The NFL regular season is officially more than halfway done. This is usually the time that the coaching carousel starts to slowly turn, and sure enough, Brian Daboll became the second coach fired this year when the Giants let him go earlier today. He now joins former Titans head coach Brian Callahan on the unemployment line, but with more than a few teams struggling to meet expectations, they may be getting company soon.
Barring an Urban Meyer level of catastrophe, brand new head coaches are typically immune from getting canned in their first year. Besides, Aaron Glenn and Kellen Moore both picked up their second wins this week, so they can at least sell the hope that things are moving in the right direction. Pete Carroll also has just two wins in his first season with the Raiders, but Vegas has had so much coaching turnover in recent years that it's unthinkable that they'd pull the plug on him so quickly. Ditto for Brian Schottenheimer in Dallas, who has kept the team competitive despite fielding the league's worst defense. The other first-year coaches (Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson and Liam Coen) all have winning records, so they're easily safe.
Other coaches who were on the hot seat earlier this year may be slowly working themselves off. Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins comes to mind as one who has topped these power rankings before, but his team has annihilated the Falcons and beaten the Bills by 17 in the past three weeks. DeMeco Ryans and John Harbaugh oversaw wildly disappointing starts, but both have righted the ship and gotten their teams back in contention.
For this edition of the hot seat power rankings, we have four coaches who are fighting for their lives, but as of now, they're fighting a losing battle. Three of these coaches lost on Sunday, while one gets no reprieve just because his team had a bye. Let's work our way up from those who still have a chance to turn things around, up to the top candidate to join Daboll and Callahan's pink slip party.
4. Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals
There's a common theme with most of the coaches on this list, and it's that their teams find ways to lose winnable games. That's why Jonathan Gannon is here, because the Cardinals have stolen defeat from the jaws of victory time and time again. From Weeks 3 through 7, they went 0-5, yet somehow never lost by more than four points. We just saw Daboll get fired for his team's fourth-quarter ineptitude, so Gannon has to be feeling the heat, too.
The Cards played tough against some really good teams in that stretch, but they also gave the Titans their only win of the season in a game that had to be seen to be believed. Arizona has been outscored by 53 points in the fourth quarter through nine games, and they decided to switch things up by just getting murdered in the first quarter by the Seahawks on Sunday, mercifully saving their fans from another fourth-quarter collapse.
Gannon was fined for striking Emari Demercado after the running back dropped the ball before the goal line in the loss to the Titans, and he's currently overseeing one of the least-inspiring quarterback battles in recent memory between Jacoby Brissett and Kyler Murray. Unless Gannon somehow turns things around down the stretch in arguably the toughest division in football, then the team might turn the page at head coach and quarterback this offseason.
3. Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills
As a kid, I can remember watching Sesame Street and enjoying when it would do "One of these things is not like the other." On this list, that's Sean McDermott, the only coach of a winning team you'll find here. McDermott's Bills are 6-3 and have the reigning MVP in Josh Allen, but after getting washed by the Dolphins yesterday, you have to wonder if McDermott is making the most of a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Allen has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league for quite some time, but the Bills have never been able to get past the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs despite owning them in the regular season. That's a coaching problem. Buffalo is 5-1 against Kansas City when the games matter less, and 0-4 when the loser goes home.
The Bills beat the Chiefs again last week, which only throws into sharper relief what a failing it was to lose handily to the Dolphins. Is this team really a Super Bowl contender with McDermott at the helm? This was supposed to be another easy AFC East title and a possible 1-seed, but instead the Bills are looking way up at the upstart Patriots, who won in Buffalo and hold a 1.5-game lead in the division.
When Josh Allen is your quarterback, it's Super Bowl or bust every year. McDermott has repeatedly fallen short, and at 6-3, it's fair to question if he'll ever be the guy to take them there. If the Bills can't get over the hump this time, it could be time for a change.
2. Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
Losing to the Jets is one of the worst things a coach on the hot seat can do. Losing to the Jets when they just traded away two of their best players, Justin Fields threw for a paltry 54 yards and your special teams allowed two touchdown returns, is close to unforgivable. Welcome to life as a Browns fan.
Stefanski is supposed to be an innovative, offensive coach, yet the Browns are scoring just 16.2 points per game while ranking only ahead of the Titans in yards per game. Dillon Gabriel has looked extremely limited since taking over as the starter, and Joe Flacco is throwing for 345 yards per game since being traded to the Bengals. Granted, Cincinnati has much better weapons, but Flacco threw four touchdowns in five games with the Browns and then matched that total against the Bears last week.
This is Stefanski's sixth year as Browns head coach, and he's 42-51 in that time. He's only 5-21 the last two seasons. Deshaun Watson fell off when he came to Cleveland. Baker Mayfield has played like an MVP since leaving. If he can't make something of Gabriel, what exactly is he bringing to the table? Myles Garrett is the best defensive player in the league, and his talents are being wasted. Stefanski has had his chance. It's past time to try someone else.
1. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Zac Taylor may have had a week off, but if he's smart, he would have used that time to polish up his resume. Cincy has lost six of its last seven while running out one of the worst defenses the NFL has seen in quite some time. Two weeks ago, the Bengals gave up 39 points to the Jets. That's something that usually takes New York about a month to do. Last week, Flacco's 470-yard performance was wasted as the D allowed Caleb Williams and Colston Loveland to score in the final minute to negate an amazing comeback.
After the game, Ja'Marr Chase and Chase Brown had some unkind things to say about the defense, which is kind of fair if we're being honest, since it's not often a team scores 42 and comes out on the losing end. It also means we've officially reached the "locker room coming apart" stage that often precedes a coach's firing.
The one game the Bengals have won in this stretch was a 33-31 Thursday night win over the Steelers. They go to Pittsburgh next week, then face the Patriots, Ravens, Bills and Ravens again after that. It's difficult to imagine Cincy going any better than 1-4 against those teams, even if Joe Burrow returns, which he may since he returned to practice today. Honestly though, would it even matter? The Bengals offense can't score much more, and last I checked, Burrow isn't going to help stop the run. The Bengals are staring at 4-10, with some potential tank mode battles against the Dolphins, Cardinals and Browns to end the year.
Taylor has been saddled with a lopsided roster that's short on quality players in the trenches, but every disappointing team needs a fall guy. Last year it was defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. This year it looks like it'll be Taylor.