2011 NFL Predictions: Which NFL Coaches Have the Shortest Shelf Life?

Hope is once again springing eternal at NFL training camps, even if it's actually summer. Every team, from the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers to the lowly Carolina Panthers, is sitting on a 0-0 record with the (unrealistic) expectation of going out on Sundays, or Mondays or Thursdays, to win every game. What choice is there but to be optimistic with the lockout over and fresh faces in new places all over the league?

Obviously, that won't happen. If anything, many of those teams will fall short of even the realistic goals they've set for themselves heading into the 2011 season, leaving coaches in the cross hairs as a result.

The coaching hot seat will take some time to warm up, but there are a select few head honchos under whom their desk chairs already feel like beds of hot coals.

Another spark, another few degrees of heat, another slump of a season, and these guys will be collecting unemployment when the curtain has closed on the upcoming NFL season.

With that in mind, here are the coaches whose jobs will be in greatest jeopardy when the 2011 campaign kicks off in a month.

Mike Shanahan, Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins have invested an inordinate amount of money and faith in Mike Shanahan since he arrived in the Beltway and he has yet to do much of anything to justify any of it.

Granted, he's only been on the job for a year and deserves at least some leeway in setting a long-wayward franchise back on the path to success.

However, Shanahan has done plenty in that one year to plant his behind firmly on the hot seat. Just a few months into his tenure, he swapped a second-round pick in 2010 and a conditional mid-round pick in 2011 to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Donovan McNabb. Shanahan then cleared the way for McNabb to play by trading Jason Campbell to the Oakland Raiders for a fourth-round pick in 2012. Much to the chagrin of Redskins fans, Shanahan and McNabb subsequently butted heads time and again over the course of last season. This resulted in Shanahan benching McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman and later trading McNabb to Minnesota for a sixth-round pick in 2012 and a conditional pick in 2013.

Oh, and the Redskins went 6-10 last season to finish in the cellar of the rough-and-tumble NFC East, but only after Shanahan struggled to get malcontent Albert Haynesworth under control.

Haynesworth and McNabb are gone, but the Redskins struggles may not be. The additions of Stephen Bowen and Barry Cofield along the defensive line don't figure to be enough to offset the fact that Washington is still without a reliable option at quarterback. Unless anyone thinks an overweight Rex Grossman or an injured and unproven John Beck will be enough to carry the day.

Thus, don't expect the Redskins to hang on to Shanahan if the missteps, both on and off the field, continue to pile up. 

Tom Coughlin, New York Giants

The Redskins may be looking at the New York Giants in the NFC East, though the turmoil that's currently bubbling up in the Meadowlands may soon have the two teams switching places in the divisional hierarchy.

To be clear, Tom Coughlin is not entirely, or really even mostly, to blame for Big Blues recent blunders. The G-Men went 6-2 over the first half of the 2010 season before finishing up an even 4-4, including crucial late-season losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers, to finish out of the playoff picture.

For that, Coughlin deserves a good deal of grief, though frankly, it's tough to be too hard on a guy whose amassed a record of 65-47 over the course of seven years in the Big Apple, including four postseason appearances and one of the most memorable Super Bowl wins over the 18-0 New England Patriots in 2008.

But, as is the case with any New York sports franchise, memory is short and patience is thin, which doesn't bode well for Coughlin, whose team hasn't played deep into January since 2009.

What's more, Giants general manager Jerry Reese hasn't done Coughlin any favors with the roster. If anything, the Giants' front office has made it exponentially more difficult for Coughlin to keep his job now that Osi Umenyiora is upset, Kevin Boss is in Oakland and the Eagles and Redskins have feasted in free agency.

Throw in the fact that Coughlin, by his very demeanor, tends to rub people the wrong way and you've got a pink slip in the making at the Meadowlands. 

Tony Sparano, Miami Dolphins

Bill Parcells knows all about the pressure of winning in New York and did what he could to impart his knowledge of success onto the Miami Dolphins, in part by hiring Tony Sparano as the team's head coach back in 2008.

Well, Parcells is no longer particularly active in the Dolphins front office, leaving Sparano to face what figures to be a trying season in Miami without his biggest supporter.

The Fins fared well in Sparano's first season on the job, compiling an 11-5 record, just a year after going 1-15, to win the AFC East and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

Two 7-9 finishes since then have rendered that magical introduction a long-lost memory for Sparano, who now faces another year with Chad Henne at quarterback and the New York Jets and New England Patriots getting stronger by the day.

Adding Reggie Bush and Jason Taylor should help a little, but neither move does much to make up for the fact that GM Jeff Ireland misplayed his opportunity to snag Kyle Orton from the Denver Broncos.

As such, Sparano figures to be left high and dry as the Dolphins struggle to swim against the current in the top-heavy AFC East.

Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans

Gary Kubiak's tenure in Houston has followed something of a perpendicular arc to that of Sparano in Miami, though that trajectory may land him in the unemployment line by season's end nonetheless.

Kubiak has had the unenviable task of being the Texans' second coach in their brief history, especially in a division in which the Indianapolis Colts reign year in and year out while the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans take turns playing second fiddle.

That being said, Kubiak has come close to guiding the Texans to the playoffs, even willing his team to a 9-7 record and a second-place finish in the AFC South in 2009.

Close, but no cigar.

All told, Kubiak's coaching record thus far has amounted to one winning season and no postseason appearances in five seasons. Many around the NFL expected the Texans to dump Kubiak after the team regressed to a 6-10 record last season, yet here he still is, planted perhaps more firmly on the hot seat than any coach in professional football.

Houston might yet improve its record if Matt Schaub and Arian Foster can stay healthy. Also, if free agent acquisitions Johnathan Joseph and Danieal Manning can revamp a secondary that was dead last against the pass in 2010.

That's a lot to ask, especially for a team whose coach is on the brink, and may well prove to be too much for Kubiak to keep his job. 

Lovie Smith, Chicago Bears

Not a year goes by that someone doesn't mention something about Lovie Smith's job being in jeopardy. That would presumably be the status quo for a coach who's guided his team to four winning seasons and three playoffs appearances, including a Super Bowl berth, in seven years on the job.

Now, it may seem strange to suggest that Smith would be on the hot seat after his Chicago Bears won the NFC North in 2010, though the team's poor play against the division-rival Green Bay Packers in Week 17 of the regular season and in the NFC Championship Game hinted at the fact that all is not well in the Windy City. This, after Smith was nearly let go after a dismal 7-9 campaign back in 2009.

At this point, the Bears will only go as far as quarterback Jay Cutler will take them, which is to say, not very far if his disputed knee injury is any indication. Chicago upgraded its offensive line a bit this offseason to prevent that situation from playing out again, though the moody Cutler may yet be done with his days as a weak-willed whiner.

Which certainly doesn't bode well for Lovie, who has to rely on Cutler to carry the day. The picture only grows more grim when considering the continued strength of the Packers and the steady improvement of the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings this summer via the NFL Draft, trades and free agency.

To see Smith go would be a shame, as he is truly one of the good guys in the NFL working in any capacity.

Unfortunately for him, being a good guy doesn't necessarily translate to winning games nor it is enough to stave off being fired if and when the losses start mounting.

And if defeats do indeed come with greater frequency in Chicago this season, expect Lovie to be the first guy to go.