Ten NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat

Now that the NFL season is down to the final week of the regular season, we can sit back and wait for the coaching positions to become available. Here are the coaches that I believe are in trouble, or on the hot seat. I will give my take on if if I believe they will be fired or not, and what the team will look for in the offseason in replacements.

Detroit Lions head coach Rod Marinelli

We have to start this off with the worst team in the NFL this year, and perhaps in the history of the league. The Lions are 0-15 going into the season finale against the Packers (5-10) at Green Bay where the Lions have not won in 17 years, so the odds of winning that finale game and avoiding the 0-16 imperfect season is not in the Lions favor. Marinelli came into this season after leading the Lions to an 8-8 record and many figured that this year the Lions would actually challenge for a playoff spot and the NFC North title. Well John Kitna was lost early in the year with an injury and the back up quarterbacks have not played well enough to keep the ship afloat throwing for 11 touchdowns and 12 picks, with a combined completion percent of 53.9%. After Kitna went down, the Lions decided to bring in recently retired Daunte Culpepper to try to spark the team. Well that proved a failure as Culpepper threw for 4 scores and 6 picks, while only completing 52.2% of his passes before getting hurt.
Now the Lions have been competitive in their games, actually leading several teams before imploding in the fourth quarter. Against Tampa Bay the Lions held a 17-0 lead before surrendering 21 unanswered and then 14 unanswered in the third to blow the game. Against the Colts the Lions came back from 21-10 to tie the game at 21 before giving up 10 unanswered fourth quarter points to lose again. In the fourth quarter the Lions are being outscored by a total of 49-92. In fact the only game in which the Lions outscored a team in the fourth was against Houston when they outscored the Texans 11-0. Now if the Lions do go 0-16 then Marinelli's record in two years with the Lions will fall to 10-38. I know that Lions fans will disagree with me but I do believe that Rob deserves one more chance. His team was killed by injuries early in the year and have not recovered but let's remember that in his first year the Lions did well, and could rebound. His team is still playing hard for him, when other teams would have packed it in long ago. Since Matt Millen was fired lets see how Marinelli does with new, hopefully stronger leadership but on a short leash. If his team struggles early next season then fire him right away but I have a feeling this team could rebound next year.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips

The Cowboys are 9-6 currently and if they beat Philly next week they will clinch their second straight playoff berth, and finish the regular season 10-6. In his tenure at Dallas, Phillips is sporting a 22-9 regular season record, 0-1 playoff record and one NFC East title. Now while this year has not gone as hopped with the Giants taking away the divisional crown and the Cowboys falling from 13 wins last year, to at best 10 this year but all can be salvaged with a win in the finale over rival Philly and a playoff berth. Dallas has not been blown out this year, in fact there worse loss is 20 points to the Rams, and their total losses are by a combined score of 61 points so they have been competitive. Of those nine losses four were by six points or less, and those games were to teams still alive for the playoffs. When Tony Romo was lost early in the year with the hand issue the Cowboys struggled and went 1-2, while Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger threw a combined 3 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Since Romo's been back the Cowboys are 4-2 and Romo has thrown 12 touchdowns and 8 picks. So if Romo is playing then you can make the case that Dallas wins at least 2 of those 3 games and right now is standing at 11 wins or more. Anyway you look at it Wade Phillips has a winning record in Dallas and deserves to stay on as head coach. He has kept this team cool in tight situations, and all the egos in check. Jerry Jones gave Phillips his backing on Monday saying that he would not look for a new coach so it would seem that Phillips will deservedly be back for a third year in Dallas.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid

Living in Philadelphia I hear all of the fans rumblings that are starting to grow about Reid and this team. Since going to the Super Bowl the Eagles are a miserable 32-30-1 going into the final week of the 2008 season, outscoring teams by a grand total of 123 points for these four years combined. The only playoff trip by the Eagles since the Super Bowl was in 2006 when Jeff Garcia finished 6-1 as a starter to lead the Eagles to the NFC Divisional playoffs in a great game against the Saints. Garcia took over for McNabb in week 10 after he suffered a second knee injury in as many years. You can say that the Eagles troubles are all starting from the quarterback play. Until this season McNabb has missed time in every season with injuries since the Super Bowl run and Reid has not been able to find a good enough back up to help keep the team afloat, other then Garcia who he let go just so McNabb wouldnt hear footsteps. (Rumored around Philly I have to say, not a fact but had to be said for all you Eagles fans) Kevin Kolb is not looking the answer as he proved against the Ravens when McNabb was benched, as he played worse then McNabb. Now you can say the great Ravens defense was the reason but in his other stints playing Kolb has combined for 50% completion rate, zero scores with four picks, and 1 fumble lost. Now if he is helped along he could become a good quarterback but that is yet to be seen. Reid's teams have been known to fall apart recently when there is pressure on them, which is evident by the total collapse against Washington last week with the playoffs on the line. With the pressure off of them the Eagles play loose, and win as evident by last year when the birds were 4-8 and out of the playoff contention as they won their final four games to finish at .500. Andy has a very interesting off season ahead of him as several key veterans contracts are up, such as Dawkins and John Runyan for example. Also Philadelphia is waiting to see what happens to Donovan McNabb in the offseason. Many believe that his time is up in Philly, and Andy will make a change. While i do believe that Andy will be safe this year, the heat is most certainly on him to get the Eagles into the playoffs next year after the two year absence (if they do indeed miss this year). If ownership decides to push change on Andy it is also wondered how he will take it, and if he will walk away himself. Many Philly fans are worried about this. Only time will tell

SF 49ers interim head coach Mike Singletary

This is a great story. Mike Singletary has been waiting for a head coaching opportunity since coming back into the league as a coach in 2001. In his tenure in Baltimore, Mike helped mold Ray Lewis into a perennial all-pro while helping the Ravens win their first and only Super Bowl title. In 2005 Singletary left to join Nolan in SF to turn a struggling team around. Well with Nolan not getting the job done, the 49er ownership decided to name Singletary interim head coach giving him a chance to lead the team. Singletary has done a fantastic job. It has been eight games since Singletary took over and he has his team at 6-9 overall and he is 4-4 leading the team, and has been competitive being outscored by only six points 154-160. The 49ers are even battling playoff worthy teams as proven in their games against Dallas in which they lost by 13, Jets game in which they took apart New York, and their narrow five point loss to Miami. Since Mike took over Hill has been the starter at quarterback and has improved throwing for 1,801 yards and 12 touchdowns with just 7 picks. The team has really been revived under Singletary. Rumor is that he will be offered the job at season end and if he is it is well deserved and look for the 49ers to be a threat next year. If he gets the job dont be surprised if he shakes up the coaching staff, starting with offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

St Louis Rams Interim head coach Jim Haslett

The Rams fired Scott Linehan early in the season and replaced him with former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett to no prevail. Haslett won his first two games at the helm of the Rams over Washington and Dallas by a combined score of 53-31 and many people wanted him to be named head coach right away. Well since that 2-0 start the Rams have a nine game losing streak in which they are being outscored 109-256. That is just to huge of a margin there. The Rams are in desperate need of a over haul in the offseason and it will start with the coaching staff. I do not think that Haslett will be offered the head coaching job as his record is very poor at 2-9 with one game to go against Atlanta, and his team is just not being competitive in games. I like Jim as a coach and i do believe he will be given a chance elsewhere but he and the Rams are better off splitting after seasons end. I feel the Rams might offer Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo the job at seasons end, but this will not be his only offer as his stock has really climbed. Also the Rams might go after Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, but he is more then likely the coach in waiting in Dallas so chances are he wouldnt leave. The other choice i can see is the Rams making a offer to New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. I do expect the Rams to draft a quarterback to be the successor to Mark Bulger in the coming draft as well. The Rams will have a huge offseason in which they need to improve and change

Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron

The Bills were once the story of the NFL early this season. They were 5-1 and leading the AFC East, outscoring teams by 132-118 and looking like a lock for the AFC East title as the Jets and Pats were struggling. Well fast forward to a 2-7 finish to the year and the Bills are looking at a record of 7-8 with one final game against rival New England who is fighting for a playoff birth. What happened to the Bills? Well not all of this should be put on Jauron, a lot of it but not all of it. Trent Edwards has been struggling both with injuries and playing poorly this year, and JP Losman keeps proving why he is a NFL bust with his poor play. Jauron is in his third year with the Bills and lead them to a 7-9 record in his first season, 6-10 in his second and this year either 7-9 or 8-8 but more like 7-9 because I dont not think this team can beat New England. So if they do finish 7-9 that means that in his three seasons Jauron has a record of 20-28 at Buffalo. Not good enough with a talented team, especially after starting the year so well at 5-1. Jauron should be out as head coach after the New England mess to end the year and the Bills will look for another coach to try and lead this very young team. I wouldnt be surprised if the Bills went after New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, as everyone seems to want the Patriot blue print. If Josh does decide to go to Buffalo could you imagine the AFC East with two teams tied to former Patriots coaches? Might as well call it the AFC Patriots division

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis

Things are really bleak in Bengals country right now as the team looks to finally finish the 2008 campaign, hopefully with a win. The Bengals are standing at 3-11-1 right now after the 14-0 beating of the Browns last Sunday, and the heat on Lewis is starting to rise. Lewis is 45-49 as head coach of the Bengals and since the 2005 season in which the team went 11-5 and won the AFC North and lost in the playoffs to the eventual super bowl champion Steelers things have gone south. Since that season the Bengals are 17-29-1 and have not really been a factor in the North. This year with the resurgence of the Ravens under their rookie head coach, the pressure really is on Lewis to revive the Bengals quickly. Now you have to realize that this year the Bengals went south for good after their all pro quarterback was gone due to injury in week five. Since that point the Bengals are 3-6-1 and Fitzpatrick has struggled to get anything going. The Bengals have been hit hard by injuries so you have to put that into mind when you think of what this team has done. Yes, Lewis has to start to win again next year but i do believe that he will be back for next year, and the year after unless the Bengals totally shut down next year by winning very few games

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel

The Browns go 10-6, just miss the playoffs by one game, have their first pro bowl quarterback in years, and have several Monday night football games in prime time set up for 2008. So what happens? The team grossly underachieves and finds themselves at 4-11 right now with one game to go. What happened to the great story from 2007? This team just can not compete with good teams this year, for whatever reason. Now give them some credit, they did beat the Giants on Monday night but what else did they do this year? nothing. The Browns are being outscored 246-305 this year and have blown games in the second half on several occasions. Anderson was sat down for second year man, and fan favorite Brady Quinn to try and give this team a spark and it almost worked. Brady played very well throwing for two scores and two picks and 516 yards in just three games before breaking his finger and being put on injured reserve for rest of the year. In those games, like every one this year the defense just couldn't stop anyone and let the other team just walk all over them. The defense for Cleveland is ranked close to dead last in everything. 15th in average points against, 26th in average yards against a game, and 29th in average passing yards allowed a game. Perfect example is the Broncos game in which the Browns were leading 23-13 going into the final quarter and let up 21 fourth quarter points to lose the game 34-30. Against Buffalo the next week guess what happened. Leading 16-13 going into the final period, the Bills scored 14 points to almost beat the Browns in a close call. The Browns need a defensive coach to help the young defense rebound and mature. Maybe a certain defensive coordinator from New York?

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards

"We play to win the game" Well your team is not playing well enough to do that this year coach. The Chiefs go into the final game of 2008 with a record of 2-13 in what could be Herm Edwards final game at the helm of Kansas City. The Chiefs have lost some heartbreakers this year losing seven games by a touch down or less including the last three games, 24-17 to Denver, 22-21 to San Diego, and 38-31 to Miami. Kansas City just cant seem to finish games this year. Now that could be because the team is a young team with a starting quarterback who came out of no where in Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen is in his second year, and has started the last ten games throwing 17 scores with just 12 picks. So the Chiefs have found their quarterback of the future, now they have to decide if Edwards is their coach of the future. Rumors are circulating that former coach Dick Vermil is interested in filling the front office spot. If this happens then i do believe that Edwards will stay on, since the two are so close. However, if a new GM comes in then Edwards is out. The front office will want their own man leading the team and Edwards is obviously the former GM's man so they will want to start over. Edwards is a good coach and he will find work on another team if he is let go, but his days in Kansas City could be numbered

The Oakland Raiders MESS

I saved the best for last here in the Oakland Raiders. Since going to the Super Bowl the Raiders have been through four head coaches and have not even been close to .500 with a combined record of 22-73. The latest coach in Lane Kiffen was fired only four games into this year and what followed was a mess and i wont rehash it for all the poor Raiders fans out there. Tom Cable stepped in as interim head coach but has not really done enough for Al Davis to keep him on board going 3-8 so it looks like the Raiders will again be looking for a coach after this weeks finale game. Now the Raiders are lead by JaMarcus Russell who has only 11 scores this year with seven picks. He has just not developed enough yet as a quarterback to lead this team. The next coach has to have some experience at quarterback to help this young man mature or his career might suffer drastically. The Raiders traded away their best defensive weapon in Hall, which I don't understand so they will need to go into free agency and find some good players to fill the holes in one of the leagues worse defenses. The Raiders are ranked 26th in average points allowed a game, 27th in average yards allowed a game, and next to last in rushing yards allowed a game. Former Giants head coach Jim Fassel is rumored to be interested in the job but i really think that Davis will go after the Giants defensive coordinator hard in the offseason, or if Herm Edwards becomes available he could slip into this job