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Through five weeks of NFL action, some teams have played excellent football and distinguished themselves as clear favorites to make the playoffs while others have faceplanted out of the gates and look to be heading for more misery. Some coaches have been around for a while, and some not long at all, but the hot seat doesn't care about tenure length.
Some teams have bad records due to terrible luck with injuries or extremely tough schedules, but every year, some coaches look like they don't belong. From baffling personnel decisions to poor game management, there are endless ways head coaches can fail.
So which head coaches are on the hot seat and could end up getting a pink slip?
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Doug Pederson
No current coach's seat is hotter than Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson's. His team is 1-4, having won its only game against an Indianapolis Colts team without their starting quarterback (though the backup might be better). After starting the 2023 season 8-3, his team collapsed, going 1-5 in the final six games and missing the playoffs.
After an incredible 8-3 start to the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars lost five out of their last six games, finishing with a record of 9-8 and missing out on the playoffs.@thebrettjames1 breaks down the “generational collapse” from the Jags.https://t.co/dr3eU5o2gw
— FL Teams (@FLTeams) January 10, 2024
Coach Pederson authored two straight 9-8 seasons, but it'll be an uphill battle to reach that mark in 2024. The former Eagles head coach's biggest issue is his loyalty to offensive coordinator Press Taylor, who has been much maligned by analysts, Jags fans, and anyone who likes watching good offensive football.
#Jaguars HC Doug Pederson asked about play calling by Press Taylor. Emphasized execution. pic.twitter.com/btrI1dIe6y
— Demetrius Harvey (@Demetrius82) September 17, 2023
The defense has been horrendous (third-worst in scoring and second-worst in yardage allowed), so it's unlikely that the former Super Bowl-winning man running the show can turn it around in time to keep his job.
Antonio Pierce
Interim coaching hires rarely work in the NFL, and Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce is the latest example of this trend. He earned the starting job after a strong performance from the defense down the stretch in 2023. That same defense has been awful in 2024.
The most missed tackles through 5 Weeks per PFF:
1. Raiders - 66
2. Falcons - 62
3. #Colts - 60
3. Rams - 60
5. Buccaneers - 5910 NFL defenses have missed 50+ tackles while just 4 have 60+ missed tackles.
— Noah Compton (@nerlens_) October 8, 2024
Lack of solid tackling is a fundamental issue, and that comes down to coaching. The offense isn't good, either. It's hard to point a finger at anything that's encouraging about the Raiders as a whole, other than rookie tight end Brock Bowers. And he can't turn the team around on his own.
Pierce was supposed to be a defensive-minded coach, but when both units are bad despite additions of talent like Bowers on offense and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on defense, the finger usually points at one person, and it's the guy in charge. The Raiders may move on from their mistake sooner than most expect.
Jonathan Gannon
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was a perplexing hire from the day his addition to Arizona's team was announced. He ran a terrible unit as defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles prior to his move to Arizona, and those Philly teams were successful in spite of Gannon, not because of him.
“We’re pissed off.”
Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon on the state of his team three games in. pic.twitter.com/TLSxgzVrRY
— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) September 23, 2024
Much like Pierce, Gannon was supposed to fix the defense, but it hasn't gone much of anywhere. They're eighth-worst in yards per game allowed and sixth-worst in points allowed. His Philadelphia defenses coasted off massive roster talent but consistently were carved up by good quarterbacks. The Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl was a great example.
The shock win over the San Francisco 49ers could extend his career a bit longer, though it was preceded by a 42-14 beatdown by the Washington Commanders. It wasn't a good look for the defensive-minded coach to allow rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and a not highly regarded receiving corps to shred them through the air.
Nick Sirianni
Speaking of coasting, no head coach in the NFL does it better than Nick Sirianni. His gaffes are widely criticized in NFL circles and among analysts. He has some of the worst decision-making of any head coach in the league yet is consistently bailed out by the glorious high-end talent on his roster.
Nick Sirianni is an arrogant moron who is costing this team on a weekly basis. He should have been fired this offseason. He should have been fired this week. He should be fired at halftime right now.
Idk what else Jeffrey Lurie needs to see.
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) September 22, 2024
The Eagles inexplicably blew a game to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, and Sirianni was to blame. His mistakes allowed the Falcons to gain the lead with less than 40 seconds left. He bears responsibility for a lot of the team's problems, but he's carried by the greatness of WR A.J. Brown. Unsurprisingly, they struggle to win without him.
Many believe he's stayed around a year too long. It didn't make much sense to keep him after the epic collapse to end the 2023-24 season. It isn't difficult to see a world where Sirianni is at least canned following the conclusion of this NFL year.
Jerod Mayo
While it's just his first season, it makes little sense to draft a quarterback with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft and immediately bench him. This isn't a situation like the Minnesota Vikings have with QB Sam Darnold, who's been capable of running the offense (or at least until RB Aaron Jones went down).
Jerod Mayo: “We have to fix all the bad football, and that’s my job.”
— Karen Guregian (@kguregian) September 29, 2024
Patriots now former starting QB Jacoby Brissett should not have started a game this year. Stunting the development of your new franchise quarterback and losing four of five games in the process seems like a perfectly avoidable gunshot to the foot. Yet Mayo seemed to think he wouldn't be forced to start Maye after such a skid.
If the rookie QB doesn't turn things around for the team, the organization could see the decision to hold the promising prospect out of play as a reason the team didn't perform well and could look in a new direction for a coach who will make better decisions with his players.
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