Hot Seat Check on Mike McDaniel and 4 Other Struggling NFL Coordinators

The midpoint of the 2026 NFL season is upon us, making for an ideal time to perform some temperature checks on coaching staffs around the league.

While most of the teams that have fallen well out of contention this early in the year will give serious consideration to a head coaching change in the coming months, there are a handful of organizations that stand to benefit more from a coordinator shakeup.

For clubs that still have a chance to make the playoffs or have entrenched head coaches with a proven track record of winning, it would be imprudent to go with the nuclear option of dismissing their leader.

The coordinators working under these head coaches aren't nearly as indispensable, however, and an in-season play-caller swap or even a dismissal could be in the works if they can't get things sorted on their side of the ball soon.

With that in mind, here's a hot seat check for five struggling NFL coordinators heading into Week 9.

OC Zac Robinson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have secured a convincing win over the rival Atlanta Falcons and kept their playoff hopes alive and well in the unsightly NFC South race, but it's still fair to question offensive coordinator Zac Robinson's future with the franchise in the wake of the performance.

The most shocking aspect of Tampa's 16-0 victory was how it came without a single pass being completed by the winning team. Baker Mayfield started and played all 60 offensive snaps in the rain-soaked contest, but failed to connect on any of his three throws.

That's a stark regression from even Week 7, when Mayfield connected on just seven of his 11 passing attempts for a grand total of 64 yards. While Tampa won both games in blowout fashion, this sort of pre-merger style offense isn't sustainable and will be exploited by the far better defenses the team will face outside the NFC South.

While weather, Mayfield's thumb injury and some outstanding rushing work contributed to Robinson's decision to pound the rock relentlessly in recent weeks, the Bucs still need to prove they can pass the ball effectively at some point soon.

Mayfield has the talent to be an elite passer, demonstrating as much during an incredible 2024 campaign with current Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen running the offense. The veteran QB racked up an eye-popping 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns through the air that season.

The regression Mayfield has experienced under Robinson may be best visualized when extrapolating the passer's performances over his first five games of 2026 to a full 17-game season. Doing so results in just 2,308 yards and 10 touchdowns, a far cry from even the modest 3,693 yards and 26 touchdowns he recorded last year under former OC Josh Grizzard.

Robinson's seat may not be too hot quite yet, but the Bucs' schedule has some tough stretches in the back half of the campaign. If he can't find a way to jump-start the league's worst passing offense, it's hard to see him returning in 2027.

Seat Temperature: Medium Low

DC Al Golden, Cincinnati Bengals

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Al Golden's seat should be considered warm despite his team being right in the thick of the playoff hunt and pulling out a big victory over the weekend.

The Cincinnati Bengals' defense got off to a promising start to the 2026 season under Al Golden but has since regressed significantly, approaching last year's troubling levels of ineptitude.

Golden's tenure as Cincinnati's DC started off on a low note. After taking the reins ahead of the 2025 campaign, the former Temple and Miami head coach oversaw a unit that ultimately finished No. 30 in scoring and No. 31 in total defense.

The Bengals made some significant personnel changes in the wake of that disappointing 6-11 season, seemingly intent on avoiding squandering yet another season of star quarterback Joe Burrow's prime. Golden was retained in his same DC role, however, and that decision by head coach Zac Taylor could come back to haunt the franchise.

While the Bengals have flashed the ability to play better defense in 2026—most notably holding the Houston Texans to a meager six points in Week 2—they haven't done so with any consistency. With the team nearly losing to the lowly Tennessee Titans on Sunday, major adjustments are clearly needed to get this defense dialed in.

Golden's group allowed the Titans to score 36 points, far and away the most the hapless squad put up in 2026. Tennessee was averaging 15.4 points per game prior to Week 8 before ripping off three consecutive scoring drives to open the contest. If it weren't for the resolve of Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, it would have been an embarrassing loss to a foe that had already waved the white flag when it traded away top defender Jeffery Simmons earlier in the week.

Golden has failed to elevate this defense to even a league-average level by the season's midpoint. There's enough time to fix things—and a splashy trade deadline acquisition could greatly aid that endeavor—but Cincy's brass may have to consider a drastic maneuver if Golden can't find a way to orchestrate the turnaround himself.

Seat Temperature: Medium

DC Christian Parker, Dallas Cowboys

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

The Dallas Cowboys suffered a disheartening defeat to the Arizona Cardinals this weekend. The loss not only dropped the club to 3-5 on the season and multiple games back in the NFC East race, but it could also prompt the dismissal of defensive coordinator Christian Parker.  

Prior to Sunday, the Cowboys boasted a 202-0-1 all-time record when leading by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter. That unbeaten run ended when their defense allowed the Cardinals to mount a furious comeback and prevail 33-30 in overtime.

The meltdown has every right to force owner Jerry Jones into a full-blown regime change, although it's far more likely that this Brian Schottenheimer-led coaching staff gets an opportunity to fix things by reallocating defensive play-calling duties or even replacing Parker with another defensive coordinator.

Parker has had a rough go of things since taking over the position earlier this year. The former Philadelphia Eagles' passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach is overseeing a unit that is giving up an NFL-worst 385.4 yards per game (including a league-high 152.8 rushing yards) and concedes a concerning average of 26.6 points per game—the sixth-worst mark in football.

Hopes that the defense may have turned a corner in recent weeks completely dissipated when Dallas was eviscerated by a pair of Arizona backups in QB Gardner Minshew II (who tossed three touchdown passes after taking over for an ineffective Jacoby Brissett) and RB Tyler Allgeier (who had 147 rushing yards on just 11 totes).

Despite a readily apparent need for sweeping changes in Dallas, Jones has long maintained his regrets about dismissing former coach Wade Phillips midway through the 2010 campaign. He echoed that sentiment on Sunday, expressing faith in Schottenheimer to turn the team around.

With Schottenheimer seemingly safe, Parker becomes the most obvious chopping block candidate and may be out before the month is over.

Seat Temperature: Hot

OC Sean Mannion, Philadelphia Eagles

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For the second consecutive season, the offensive coordinator role has become a serious problem for the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Philadelphia fans were largely relieved when head coach Nick Sirianni dismissed Kevin Patullo from his coaching staff after a rocky 2025 campaign, things haven't come anywhere close to improving under successor Sean Mannion.

Injuries have been the unfortunate story of Philadelphia's season, one that began with much promise but is almost certain to end with the franchise missing the playoffs for the first time since Sirianni took the reins in 2021.

Injuries aren't the sole reason for the squad's 2-6 record, however, as the NFC East-leading New York Giants have remained competent despite losing their star quarterback and several other key contributors early in the year.

Philadelphia was certain to regress with Jalen Hurts sidelined for the year, Saquon Barkley dealing with nagging hamstring and back issues and the offensive line getting gutted, but the offense now rates amongst the league's absolute worst following a six-game losing skid. Under Mannion, the Eagles head into Week 9 ranking No. 27 in passing, No. 27 in rushing, No. 30 in scoring and dead-last in total offense.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Marcus Hayes cited Mannion as the Eagles' main problem over the past six weeks, highlighting the 34-year-old's lackluster credentials and inability to implement a cohesive scheme in his first ever stint as an OC.

With his unit scoring just 10 points against a sieve-like Washington Commanders defense that ranked No. 31 in scoring defense entering Week 8, it's become clear that Mannion isn't the right person to run this offense.

If Sirianni wants to save his job, he's going to have to cut ties and right the ship himself.

Seat Temperature: Red Hot

OC Mike McDaniel, Los Angeles Chargers

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At this point in the Los Angeles Chargers' abysmal season, Mike McDaniel should feel fortunate to still have a job. Things have gone from bad (losing the opener against the Arizona Cardinals) to unfathomably awful (scoring just 15 points over the last two games) in the span of just two months.

While the Bolts entered the campaign as a dark-horse Super Bowl contender, they now must go undefeated the rest of the way to even finish slightly above .500.

A huge reason for this 0-7 start has been a complete offensive breakdown with McDaniel at the helm. L.A. ranks No. 28 in total offense and No. 32 in scoring offense under an offensive coordinator whose arrival was largely celebrated by Chargers fans.

The primary concern for L.A. during this collapse should be quarterback Justin Herbert's regression from fringe Pro Bowler to a borderline unstartable passer. If he continues to lose confidence, it's possible Herbert won't ever be able to regain the form he displayed earlier in his career.

Herbert has completed just 61.8 percent of his throws this year and is now averaging fewer than 200 yards per game while leading the league with 10 interceptions. Some of the signal-caller's decline can be attributed to an inconsistent, banged-up receiving corps that hasn't had Ladd McConkey at full strength for much of the year, but McDaniel's system doesn't appear to mesh whatsoever with the team's star QB.

Jim Harbaugh was asked by Fox's Eric Williams if he's considered making drastic changes such as benching Herbert or stripping McDaniel of play-calling duties, but the head coach declined to directly respond and said it will be a "team effort" to address the myriad of issues L.A.'s offense is contending with.

While that's not quite a vote of confidence, it appears the Bolts will be sticking with McDaniel for a little longer. Whether that will finally result in some victories or completely break Herbert remains to be seen, but the offensive coordinator's tenure looks unlikely to extend beyond the start of the 2027 offseason unless the offense improves dramatically.

Seat Temperature: Burning Hot