Coming to the midpoint of the season, it is imperative that we look back on coaches who may have entered the season on the hot seat or coaches who have worked their way to the hot seat based on performances this season. Being on the hot seat means that at any given moment, the team has enough evidence to relieve the coach of his duties; and if he doesn’t step up and prove his worth, his job will no longer be there. Here are the top five coaches on the hot seat.
Zach Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Since drafting former LSU quarterback No. 1 overall and hiring Zach Taylor as the coach in Cincinnati, it has been nothing but roses and sunshine. Fast forward past several AFC Championship appearances and a Super Bowl appearance to get to a place where they started out 1-3, they have no trophies to account for, the team is going to have to pay people, and Zach Taylor couldn’t win with one of the most potent offenses in the NFL in the past decade. Taylor is now coming into the hardest part of the team’s season where he will have to take on top talent. If he gets past that stretch at anything less than .500, he should get the axe.
Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
Bill Belichick is one of the best coaches in the history of the NFL. However, there comes a time in everyone’s career when it is just time to call it quits. Belichick has multiple Super Bowls and decades of winning seasons under his belt, but he is going nowhere with the current Patriots roster he has. Mac Jones has yet to throw for over 300 yards since the first week of the season and went on a three-game streak without a passing touchdown. New England is in the bottom 10 of the NFL in offensive yards per game and in the bottom 10 in points given up this season. Belichick’s legacy is not tarnished, but his run as the New England coach should be over.
Brandon Staley, Los Angeles Chargers
Brandon Staley is a name that has been on this list for quite some time. He has a team at his disposal with a top-five quarterback, a top-five running back, and a top-10 receiver and has done nothing over the course of the three years he has been their coach. He is 21-19 overall in the regular season, made the playoffs once, and lost. Time is ticking on the core of talent this team has and if Staley can’t get anything done with them, his time as their coach will come to an end sooner rather than later.
Arthur Smith, Atlanta Falcons
Arthur Smith has been the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons since the 2021 season. Over the two years heading into this year that he has been the head coach, he went 18-23 with the team. Smith is somehow finding a way to squeeze games out this season, but his unorthodox methods of getting such done need to leave his name on this hot seat. We saw Bijan Robinson not get more than one touch last week, while his utilization of one of the best physical tight ends in the league has been near zero. He has taken a young core of talented players and made them nothing more than a team that can be forgotten.
Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are in an all-out mess and have been for quite some time. Matt Eberflus is going to be on this hot seat list because he is 5-19 as the coach of this team. However, the team person that should be on this hot seat is Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren on the seat. This team consistently gets top picks and has traded for top talent with nothing to be shown for it. The team couldn’t use David Montgomery and now the Lions are showing what he can really do. This team has been and will continue to be in an abyss until something major changes.
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