Top 5 NFL Head Coaches Already On The Hot Seat

The Chicago Bears reported to training camp Friday morning, joining the Houston Texans as the two NFL teams that have already begun full squad preparation for the 2024 season. By the middle of next week, the entire league will be back at work.

Everybody is preparing to win a Super Bowl.

Except that's not going to happen. We know only one team will win it all in February 2025. And we also know, that if this new NFL season is like practically all the others dating back decades, a handful of coaches will be fired by the time it's all over.

So, at the risk of painting this optimistic time with sober restraint, here are OutKick's five most likely coaches to be fired by the time the 2024 NFL season is over:

Oh yeah, not Andy Reid. He's definitely the least likely coach to get fired after this season because he's the league's best coach right now, he's won three Super Bowls in the past five years, and the Kansas City Chiefs didn't enjoy all that success by being dumb.

But onto the list:

Head coach Robert Saleh of the New York Jets looks on during the second half against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on January 08, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Make Or Break For Robert Saleh

New York Jets coach Robert Saleh: 

He's had three losing seasons in three years as an NFL head coach, which all but demands he make the Jets contenders this season or else.

Saleh, 45, has been the victim of bad quarterback play and terrible luck. Aaron Rodgers was supposed to help lift the Jets to prominence last season but lasted only four plays before going down for the season with an Achilles injury. So the Jets had to rely on Zach Wilson, who they had already decided wasn't good enough to start when they traded for Rodgers.

The result was a Pop Warner offense that averaged 15.8 points per game and finished 29th in the NFL. 

So, not all Saleh's fault, right? Well, the Jets also struggled with leaks to the media, players disagreeing with coaching decisions, and other drama that suggested Saleh didn't have everything buttoned up. He got a reprieve because of the Rodgers injury.

This season the Jets have to win or he's almost definitely out. 

Cowboys Have Shortened Practice To Ease Players' Stress  courtesy/ Getty Images

Mike McCarthy Needs Playoff Wins

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy:

The Cowboys are a good team under McCarthy, having won 12 games three consecutive years, and continually factoring as not just a playoff contender but Super Bowl contenders through those regular season successes.

But then the postseason comes along and the team flops. Underachieves. Disappoints.

Last year, the disappointment came in a wild card round upset at home to upstart Green Bay. Owner Jerry Jones went into radio silence for a couple of days afterward to weigh his options after saying all season long the club's playoff success would determine McCarthy's fate.

But despite having Bill Belichick, the NFL's winningest active coach, available to be hired, Jones stuck with McCarthy.

Jones is impossible to predict, so if the Cowboys wilt in the playoffs again, it's hard to predict what the club owner will do. It'll likely depend on a variety of factors – injuries and how the games play out among them. But it's pretty clear McCarthy, in the final year of his contract, needs playoff success to survive. 

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(Courtesy/ Getty Images)

Dennis Allen Borders On Solid

New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen:

He's been an NFL head coach five seasons and has never gotten one of his teams to the postseason. He has managed only one winning season, that coming last year when the Saints climbed to 9-8.

So, tick-tock, the clock is running out on reasons Allen should continue to be an NFL head coach – unless his 2024 team wins. 

The Saints, by the way, haven't made the playoffs since the 2020 season – with two of those missed chances coming under Allen. The club is kind of stuck in a netherworld of not good, but not terrible, either.

That's a bad place to be.

Another season out of the playoffs, or even merely treading water at .500 would suggest Allen simply cannot lift a veteran team and perhaps a total rebuild is in order.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 24: Head coach Matt Eberflus of the Chicago Bears is seen prior to a game against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on September 24, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jason Hanna/Getty Images)

QB Success The Key For Matt Eberflus

Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus:

The Bears won seven games with subpar quarterback play last season, so first overall selection Caleb Williams joins a team that was middling despite not having much firepower in the passing game.

That suggests things: Eberflus, a fine defensive coach, did good work keeping afloat a team with a seismic hole at the most important position. And, he better do great work getting Williams to play well pretty quickly.

Eberflus hired Shane Waldron as the offensive coordinator this year and that seems like a good move because Waldron obviously helped Geno Smith raise his game the past three seasons in Seattle.

The success of that hire might determine whether Eberflus stays or goes after the season.

Eagles head coach Nick Siriani has work to do on the team's offense. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

The Unlikely Hot Seat

Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni:

Coaches who get fired typically are coaching poor teams. That's not the case with Sirianni and the Eagles.

Sirianni is a good coach who helped get the Eagles to the Super Bowl during the 2022 season and the club followed that with 11 wins and a return to the postseason. But that still put Sirianni in the crosshairs because something was, well, off.

Philly lost five of its final six games. It took a beating at the hands of the Buccaneers in the playoffs, and then Sirianni had to scramble to save his job one year after going to the Super Bowl.

He fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators. In fact, he went through two defensive coordinators last year. 

The Eagles have talent. They should be fine and Sirianni won't be on the hot seat. 

But that assumes all that was obviously amiss last season doesn't repeat. Because next time, the head coach might have to answer for the problems.