Chopping Block: NFL Coaching Jobs That Are Far From Safe

Now that we’re halfway through the NFL regular season, there are some head coaches whose jobs are in jeopardy. This season has already seen the firing of Jay Gruden but it’s more than likely that he will not be the last one fired this season.

Adam Gase, New York Jets

 At the beginning of this season, there were some high expectations for the New York Jets. Maybe no one was expecting them to win it all but there was a lot of hope that with a new coach and adding Le’Veon Bell to the mix, they’d have a better season than they have had recently. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Now sitting at 1-7, they are on track to possibly having an even worse record than last year. Especially after this week’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, who until now were winless this season.

It’s important to note that they did lose QB Sam Darnold for a few weeks to an illness and that did not help the team at all. They showed signs of life when Darnold came back and beat the Dallas Cowboys but then immediately went downhill again the next week when the young quarterback reportedly “seeing ghosts” against the New England Patriots.

Though the team’s issues may have a lot to do with player issues and injuries, Gase is not helping his team much either. He has seemingly made no adjustments to help his team and they end up with the same outcome every week. If a team that is basically tanking at this point out plays you, you have to be seriously worried about your job. I do not see Gase lasting the whole season.

Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland Browns

 Yet another team that has severely underplayed where everyone expected them to be is the Cleveland Browns. With an abundance of talent on their roster and a new head coach that their young quarterback actually seemed to respect, many people thought that the Browns would be top contenders in the AFC this season. Like the Jets however, everyone was wrong. The Browns are now at a worse record than they were last season after Week 9.

With the amount of talent that this team has been comprised of, you would think that any coach would be able to put something together to at least be .500 at this point in the season but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, his best wide receiver who is also arguably one of the best in the league, can’t get the ball to save his life and his quarterback has been more known for his commercials than actually playing football this year. Add that to having to release safety Jermaine Whitehead because he’s threatening to kill member’s of the media who criticize him on social media, Freddie Kitchens is leading a dumpster fire, not a football team. He’s going to need to gain some sort of control of this team or his days in Cleveland will be numbered.

Matt Nagy, Chicago Bears

 For a man that has most of his experience coaching as an offensive coach, he can’t seem to actually put an offense together. This offense is so bad that not even having one of the best defenses in the league can help save the Bears’ season this year. There will be no elimination due to double doinks this year because they won’t get even a whiff of the playoffs this year. We’re now on to Week 10 and Mitch Trubisky has only had five touchdown passes all season.

At some point, you need to try something. Even if it’s benching your starting quarterback to play the most unknown Chase Daniels. The 33 year-old back up may not be the best solution but after playing two games for the Bears when Trubisky was hurt, he has 3 touchdowns and one of the Bears’ three wins this season. Now I know that it’s Nagy’s second year and that Trubisky is a problem that he inherited, but once again it doesn’t seem like he’s doing anything to change things up. Every defense they’ve played has seemingly figured out their offensive game plan. Nagy should be worried about his future.

~Mary Evers (@For_Evers_Young)