Week 7 Head Coach Ranking

The Associated Press bestows a well-known annual Coach of the Year award based on the opinions of a panel of 50 broadcasters and writers, but there's no statistical analysis to back up what is a "conventional wisdom" award based largely on wins, losses, and playoff performance. FootballGenerals' Coach Ranking is the first unbiased statistical analysis based on the performance of each head coach. 

Here is the commentary supporting the ranking for Week 7.  Please go to www.FootballGenerals.com for more detail.

Its good to be on top

Another week, another dominating victory for Jeff Fisher and the Tennessee Titans.  The Titans continue to perform above expectations and remain a perfect 6-0 against the Vegas spread, keeping Fisher in first place in the FootballGenerals.com head coach rankings. 

Dick Jauron showed the world why he is an early head coach of the year candidate, as the Buffalo Bills were well prepared against the tough San Diego Chargers.  It is apparent Jauron instilled discipline into his team over the bye week, as his team significantly won the turnover battle against the Chargers.  The turnover ratio had been a problem for Jauron’s team leading up to the game against the Chargers, as the Bills had been ranked 26^th in the league.  But after dominating the Chargers 3-0 in the turnover department, the Bills are playing more controlled football, helping Jauron stay in second place behind Fisher in the head coach rankings.

Mike Tomlin rounds out the top 3, with his team’s dominating performance against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals.  The Steelers only gave up 15 yards in penalties, lowering their season average to 51.5 yards a game and helping Tomlin shoot up the rankings.

With the Carolina Panthers’ huge win against division rival New Orleans Saints, John Fox was a big mover in the rankings, going from 11^th up to 4^th.  Fox completely out-coached Sean Payton in the second half, as the Panthers outscored the Saints 17-0 after halftime.  Fox, who is now 6^th in the league in halftime scoring differential, will need to continue to effectively execute his halftime adjustments in order to make a run for the No. 1 slot in the rankings.

Middle of the pack

The Chicago Bears’ have been doing a good job forcing turnovers all season, but in Week 7 against the Minnesota Vikings, the turnovers ultimately were the deciding factor in the victory.  In a close game decided by only 7 points, head coach Lovie Smith saw his Bears win the turnover margin 5-1, and now is tied for 4^th in the league with a turnover ratio of +5.  With his team’s effort, Smith moves up 7 spots to the 9^th position in the head coach rankings and will need to maintain a positive turnover ratio in order to stay in the top ten.

Tony Dungy fell from 5^th to 15^th in the rankings after his team’s ugly play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 7.  The Colts, who only surrendered an average of 32 penalty yards per game last year, gave up an uncharacteristically high 110 penalty yards in Week 7.  Dungy needs to have his team playing more disciplined football in order to stop his free fall in the rankings.

Pack your bags, the party is over

Mike Nolan has been fired in the middle of a disappointing season for the San Francisco 49ers. Nolan finished his season positioned 29^th in the FootballGenerals head coach ranking, as there were not many positives things to say about his team’s performance through seven games.  Nolan’s 49ers ranked 30^th in the league with a -8 turnover margin, were tied for 30^th place in scoring within the two minute warning, and were an abysmal 2-5 against the Vegas Spread.  Hopefully new head coach Mike Singletary can spark some new energy with the team.

Next to get fired

After six straight losses, Marvin Lewis finally finds himself at the bottom of the head coach rankings.  This week, Lewis let a close game at halftime slip away as his Bengals got outscored to the tune of 28-3 in the second half.  Lewis’ lack of in-game adjustments is evident, as his team has a net scoring differential of -59 points in the second half, good for 31^st in the league.  Only time will tell how much patience the ownership has with Lewis at the helm of the team.