Half of the NFL’s 32 teams have changed head coaches over the past two years, including the Las Vegas Raiders doing so twice. So the odds are strong that plenty more will be fired over the next 12 months, too.
That means that even though Week 1 of the 2026 season is seven months away, the pressure is already on several coaches. Here are the ones who’ll be sitting on the hottest seats when the games begin.
Jerry Jones is painfully patient with his coaches, and the last one he fired after just two seasons was Chan Gailey (1998-99). But he’s also used to winning. The Cowboys just suffered back-to-back losing seasons (including one under Mike McCarthy) for the first time since the disastrous Dave Campo regime (three straight 5-11 seasons between 2000-02).
If the Cowboys don’t get back to the playoffs next season, are we sure Jones won’t make a change? He’s going to be 83 later this year. He’s convinced he’s got a Super Bowl contender. And a ready-to-win Cowboys team might be the one opportunity that could lure Mike Tomlin back to the sidelines for 2027.
He just got a multiyear contract extension, but since when has that mattered (anywhere outside of Cincinnati)? New team president Ed Policy was unsure enough about LaFleur last year that he made him twist until the end of this season. Part of that is because the stakes are high in “Titletown” and LaFleur’s Packers teams haven’t made a deep run in five years.
His 76-40-1 record is stellar, and it’s great that he’s made the playoffs six times in seven years. But he has one playoff win since the 2021 season and a 3-6 postseason record overall. If the Packers slip next season or fail to get beyond the divisional round of the playoffs, that contract extension might not be enough to save him.
The Packers took their time before extending Matt LaFleur. It’s also been a while since Green Bay made a deep playoff run. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
It feels unfair to put him on this list, given the sheer volume of injuries that ruined the Commanders’ 2025 season — especially the one to quarterback Jayden Daniels. Quinn, after all, is still the coach who led Washington to the NFC Championship Game in his first year with the club (2024). But he also just purged his staff, including offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who is widely credited for Daniels having perhaps the greatest season for a rookie quarterback ever.
How Daniels responds to a new OC will be crucial to Quinn’s future. Also important: how the Commanders fix a defense that has been terrible during his two-year tenure.
He’s incredibly well-respected, has a reputation as one of the greatest “quarterback whisperers” in the league, and has won nearly twice as many games as he’s lost during his five seasons. He just got a lucrative contract extension, too. But his boss, owner Zygi Wilf, clearly wasn’t happy with the Vikings’ 9-8 record this past season and some of their recent quarterback decisions. That’s why he fired GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
And while, yes, that means O’Connell emerged the victor of a power struggle, it also puts the heat on him. He’s got to prove Wilf was right, which means developing QB J.J. McCarthy and probably returning to the playoffs next season. Anything else, and who knows what Wilf will do?
Kevin O’Connell appears to have just won a power struggle with his GM. But the Vikings might need to start winning in the postseason if KOC is going to stick around in Minnesota. (Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
When new Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon decided to keep her coach and GM Chris Ballard in place for 2026, she cited one reason in particular: “We were all encouraged by our first half.” That’s when a revived Daniel Jones was playing like an MVP and Indianapolis was 8-2. Then came Jones’ injury and a season-ending, seven-game losing streak that cost the Colts a playoff berth. Between the injured Jones being a free agent and Anthony Richardson appearing to be a bust, Indy first has to figure out who its starting QB will be next season.
Moreover, Irsay-Gordon made it clear that amid a five-year postseason drought, the urgency to win in Indy has “never been higher.” That sure feels like a shot across the bow of Steichen heading into his fourth season, and a warning that more mediocrity (or worse) could result in a complete regime change next year.
He is still around for two reasons: 1) Nobody can seriously blame him for the run of injuries to Joe Burrow; and, 2) The Bengals are notoriously cheap and don’t want to pay him not to coach. But even the Bengals owners have their breaking point, right? If Burrow is healthy in 2026, there is no reason this team shouldn’t make the playoffs and compete for the AFC North title, and given how much money the Bengals have put into this roster — mostly on offense — those should be the least of their expectations.
Also, everyone noticed how unhappy Burrow looked at the end of last season. By all accounts, he is in Taylor’s corner (for now). But if the losing continues, and he grows unhappier, will that change? At some point, they might want to pair one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL with a more competent coach.
His 2025 season was a nauseating roller-coaster ride. He went from the hot seat to Coach of the Year candidate to the hot seat again and then to the playoffs, where his team gave the Rams all they could handle. So it ended on a relative high, but is that sustainable? It better be, considering Canales enters Year 3 working for an impulsive owner. There’s not much room to slide backwards from an 8-9 season and 13-21 overall record.
It doesn’t help that his primary job has been the development of quarterback Bryce Young, and the progress there has been inconsistent. Canales was supposed to turn the former top pick into a franchise quarterback. If that doesn’t happen by next January, the Panthers could be looking for both a new coach and quarterback.
The Panthers have made progress under Dave Canales, but they might need to take another step forward in 2026 if he’s going to remain in Carolina. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
The fact that a team loaded with talent couldn’t emerge from the worst division in football doesn’t speak well of Bowles’ ability as a head coach. Neither does his 35-33 record in four years in Tampa despite three playoff berths. Yes, injuries hurt the Bucs last season, but that’s not the only reason they lost seven of their last nine games. Even when they were relatively healthy, Bowles couldn’t shake them out of their funk.
If history holds, he’ll coach well enough that the Bucs will be mediocre again, but he’s got the quarterback and enough players to do better than that. It’s hard to imagine the Glazer family will be OK if the Bucs don’t break out of the pack in their awful division again.
If this seems ridiculous given Sirianni’s 59-26 record, three division titles, two trips to the Super Bowl and one championship in his four years … well, you don’t know Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie then. His standards are crazy high and there is deep disappointment inside his organization over the wasted opportunities in both 2023 and 2025.
Not all of that is directed at Sirianni, but sources said there has been internal frustration about his staffing choices and, at times, the way he manages what is sometimes a difficult locker room. But mostly it’s the late fade and playoff failures in those two seasons.
The Eagles will probably win double-digit games and the NFC East again in 2026. But if they don’t advance in the playoffs, no one will be shocked if they make a change.
The Eagles have spiraled in two of their past three seasons. Does Nick Sirianni need to make another deep run next season to keep his job? (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
There was a good case to be made for Glenn to be one-and-done after the Jets’ disastrous 3-14 season. Instead, Woody Johnson showed surprising patience, despite a bumper crop of potential replacements, and let Glenn fire most of his coaching staff instead. That staff purge is telling, since it’s usually a coach’s last-ditch effort to keep his job.
Add in Glenn’s prickly relationship with the New York media, the fact that his team still doesn’t have a viable option at quarterback, and a pitchfork-wielding mob of a fan base, and his short-term future doesn’t seem bright — especially with Mike Tomlin looming in the pool of candidates for next year.
