Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has somehow developed a reputation for impulsively referring head coaches. The opposite is true.
Jones is incredibly patient with his coaches. Since Jason Garrett took over after Wade Phillips was fired midseason in 2010, Garrett and Mike McCarthy have been Dallas’ only two head coaches. Inevitably, the Cowboys lose their luster in the playoffs and everyone assumes Jones will fire his coach, but he has fired only one coach in 14 years.
That doesn’t mean McCarthy has a job for life. At some point, he’s going to need more playoff success, or Jones will make a change. Does that mean he’s one of seven coaches on the hot seat when the NFL season starts? Here’s our list:
Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
At halftime of last season’s wild-card game against the Green Bay Packers, everyone knew the Cowboys were headed for a loss. They were down 27-7. The only intrigue was whether it was McCarthy’s last game.
The consensus was that McCarthy would be fired after the Cowboys’ last playoff failure. But Jones retained McCarthy after the team’s third consecutive 12-5 season. Jones said it was a fairly quick decision.
“This is not a ‘talk yourself into it,'” Jones told the team’s website shortly after Dallas’ season ended. “It obviously gives you a lot to think about. Everybody has options. This is one I feel very comfortable with. I felt good all year with the work that Mike did. The team responded well. We were all disappointed that we didn’t win that game against Green Bay. We had visions of doing much better than that; we all did. But there are things we can do better.”
For a coach who is 42-25 in his four seasons with the Cowboys, the perception is that McCarthy has little job security. Maybe that’s true. Only Jones knows for sure. But if the Cowboys’ season ends without a Super Bowl, we’ll have another round of speculation about whether McCarthy will be fired. It’s fair to say he’s on the hot seat.
Saleh had a great excuse last season when the Jets went 7-10. Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury on the first drive of the season. It seems unlikely that there will be any patience if the Jets fail to make the playoffs again. The Jets have the longest postseason drought in major American professional sports. They are betting everything on Rodgers this season as he approaches 41 years of age. The talent is there to make the postseason and perhaps make a deep run. If it doesn’t happen this season, it seems likely that there will be major changes, including at head coach.
Sure, injuries were a big part of the Jaguars’ collapse late last season. But a collapse is a collapse, and patience appears to be wearing thin in Jacksonville.
“Injuries are a part of the game,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said, via the Associated Press. “We’ve had some of those injuries, but I think it’s an organizational failure that it happened. All these players I’ve talked to, they were like, ‘How did this happen? What happened?’
“For me it’s really a reason to think about myself and get something good out of it, because we just can’t have that this year.”
Pederson fired defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell, and firing coordinators is usually the first step toward firing a head coach if things don’t improve. If the Jaguars have another losing record, Pederson could be in trouble.
A year ago, Daboll was the reigning NFL Coach of the Year. The league moves quickly. The Giants were coming off a terrible 6-11 season, and Daboll’s hot temper seemed to be wearing thin. There was some speculation that Daboll would be on the hot seat after last season, but he returned. The Giants still trail the Eagles and Cowboys in the NFC East, and another double-digit loss season is possible. If that happens, will Giants ownership be patient with Daboll?
Speaking of the NFL, Sirianni and the Eagles were 10-1 last season and looking to repeat their NFC title. Then came a miserable end, losing six of seven, including a lackluster playoff loss on wild-card weekend. There was a lengthy meeting between Eagles leadership and Sirianni, and a subsequent press conference revealed that Sirianni would be returning, but handing over the reins of the offense to a new coordinator (that would be Kellen Moore). Sirianni can’t afford a slow start, or he’d be the first coach fired this season. The good news is that he has the kind of roster that could win the NFC East.
Eberflus saved his job after a surprising 2-7 start last season. But the Bears won’t be patient indefinitely with another slow start. The Bears will have a rookie quarterback, but No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams is no ordinary rookie QB. His development will be crucial, especially now that he’s still on a rookie deal. The Bears seem to be thrilled that they’ve never fired a coach during a season, but if they don’t show signs of improvement this season, they’ll likely reevaluate everything when it’s over.
The Saints have been mediocre in two seasons under Allen, going 16-18. Allen has spent five seasons as an NFL head coach and has never made the playoffs. The Saints came close last season, going 9-8 and losing in a tiebreaker for the NFC South title, but this doesn’t feel like a team on the rise. At some point, the Saints will want to be more than a mid-table team in a bad division. If the Saints finish around .500 again, we’ll see if that’s enough to earn Allen a fourth season in New Orleans.
