Starting Dillon Gabriel too early
The Cleveland Browns were never going to win many games this season with the state of their roster, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Kevin Stefanski shouldn't be on the hot seat because of their 2-6 record. It makes sense to believe he's worth keeping around because of what he's accomplished with the Browns. But his handling of the quarterback position this season has been hard to defend.
With Deshaun Watson out for the year, the Browns added a pair of veterans, Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, presumably to play while also mentoring a young quarterback. Well, the Browns drafted both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, crowding their QB room. They traded Pickett before the season, and carried their two rookies with Flacco, who was named their starter.
Flacco struggled mightily and was later benched and traded away. I can understand wanting to give others a look when Flacco struggled as mightily as he has, but both Gabriel and Sanders were drafted as clear projects. Plugging Gabriel in when, clearly, he wasn't ready, with arguably the worst supporting cast in the NFL, was asking him to fail. For the most part, things have been ugly with Gabriel under center.
Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
Fireable offense: Bryce Young stagnation
The Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator, hoping to help Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick the year prior, reach his star potential. Young was coming off a lackluster rookie year, but Canales had just gotten the most out of Baker Mayfield the year prior, so why couldn't Young be next?
Unfortunately, it's hard to see much improvement from Young since Canales was hired. He finished the 2024 season pretty strongly, but while he's set career-highs in completion percentage (61.2 percent) and yards per game (184.0), Young is still a below-average quarterback. It's been three years of Young in the NFL, and two of those have come with Canales. At some point, enough has to be enough, right?
Sure, Young has to be better, but is Canales really putting him in the best position to succeed? I mean, after back-to-back 200+ yard performances from Rico Dowdle, Canales has Dowdle essentially on an even playing field as Chuba Hubbard when it comes to snap share. No disrespect to Hubbard, but Dowdle is a clear tier above him right now. Canales deploying both of them evenly does not help a young quarterback develop.
Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Fireable offense: Wasting Joe Burrow's healthy years
It isn't Zac Taylor's fault that Joe Burrow suffered a major injury just two weeks into the season, and it isn't Taylor's fault that the defense is as bad as it is, but it is Taylor's fault that the Cincinnati Bengals haven't won a playoff game since 2022. Taylor deserves blame for his 49-57-1 record as the Bengals' head coach after their inexplicable loss to the winless New York Jets in Week 8.
It feels like the only path to victory for Cincinnati throughout Taylor's tenure has been relying on Burrow throwing to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Head coaches have to find ways to win without every star player being healthy once in a while.
Failing to win in Burrow's healthy seasons should cost Taylor his job. Cincinnati's lack of competitiveness in games Burrow misses has been jarring in recent years, so if he's unable to win even with Burrow, what good is it to keep him around? It's pretty astounding that he's survived this long (perhaps it shouldn't be with how long they kept Marvin Lewis), but a fourth straight year without a postseason berth should be the final nail in Taylor's coffin.
Brian Daboll, New York Giants
Fireable offense: Inability to win close games
After leading the New York Giants to an unlikely playoff berth in his first season as head coach, it felt as if Brian Daboll would be in the Big Apple long-term. Boy, have things shifted since. The Giants have gone 11-31 since their playoff berth. While the rosters Daboll has had to work with haven't been up to par, the Giants have coughed up a lot of close games.
Their Week 8 loss was a rout, but in Week 7, they held a 19-0 fourth-quarter lead, only to lose 33-32. They blew another game earlier this season in Dallas, in which they took two leads in the final four minutes of regulation and lost in overtime. Eight of the Giants' 14 losses in 2024 came by one possession.
I'm not going to blame Daboll for all of these losses, but if the Giants keep losing winnable games, something has to change, right? Daboll's job will probably be saved if Jaxson Dart establishes himself as a franchise quarterback, but if Dart's play doesn't lead to wins, I'm not sure that should actually be the case.
Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins
Fireable offense: Tua Tagovailoa regression
The Miami Dolphins just played their best game in quite some time, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34-10 in Week 8, so perhaps this isn't the right time to rip head coach Mike McDaniel, but I'm going to do so anyway.
McDaniel looked like one of the best head coaches in the NFL when his dynamic offense helped lead the Dolphins to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons, but it's impossible to ignore just how badly Tua Tagovailoa has regressed. Tagovailoa has gone from a guy who was coming close to living up to his pre-draft hype to a guy whose time in Miami is coming to an end.
McDaniel deserves praise for his ability to get the most out of Tagovailoa, a clearly limited quarterback, at the beginning of his tenure, but he cannot be let off the hook for what's transpired the last couple of years. Missing the playoffs is one thing, but in no way should a 27-year-old quarterback be getting worse, especially with strong skill position players around him. At this point, it feels like a matter of when, not if, McDaniel is fired.