Which NFL coaches are in the hot seat after week 10? McDaniels, Kingsbury...
Two NFL coaches have already been fired this season and several are on the hot seat after Week 10, although apparently the worst of them is safe, for now.
At the end of Week 10, there is one glaringly obvious NFL head coach in the hot seat and that’s Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels. McDaniels’ seventh loss in nine games came against recently hired and inexperienced Indianapolis Colts coach Jeff Saturday. It wasn’t pretty and his future isn’t looking bright. He’s not the only coach on the hot seat this week either. Let’s take a look at all the coaches whose current careers are in jeopardy after Week 10.
1. Josh McDaniels, Las Vegas Raiders
The Athletic reported on Monday that Josh McDaniels was given assurances by the Raiders owners that he will return in 2023. And yet…
Not only did Josh McDaniels endure his seventh loss in nine games on Sunday, but he suffered that loss to the Colts’ interim head coach Jeff Saturday. Why is that so embarrassing? Well, Saturday has zero experience coaching at a professional or even college level. He was a former Colts offensive lineman who has only ever coached at the high school level. And McDaniels was out-coached by Saturday in his first game as an NFL coach.
The Raiders had the lead in the fourth quarter, but blew it…again. They are playing terribly in the second half this season. The 25-20 loss to the Colts highlighted the teams’ weaknesses in general, but especially on defense.
“We’re going to have to learn to take some of these close losses and make some of the plays we need to make throughout the course of the game … to find our way into the win column,” McDaniels said in his postgame news conference.
If he’s not actually on the hot seat, he really ought to be.
2. Lovie Smith, Houston Texans
The Texans had a one-and-done coach last season with David Culley. They hired Lovie Smith, and now he’s got a 1-7-1 record in his first season. With Davis Mills in at quarterback (who Smith said he wouldn’t give “any thought” to changing) and a weak (to say the least) run defense, the Texans aren’t showing much sign of improving in the second half of the season. It’s possible we could see the Texans become the first team since 2015 to have back-to-back one-and-done coaches.
3. Nathaniel Hackett, Denver Broncos
Nathaniel Hackett said they’d made some improvements to the Broncos offense, but clearly not. Ever since the season opener when he made that questionable call at the end of the game to lose to Seattle, it’s been downhill for the Broncos and downhill for Hackett. In Week 10, they lost to the Titans and are now two losses away from officially losing a playoff game. Hackett is in great danger of being a one-and-done coach in his first year as an NFL head coach.
4. Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona Cardinals
Kingsbury can’t seem to get out of the hot seat, but he did get a little break from it this week. With starting quarterback Kyler Murray out with an injury, the Cardinals beat the LA Rams on the road with Colt McCoy in at quarterback. He had a good start with the Cardinals and hasn’t been terrible in general. He led the Cardinals to their third-best two-year point differential improvement in the last 45 years, but their second-half season declines and lack of playoff appearances have him keeping the hot seat nice and warm.
5. Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
Dan Campbell might be safe for now after getting division wins over the Packers and Bears, but his 5-19-1 record will have to greatly improve if he wants to stay safe. That record is worse than Matt Patricia’s was when he was fired in his third season.
He may be a likeable guy, but after a while, that’s simply not enough to keep a job as a head coach in the NFL.