NFL Coaching Hot Seats: 10 Coaches Under Pressure

After tomorrow night's game, we will be roughly one-third of the way through the 2011 NFL season. That's far enough for us to begin assessing teams throughout the league as well as their coaches' job security, as heads could begin to roll within the next month for some of these men.

Some coaches are new arrivals to the hot seat, while others have plenty of experience with their futures in question. While there is plenty of time for these coaches to right their ships and save themselves, these are the coaches who ought to be at least beginning to feel the heat.

Click through the slideshow to see the top 10 hottest coaching seats in the NFL.

Todd Haley

Todd Haley looked to have made a breakthrough last season, as he led the young, upstart Kansas City Chiefs to the AFC West crown when almost no one expected it.

When you lead a young team to sudden success, expectations have a way of getting out of control fast, and that's exactly what is happening to Todd Haley.  The Chiefs showed no signs of life through first few weeks of the season, to the bitter disappointment of Chiefs fans.  Unless Haley engineers a huge turnaround, consider him toast.

Seat Temperature: Up in flames

John Fox

John Fox has finally buckled to the pressure of a stadium full of mile-high Tebow chants.  Fox is moving ahead with his genius plan to take an offense built to air it out in the spread and force them to play grind-it-out football with a glorified tight end at quarterback.

Square peg, meet round hole.  Now, word has come out that the Broncos are shopping their two best wide receivers, a sure sign that Fox has been given the latitude to blow up the roster and build it his own way.  Worked great for him in Carolina, no?

Seat Temperature:  Room temperature and rising

Gary Kubiak

What started off as a dream season for the Texans has quickly lost steam.  Mario Williams is gone to IR, Andre Johnson picked up a hamstring injury, and Matt Schaub is still capable of blowing it late in games they should win.  After what seems like an eternity of hearing every year that "this is the Texans' year," a Manning-free division race appeared to be the opening they needed to finally make the playoffs.

If they don't, injuries will not save Kubiak from having failed to win one of the weaker divisions in the league.  Kubiak is sitting at 3-2, so he certainly can save himself, but if this Texans team comes unraveled down the stretch out, he should watch his back.

Seat Temperature:  Comfortably cool, but could get hot fast.

Jack Del Rio

Many NFL observers are mystified that Jack Del Rio has made it this long with such lackluster results in Jacksonville.  The Jaguars essentially gave up on this season before it even started when they cut veteran QB David Garrard for the likes of Luke McCown and rookie Blaine Gabbert.  One has to wonder just how long he can stay employed with results like these.

Seat Temperature: Too hot for LA

Jim Caldwell

Jim Caldwell has looked perhaps the worst in the Colts organization this year in Peyton's absence.  Going with a checked-out and retired Kerry Collins was a terrible idea from the get-go.  Curtis Painter actually looks like a semi-decent QB, or at least someone who could get there with more experience.

It's still unclear to many what exactly Caldwell brings to the picnic besides the fact that Tony Dungy likes him.  If this season totally goes up in smoke, Caldwell could be history.  If Painter comes around, people will wonder why he went with Collins in the first place.  Lose, lose.

Seat Temperature:  Steamy

Tony Sparano

With the Dolphins seemingly in full-on "Suck for Luck" mode, it's hard to know if continuing to lose every week is good or bad for Sparano. I'm going with the latter, as I see no reason why Miami would put Luck's development, assuming they get the No. 1 pick, in Sparano's hands.  The Dolphins are still looking for the next Dan Marino, but one has to wonder why Sparano would make the cut into the new era if they do finally fill the legendary QB's shoes.

Seat Temperature:  Sweltering

Andy Reid

Despite all of the wins Reid has logged for the Philadelphia Eagles, fans have been their typically fickle Philadelphia selves over the last few years and have been quick to turn on him.  This season, they actually have pretty good reasons for calling for Reid's head.  The defense is terrible, and the Michael Vick experience has gone off the rails.  If they can't turn the season around, it could be curtains for Reid.

Seat Temperature: Belligerently warm

Mike Smith

The Atlanta Falcons are in a similar boat as the Kansas City Chiefs.  They have seemingly squandered their momentum from last season's successes, which is always bad for a coach's longevity. The decision to bet the farm on Julio Jones as "the missing piece" also seems to have been a blunder thus far, as this teams has many more issues than just needing another wide receiver.

Mike Smith is probably safe for this season, but the heat is certainly rising.

Seat Temperature: Luke warm

Lovie Smith

Lovie Smith has been on the hot seat before in Chicago.  Last season's playoff appearance seemed to have chilled things out for him in the Windy City.  However, with the rise of the Detroit Lions, the Bears have quickly become afterthoughts in the division.  They still can't protect Jay Cutler, and they still don't have the wide receivers to take advantage of Mike Martz's philosophy.  If they finish a distant third in the NFC North, Lovie's days in Chicago may be over.

Seat Temperature:  Uncomfortably warm

Ken Whisenhunt

Though making it to a Super Bowl in Arizona should be ground for getting a "coach for life" title, things are back to normal in the desert.  Whisenhunt suddenly looks like a much less capable coach without the trifecta of Warner, Boldin and Fitzgerald.  On top of that, the Kevin Kolb era has suffered a fairly disastrous beginning in Arizona, with Kolb looking nothing like the guy that dominated everyone's attention as trade bait in Philadelphia.

Whisenhunt should have plenty of good faith in the bank with ownership, but if he can't make something out of Kolb, it could get ugly quickly.

Seat Temperature: Pleasant dry heat