Fox: NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat

Ryan Fox

​The 2015 NFL season is slowly coming to a close. As the playoffs get closer, people are keeping an eye open on two items. One of those items is which team is going to get in at what playoffs and believe me, there are some races that are a lot closer than you think. The other is perhaps everybody’s guilty pleasure: which coach is going to get fired at the end of the season.
 
Now with 2 games left in the 2015 season, the seat is heating up for a few NFL coaches more so than others. Here are some of the coaches with the hottest seats of them all.

Honorable Mention

Tom Coughlin
New York Giants

It’s not a ‘Coach on the Hot Seat’ segment without mentioning Tom Coughlin’s name. He’s been on the hot seat since he took the job back in 2004. Even after winning two Super Bowls, people would have rather seen Bill Cowher than Tom Coughlin. But that’s not how the Maras and Tisches operate. More probable than not, Coughlin is going to retire after the 2015 season regardless how the Giants finish.

Mike Pettine
Cleveland Browns

It’s fun to poke at the Browns fans’ misery (looking at you Mr. Rotondo). But all jokes aside, the Browns need to give Pettine another year. Sure the team is in shambles on both sides of the ball but if Pettine gets the ax at the end of the season, the Browns would have to look for their 6th coach in 9 years. The seats lukewarm right now but that could change if the Browns struggle in 2016.

Rex Ryan
Buffalo Bills

This was basically the NFL’s version of a Kim Kardashian wedding. You would think that it would be impossible of taking the fourth ranked defense in terms of yards and points allowed in 2014 and just ruin it. But Rex Ryan found a way. Currently as it stands, the Bills are 21st in total yards allowed per game (363.9) and 16th in points allowed per game (24.0). What’s worse is that the team is ranked 30th in sacks (20.0) after leading the league last year (54.0).
 
But what really shot Rex in the foot was his own mouth. What with all his talk about getting the Bills to the playoffs in the offseason, him building a ‘bully’ football team, and his constant chatter about beating the Patriots. All that was simply hot air. Not to mention incidents where you had players like WR Sammy Watkins, DT Marcell Dareus, and DE Mario Williams questioning/complaining about how they were being used.
 
It would take an act of God (or a lot of pity from Bills management) for Rex to keep his job because his boisterous head coaching act has pretty much worn out his welcome in Buffalo.

Chuck Pagano
Indianapolis Colts

It’s just getting really ugly in Indy, much to the delight of Patriots Nation (especially with one Patriots color commentator). After 3 consecutive years of going 11-5 and making the playoffs, it looks like the Colts are heading to a sub .500 record. Between the mismanagement of QB Andrew Luck (playing him with an undisclosed rib injury), a defense that’s in the bottom 5 teams for points allowed per game this season (26.6 ppg allowed for 27th overall) and yards allowed (391.0 ypg allowed for 27th overall), and a bunch of gaffe calls (i.e. the Special Teams blunder against the Pats), it’s not looking good for Pagano.
 
It also doesn’t help that earlier this year, Pagano called out his QB after a loss as well as taking subtle and open shots at Colts GM Ryan Grigson. When a coach does that, it usually means that he's going to be losing his job in the upcoming off season. With the way things are going right now in Indy, it seems that Chuck's hot seat is on fire.

Chip Kelly
Philadelphia Eagles

As much as the Giants fan in me takes delight in saying this, there’s a little more to it. First, the team he’s built has not bear any real fruition. After trading away WR DeSean Jackson, RB LeSean McCoy, and QB Nick Foles and letting WR Jeremy Maclin walk in free agency, the people Kelly brought in to replace them (QB Sam Bradford, WR Jordan Matthews, RB DeMarco Murray) are falling short in expectations. 

Not to mention his ‘hurry-up style’ of offense is slowly getting figured out by opposing defenses, which in turn is killing his defense. For his entire tenure, the Eagles under Chip Kelly have been ranked in the bottom 5 teams in total defense (29th overall in 2013, 28th overall in 2014, and 29th overall in 14 games in 2015). Plus they’ve been declining in an alarming rate in points allowed (23.9 ppg allowed for 17th overall in 2013, 25.0 ppg for 22nd overall in 2014, 25.9 ppg for 27th overall in 14 games in 2015).

Philadelphia may be the city of ‘Brotherly Love’ but there won’t be any love shown at Chip at the end of the 2015 regular season if the team does not improve within the next two weeks.

Mike McCoy
San Diego Chargers

Probably one of the few guys nobody is really talking about being on the hot seat. Sure, the Chargers have injuries to key players (WR Keenan Allen with lacerated kidney, DT Corey Liguet with foot, CB Brandon Flowers with knee) but so does every other team. That’s no excuse for the fact that the offense has been steadily declining in scoring points since 2013 (24.8 ppg in 2013, 21.8 ppg in 2014, 20.0 ppg in 14 games in 2015). 

Currently as it stands, the Chargers are about to finish with at least +10 losses, the first time since 2003 when they went 4-12 under Marty Schottenheimer. If McCoy hopes to cool down the flames, he needs to win the next two games. If not, don’t be surprised if the Chargers are in the hunt for a new coach in the NFL offseason.

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