10 NFL Coaches with the Most Questions Left to Answer

The 2015 regular season has reached its midway point, so what better time to examine the performances of the guys in charge.

In this list we explore coaches who have done little to please the front office, taking into consideration those who have failed to maximize their rosters, have made questionable in-game decisions and are failing to live up to preseason expectations. This isn’t a list of coaches on the hot seat.

Will Chuck Pagano top the list, or does the Detroit Lions’ capitulation leave Jim Caldwell with more questions to answer?

Honorable Mention: Pete Carroll

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The Seattle Seahawks have surrendered fourth-quarter leads in each of their four losses in 2015. That’s hardly the hallmark of a team that is aiming to reach the Super Bowl for the third successive season.

At 4-4, Seattle sits third in the NFC West, two wins behind Arizona. The Cardinals are playing far superior football to the Seahawks, who must first surpass the St. Louis Rams before they can target Bruce Arians’ division-topping team.

Jimmy Graham’s involvement in the Seahawks offense is increasing with each passing game, but the offseason trade for the tight end in exchange for center Max Unger is surely one Pete Carroll would reconsider if given the opportunity.

The Seahawks have allowed 31 sacks and 60 quarterback hits, the league’s worst numbers, and before Sunday’s win against the Dallas Cowboys, the offensive line had allowed a sack in every game since the Super Bowl win against Denver.

Russell Wilson relies on his legs more than any other quarterback in the league—everyone knows that. But, after the QB signed a four-year, $87.6 million in July, Carroll’s No. 1 priority should have been to ensure the Seahawks’ franchise quarterback has the necessary protection to remain healthy for those four years.

10. Jeff Fisher

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The St. Louis Rams haven’t reached the playoffs since 2004, but there can be no excuses if Jeff Fisher’s team fails to make the postseason this time around.

Fisher has at his disposal a talented defense and a rookie running back in Todd Gurley with the potential to become a superstar. 

At 4-3, the Rams are on the perimeter of a playoff berth with nine weeks remaining. It’s easy to look at St. Louis as an underdog in a division with the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, but the Rams have proved to be serious competitors in the NFC West. Last Sunday they beat the San Francisco 49ers and previously won games against the Seahawks in Week 1 and Cardinals in Week 4.

With such a talented roster, Fisher has a great opportunity to extinguish the losing mentality that has plagued the Rams since 2005. If they come up short, there’s only one man to blame.

9. Tom Coughlin

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If the New York Giants fail to reach the playoffs, they will point to unforgivable losses in Week 1 and Week 2. 

The Giants blew double-digit, fourth-quarter leads to the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons to start the season 0-2. They’ve since rebounded to top the NFC East, but those losses have ensured the Giants remain in touching distance of their divisional rivals. 

Even the Cowboys, fourth in the division, are within reach of the Giants. 

Tom Coughlin has come under fire for a series of odd coaching decisions. He took the blame for the play call on third down against the Cowboys, when the Giants elected to pass the ball on the 1-yard line while up by three points with 1:43 remaining. Everyone knows how that one finished.

Then in Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills, the Giants threw the ball on consecutive plays while up by 14 points with less than four minutes to go. The second of those passes resulted in an interception. Buffalo couldn’t make full use of the turnover, but the play-calling was nevertheless careless.

Their inability to close out games—the Giants would have gone into overtime against the New Orleans Saints last Sunday but for a 24-yard punt return and 15-yard penalty that allowed the Saints to win the game with a 50-yard field goal as time expired—could come back to hurt Coughlin and the Giants.

8. Sean Payton

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When the head coach’s future is being discussed midway through the season, it’s obvious that something is not quite right.

That’s exactly the situation the New Orleans Saints face with Sean Payton, who is rumored to be on the move at the end of the season, according to Ian Rapoport on Around the NFL (h/t NFL.com).

To his credit, Payton has done a fine job of ignoring the noise and turning the Saints’ season around after a 1-4 start.

On a three-game winning streak and facing a schedule that includes six games against teams with losing records, the Saints have a chance at a wild-card spot. 

Payton can’t let any outside distractions impact the Saints' season—not now that it’s back on track. 

7. Lovie Smith

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Last Sunday’s win against the Atlanta Falcons epitomized the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' season. 

Great in parts, shocking in others.

They have yet to earn back-to-back wins as Jameis Winston continues to find his feet in the NFL, but thanks to those rare flashes of promise, the Buccaneers have reason to believe Lovie Smith is capable of taking the Bucs to the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

That won’t happen in 2015, though. Simply put, the Buccaneers have underperformed in crucial games—games that Smith would have identified as winnable. 

The 42-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, the 19-9 loss to the Houston Texans in Week 3, the 31-30 loss to the Washington Redskins—in which the Bucs led by 24 points—in Week 7. 

They even blew a 17-point lead against the Falcons before winning in overtime.

Smith isn’t in the hot seat—the shock win in the Georgia Dome saw to that—but 2015 will go down as a season of “what ifs” for the 57-year-old. 

6. Mike Pettine

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In his introductory press conference, Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine said his team would be “built on toughness,” per NFL.com's Marc Sessler. 

That was in 2014, when Pettine was appointed head coach following the 2013 season in which Rob Chudzinski lead the team to a wretched finish 4-12. 

Pettine’s tenure at the helm of the Browns is 24 games old, and yet the toughness that he spoke of is nowhere to be seen.

Cleveland ranks last in rushing defense, allowing 147 yards per game, and 31st in rushing offense, gaining an average of 84 yards on the ground per game.

The Browns are 22nd in sacks (13 through eight games), 28th in sacks allowed (27) and 30th in quarterback hits allowed (59). 

Toughness? Yeah, right.

5. Mike McCoy

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Philip Rivers is on pace to throw for 5,506 yards and 36 touchdowns. His 69.8 percent completion percentage is best among quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts, per Fansided's Andrew Schuster. He has a passer rating of 102.1.

And yet Rivers won't make an appearance in the postseason for the second straight year.

The San Diego Chargers are 2-6 and have lost four in a row. Four of their six losses have been by seven points or fewer.

The 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers showed that the Chargers can compete with the league’s best. The 37-29 loss to the Oakland Raiders the following week, in which San Diego trailed 37-6, instantly wiped away that thought.

Mike McCoy may boast a quarterback who is capable of putting up at least 300 yards per game, but that counts for nothing when the defense can’t stop conceding points. San Diego’s defense is the only one in the league to allow at least 19 offensive points in every game, per the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee. 

The Chargers are beset with injuries—a staggering 12 players were hurt in Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, with No. 1 receiver Keenan Allen suffering a season-ending lacerated kidney.

But McCoy can’t use that as an excuse. ESPN.com's Eric D. Williams hit the nail on the head with regard to San Diego’s injuries when he wrote: “The injuries are a major concern, but good teams overcome them because they have enough quality depth so the play doesn't drop significantly when backups enter the game.”

4. Rex Ryan

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When Rex Ryan was appointed head coach of the Buffalo Bills in January, many saw it as the dawn of a successful era in Buffalo.

Ryan, a defensive-minded coach, was now in charge of a top-five defense. On the other side of the ball, the additions of LeSean McCoy, Percy Harvin, Charles Clay and Richie Incognito in the offseason signaled the team’s ambition.

Yet seven games into the season, the Bills have a losing record and are facing a three-game stretch against their AFC East rivals that will make or break their year.

Buffalo has been unfortunate with injuries, but it’s not due to players getting hurt that the Bills have accrued the most penalties in the league with 72.

Nor is it due to injuries that the Bills were too emotionally driven in a Week 2 loss to the New England Patriots. The Bills had 14 penalties in the game, with Ryan admitting, per the Bills website: “You should play with emotion, but sometimes you let your emotions get the better of you and it went to our detriment. It starts with me. I obviously have to control my emotions a little better with regard to how things are going." 

That didn’t stop Ryan making childish postgame comments about not knowing New England running back Dion Lewis’ name or telling the Patriots “next time run the ball.”

Perhaps the biggest mystery of Ryan’s tenure is the production—or lack thereof—of the highly paid defensive line. Marcell Dareus and Mario Williams, who have combined for just four sacks on the year, have both publicly questioned Ryan’s scheme, which has produced just 11 sacks in total, per Yahoo Sports (h/t ESPN.com).

"I'm not going to let our fans down," Ryan said in his introductory press conference in January, per ESPN.com. "I'm not going to do that. I know it's been 15 years [since Buffalo reached the playoffs]. Well, get ready. We're going."

If he fails to turn things around quickly, Ryan will have to deliver on that promise another year.

3. Chip Kelly

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If there’s any evidence that nothing of any actual importance can be gleaned from the preseason, it can be found in Philadelphia. The Eagles are 3-4 and third in the NFC East.

The league was sold a false impression by the Eagles, who averaged 33.25 points in the preseason as the rest of the league feared that Chip Kelly had located the missing piece in his much-vaunted offense. 

Turns out he didn't.

Sam Bradford isn’t the rejuvenated quarterback we presumed he was. DeMarco Murray is doing nothing to dispel the idea that his incredible 2014 season was a result of the Dallas Cowboys’ resolute offensive line.

Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff haven’t been the dangerous weapons Kelly hoped they would be, scoring just one touchdown apiece.  

Some thought first-round draft pick Nelson Agholor would be in the running for Offensive Rookie of the Year, but his rookie season has been a huge disappointment. Eight receptions through eight weeks has put an end to any talk of Agholor appearing at the postseason NFL Honors show. 

Kelly has been credited for revolutionizing the way offenses attack, but his scheme is hardly revolutionary if it fails to work. 

2. Jim Caldwell

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First to go were the offensive coordinator and his two offensive line coaches. Then on November 5 the team announced that the president and general manager had been relieved of their duties. 

The one who coached the 1-7 team? He’s still around.

According to ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein, Jim Caldwell still has a job as the Detroit Lions head coach because firing him would leave the team understaffed. 

That he’s more than likely to depart in the offseason is the sole reason Caldwell sits at No. 2 on this list. The season is too far gone for him to defend himself.

But before that fateful time arrives, Caldwell can be blamed for the Lions’ abhorrent 2015 season—from 11-5 and the Wild Card Round in 2014 to complete disarray midway through the following season.

The Lions’ turnover ratio of minus-nine is the league’s worst. Matthew Stafford has thrown at least one interception in six games. The offensive line has allowed a league-high 60 quarterback hits. The Lions rank last in rushing yards, averaging a measly 69.6 yards per game, 14.4 yards behind the 31st-ranked team. 

Things aren’t much better on the other side of the ball. Detroit ranks 32nd in points conceded per game (30.6), 27th in yards allowed per game (385.8) and 31st in rushing defense (133.8 yards per game). 

The worst thing for Caldwell? He won’t be around to use the Lions’ No. 1 overall pick.

1. Chuck Pagano

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The Indianapolis Colts’ season is crumbling at a rapid pace.

The 29-26 loss to the Carolina Panthers was their fifth loss of the season and third in a row. The Colts now share the same record as the Houston Texans and are far from a lock for the AFC South crown.

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was fired after the Monday night loss, and Chuck Pagano may well follow suit if he is unable to inspire what was supposed to be a competitive roster.

His persistence to play Andrew Luck is unfair to both Luck, who is battling problems that cannot be fixed by simply playing more minutes, and his backup Matt Hasselbeck, who is 2-0 in the games Luck missed due to a shoulder injury. 

The botched fake field goal against the New England Patriots was a microcosm of the team's season. It was a disaster from the beginning and gradually getting worse as Pagano’s stubbornness continues to hinder the team.

If the Colts fail to top a division containing the Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, it will rank as one of the most embarrassing seasons in NFL history. That’s why Pagano tops this list—it’s a genuine possibility that the Colts finish second or even third in the AFC South.