Every year around this time, the topic of coaches’ job security comes up. And every year, we speculate.
We’ll keep an eye on rookie coaches like Vance Joseph, whose Broncos have fallen off the scoreboard (and out of contention), and cool off on John Fox, whose decision to start Mitch Trubisky may have bought him some time in Chicago.
But things are only heating up when it comes to these five coaches:
Ben McAdoo, New York Giants
2017 record: 1-9
Overall record with Giants: 12-13 (second season)
You’d be hard-pressed to find a team that has fallen as far and as fast as the Giants this season.
Just one year after going 11-5 under McAdoo in his rookie season, the Giants have the 25th-ranked offence and the second-worst defence, and while injuries are to blame for much of it, all signs point to the head coach having totally lost this team. Nowhere was that more evident than in San Francisco this past Sunday during a losing effort that saw the Giants all but give up right there on the field.
Many expressed surprise that McAdoo even made the trip home with the club following the Week 10 loss, but ownership came out in support of the beleaguered bench boss on Tuesday to say they won’t be making any mid-season decisions.
There are a lot of changes that need to be made in New York, but it starts with the coach. If the Giants don’t part ways with McAdoo in favour of a fresh start in 2018, we would be… um, speechless.
Hue Jackson, Cleveland Browns
2017 record: 0-9
Overall record with Browns: 1-24 (second season)
A talented offensive coordinator, Jackson has yet to translate that into much success as a head coach—his one year as the boss in Oakland didn’t go so well either.
By all reports, Jackson is well-respected by his players—and has taken the fall for some rookie mistakes made by them—but you just cannot ignore the numbers: 1-24 overall, and winless this season.
The rebuilding Browns were expected to take a few steps this year thanks to a decent offensive line and a (gasp!) starting quarterback, but they consistently find ways to lose.
While it’s a painful thought for Browns fans to see yet another front-office shakeup in Cleveland, something’s got to give—and it might just cost Jackson his job.
Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals
2017 record: 3-6
Overall record with Bengals: 121-109-3 (15th season)
Over the past decade and a half, the Bengals have been defined by two things: playoff losses and questions about Marvin Lewis’ employment. Based on the team’s position in the standings following a 6-9-1 record in 2016, talk of the latter could soon be getting louder. (There are even t-shirts this year.)
The longtime head coach has led the Bengals to four division titles and seven wild card games during his 14-year tenure in Cincinnati (the league’s second-longest, behind Patriots coach Bill Belichick), but hasn’t won any of them. There’s no doubting he’s a strong football mind—he’s the franchise’s winningest coach, and has seen a number of his assistants graduate to head coaching gigs—but 15 years might be the end of his sideline run.
Lewis, 58, isn’t under contract beyond this season, though that’s been the modus operandi since 2010 when he signed a two-year deal followed by a series of one-year contracts in the seasons that followed.
The team fired offensive coordinator Ken Zampese in September after a horrid start to the season, though things haven’t gotten much better as the Bengals are once again dead last in total offence.
Lewis has taken to publicly calling out his players recently, voicing his disappointment in rookie receiver John Ross and sounding critical of running back Jeremy Hill’s decision to undergo ankle surgery.
Sounds like a fresh start might be needed all around, and with a contract that doesn’t stretch beyond this season, the opportunity for a clean cut is there.
Dirk Koetter, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2017 record: 3-6
Overall record with Buccaneers: 12-13 (second season)
When Dirk Koetter took the Tampa Bay head coaching gig, he was handed a young roster with plenty of potential and turned it into a 9-7 2016 season. He hasn’t been able to do much with it since.
Expectations around Tampa Bay were high going into 2017 as the young, talented team looked to make its mark as a contender. Instead, they’ve been branded as one of the most disappointing squads in the league—the same title the Oakland Raiders have been flirting with—while struggling to put points on the board and suffering a five-game losing skid.
Questions about his handling of Jameis Winston’s shoulder injury, which now has the quarterback sidelined for a few weeks to heal, as well as lack of discipline and questionable clock management has only added to the mounting criticism of Koetter that has sat squarely on his shoulders since the day he was hired.
Chuck Pagano, Indianapolis Colts
2017 record: 3-7
Overall record with Colts: 52-38-0 (sixth season)
Colts owner Jim Irsay ousted general manager Ryan Grigson and replaced him with Chris Ballard in January, and Ballard said at the time he would treat 2017 as an opportunity to assess the team. That includes the head coach and this season hasn’t had many highlights under Chuck Pagano this year.
In his defence, he hasn’t got much to work with. Between off-season departures and a still-injured star quarterback in Andrew Luck, the Colts are a team with a lot of question marks. One positive that could be found in the club’s Week 10 matchup was that this team hasn’t given up altogether (see Giants, New York) and while they’re unable to close the deal in the fourth quarter, have made things interesting late in games—which means Pagano hasn’t necessarily lost his players.
“Some years are like this,” Pagano said earlier this week, via ESPN’s Mike Wells. “It makes you better if you don’t quit, if you don’t give in. If you learn lessons and you’ve got to learn; you’ve got to grow. You’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to be able to look at it and say, ‘OK, this is why.’ Point it out and say, ‘This is why this is happening, so let’s fix this, this and this.’ You keep going, you keep going, you keep going.”
But with a new front office often comes a new coach, and the Colts need a fresh start.
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