NFL: 2 Coaches Guaranteed to Be Fired After 2011

The 2010 season was an active one for NFL head coach replacements. Wade Phillips, Brad Childress, Mike Singletary and Josh McDaniels were all fired mid-season. Long-time leaders Jeff Fisher and John Fox were let go during the off-season, along with chubby chieftains Tom Cable and Eric Mangini.

So much turnover amongst bad teams last year might suggest that this season may be a kinder one to head coaches, but not necessarily.

The NFL being the reactionary league that it is nowadays, you almost get the feeling that any coach may be gone any given week.

Chan Gailey, Jim Schwartz, Ken Whisenhunt, Jack Del Rio, Jason Garrett, hell, even Tom Coughlin and Jim Caldwell could find themselves under fire if their teams don't live up to expectations this season.

In my eyes, however, only two coaching jobs are guaranteed to change either during or after the 2011 season: Tony Sparano and Gary Kubiak.

Since going 11-5 and reaching the playoffs in 2008, the Miami Dolphins have finished consecutive seasons under .500 (14-18), finishing third in the AFC East both years. In all fairness to Tony Sparano and the Dolphins, they've had a pretty tough draw lately, as the Patriots and Jets have been arguably among the two or three best teams in the entire AFC over that span.

Sparano did receive a contract extension in January... as if that means anything.

The Dolphins are a virtual lock to finish third again this season, and plan on going with Chad Henne as their quarterback.

Henne had just a revolting season in 2010, turning the ball over 21 times in 15 games and being benched twice for Chad Pennington (for two pass attempts) then Tyler Thigpen. It almost seemed inconceivable that Henne could even remain on the team, let alone enter the year as starter, but that's where we find ourselves.

I do think Henne has the ability to be a quality quarterback, but Sparano's handling of the situation was awful, and in general it feels as though the team may have stagnated under his leadership.

Miami will have to make a serious playoff push this season in order for Sparano to keep his job, and I'm not betting on that happening.

The Texans, on the other hand, have become the perpetual "wait 'til next year" team of the NFL.

Their offense can be as explosive as any in the league (9th in points, 3rd in yards), but they can never seem to find a way to stop anyone either.

The team often appears totally flat in the first half of games, seeming more content to give up a huge lead then rack up the stats coming back... and more often than not falling flat.

Admittedly, a lot of this could be perception, but the fact is that Houston has only finished with a winning record once with Kubiak as head coach.

Of course, the team had never even finished as well as 8-8 before Gary took over, which they have since done twice as well.

Fairly or not, Kubiak will wind up falling victim to high expectations. The team has never had the defensive talent capable of competing with the best teams in the AFC, and that won't change that fast enough to save Kubiak's job.

At the same time, though, you can only fall flat so many times at being the next big thing before it costs you your job, even if you were never going to be that thing to begin with.