- Four coaches have already been fired.
- Ron Rivera has three sub-.500 seasons with Washington.
- Kliff Kingsbury has eight wins in his last 27 games.
When the 2023 NFL season starts, there will be five first-year head coaches – down from nine in 2022 – and 18 total coaches who’ve been in their current position for two or fewer full seasons.
Last year’s coaching carousel already discarded Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Rhule, Frank Reich, Kliff Kingsbury, and Lovie Smith. Whom will it discard in 2023?
Here are potential hot seat coaches:
NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat
Mike McCarthy – Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys’ comical last gasp in the divisional round shouldn’t be a factor in Mike McCarthy’s job security.
Failing to reach the NFC Championship for a third straight season despite a vastly improved defense and a $160-million quarterback should be a huge factor in McCarthy’s job security.
McCarthy has one playoff win in three seasons with the Cowboys and his last five seasons overall as an NFL head coach. He’s won multiple playoff games in the same season only twice in 16 years.
Ron Rivera – Commanders
The Washington Commanders arguably met expectations in 2022. Still, with non-stop front-office turmoil and a potential sale coming, Ron Rivera’s job security could be tenuous at best regardless of on-field success or failures.
He’s mostly the hot seat because of organizational instability but a third straight sub-.500 season didn’t help. A fourth straight such season could be the tipping point.
Arthur Smith – Falcons
Arthur Smith was set up for immediate failure in his first head-coaching job at any level. He’s undoubtedly exceeded expectations in leading one of the league’s worst rosters to 14 wins over two years.
Nonetheless, as Kliff Kingsbury found it last year, exceeding expectations at the start of your tenure doesn’t guarantee long-term job security. And Smith might need a big step forward in 2023 to earn Arthur Blank’s trust for 2024 and beyond.
Mike Tomlin – Steelers
If the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t want Mike Tomlin leading a mini rebuild, he presumably would’ve been fired after the 2021 season. Because he wasn’t, and is returning in 2023 after a third playoff whiff in the last five years, it appears the Rooneys are being patient.
But how patient?
What if they miss the playoffs again and fail to win at least 10 games for the fifth time since 2018?
Also: check out the updated college football hot seat.
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