NFL: Five Coaches on the hot seat

One of the most unstable jobs in the United States is an NFL head coaching position. A NFL head coach gets two to three years (if that) to produce an improved organization or its back to becoming a coordinator (Dick Lebeau, Norv Turner, Wade Phillips) , out of the NFL (Mike Singletary, Butch Davis, Steve Mariucci) or move on to another team (Andy Reid, Bill Belichick)

This season five head coaches are all on the hot seat:

Marvin Lewis made his name as a defensive coordinator of the famous Baltimore Ravens defense during the late 1990’s, early 2000’s and has had the most successful run of any Bengals head coaches since the mid-1980’s. Lewis has won over a hundred games in thirteen seasons as head coach, however, Lewis issues lay in the post-season; Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs. This is Marty Schottenheimer territory for playoff terribleness; Schottenheimer was 0-13 in the playoffs with the Browns, Chiefs, and Chargers. With the amount of talent in Cincinnati, the Bengals should have won a playoff game under Lewis’s tenure and challenged the Patriots and Broncos for AFC supremacy.

Unfortunately, the NFL is measured by playoff success and Super Bowls. As unfair as it is to put a successful coach such as Lewis on the chopping block it has happened before. Tony Dungy was fired from the Buccaneers for offensive performance and playoff losses then the Bucs traded for Jon Gruden (and mortgaged their future in the process) and won the Super Bowl a year later. If Lewis is fired at the end of the season he will land another Head Coaching position elsewhere…..perhaps in Detroit (Lewis turned the Bengals into a consistent winner in the NFL’s toughest division; he can turn the Lions around)

Rex Ryan is another head coach that is on the hot seat. Like Lewis, Ryan made his name as the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens during the 2005-2010 seasons than as the head coach of the New York Jets making the AFC championship game in back to back years during the 2009 and 2010 seasons (with Mark Sanchez no less), however his career with the Jets included a Foot Fetish video, a strange Tattoo fiasco, the Tebow situation and the infamous butt fumble.

Ryan’s headlines out shinned the teams performance and ended with Ryan’s firing. Ryan got another chance with the Buffalo Bills and even though the Bills finished a respectable 8-8 last season the defense suffered greatly dropping from one of the NFL’s best to an average unit that un-explainable lost its pass rush. If the Bills should move on from Ryan as head coach; Ryan will land as a coordinator for another team such as the Cardinals (Bruce Arians is the only coach in the NFL with more swagger than Ryan).

The LA Rams are in a tough position. The NFC West is brutal the Seahawks and Cardinals both made the playoffs last season and the 49ers will be improved (by default), breaking in a new franchise quarterback (That LA spent a fortune to acquire) and the pressures of playing in LA spells hot seat for Jeff Fisher. Fisher is one of the most respected coaches in the league and has a history of bringing success in his coaching stops. Fisher only had six losing seasons in fourteen years with the Oilers/Titans; Fisher has not had a winning season with the Rams but has stockpiled talent with the RG3 trade. Houston, Tennessee, and Saint Louis are not LA in terms of media coverage, appeal, and patience. It’s Christmas for LA and the toy better be good. If Fisher is fired after this season I would imagine that Fisher would take a year off from football and reassess his NFL career.

I have covered the Colts before and how they miss-used Andrew Luck’s initial rookie contract to build a long-term winner in Indy. This coupled with the improved AFC South (it had to happen eventually!) could spell the end for Chuck Pagano. The Texans have the offensive weapons now to match the defense; the Titans are starting to put some pieces together (and draft picks!), Jacksonville is going to get better defensively with the addition of Dante Fowler, Jalen Ramsey, and Miles Jack. If Pagano’s job was in jeopardy last season without Andrew Luck then with a healthy Andrew Luck it has to be a deep playoff run or bust for the Colts this season. Pagano could land as a coordinator or a defensive assistant for a team that runs a 3-4 defense.

Mike Malarkey concludes my list of coaches on the hot seat for this upcoming season in the NFL. Malarkey’s hiring to be the head coach of the Titans is a bit of a question mark for me. Malarkey’s historical coaching record is nothing to brag about and unlike the four previous coaches on my list, he lacks a foundation on one side of the ball. Lewis, Ryan, Pagano all have a background’s on the defensive side of the ball as coordinator’s (Fisher is the only exception but he has over a decade’s worth of head coaching experience).

Malarkey has been a tight end’s coach throughout his tenure in the NFL and nothing against Tight-end coaches, but coaching three to four guys as opposed to designing an entire system and having subordinate position coaches work underneath you is entirely a different aspect. Malarkey’s history with quarterbacks is not all that great either; JP Losman and Blaine Gabbert were pretty awful but did Malarkey put systems in place to help out a young quarterback? I do not see Malarkey lasting past this season. Perhaps the Titans are tanking of some sort to acquire another high pick in the draft then hire a coach with an offensive track record to assist Marcus Mariota’s development. After the Titans move on from Malarkey; Malarkey will land on another team as a tight ends coach.

An argument could be made for Chip Kelly and Jason Garret being on the hot seat as well. Kelly’s tenure in Philadelphia did not end well and the personal moves made by Kelly are now being undone by new management. Offensively Kelly is a genius, but his roster and salary cap management needs improvement. That is where Trey Balke will come in a handle the salary cap and personal moves. In college, a head coach can get away with being consumed with the offense and put the defense on the back burner like Kelly did at Oregon and be successful. The talent level in college football defines a program, normally the team with the most talent wins the most games. Teams that are less talented take the“Moneyball” approach and utilize undervalued offenses such as the Triple Option, and the varying degrees of the spread offense. Garret is always on the hot seat due to being the Cowboys head coach and having Jerry Jones as owner/General Manager. Garret has done well considering the lack-luster talent on defense and Tony Romo‘s brittle collar bones.

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