Which NFL coaches are currently on the chopping block? Which ones are most likely to be fired before or shortly after the 2021 season?
The 2021 NFL regular season is blowing right on by. That means coaches are going to be on the chopping block and changes are going to start to be made in the next 6-8 weeks. Which NFL coaches are the most likely to get the ax?
Over the next month, rumors are sure to be swirling and there are already certainly a number of NFL head coaches that are firmly on the hot seat.
Who will be the first to get fired by their respective teams? Let’s look in our crystal ball…
3 NFL head coaches who could be fired sooner than later
1. Urban Meyer, Jacksonville Jaguars
The writing has been on the wall for Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars for quite some time. Meyer’s escapades in Ohio earlier this season, not flying home with the team, running training camp like he would have if he were coaching Ohio State or Florida…the NFL has seemingly been a bad fit for Urban Meyer and the Jaguars have to realize that before it’s too late.
Meyer was gifted a situation in Jacksonville where he had the easiest NFL Draft decision since 2012 (Andrew Luck) to take Trevor Lawrence. They made Lawrence “battle” with Gardner Minshew for snaps all offseason and then traded Minshew for next-to-nothing to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Just about everything Urban Meyer has done has been questionable up to this point and what good is that going to do the Jaguars over the long term?
Meyer is not the best coach to have in place for Trevor Lawrence’s NFL development. It was worth a shot, I guess, to see whether or not Meyer could work out as an NFL head coach. Jacksonville has won two games out of their first nine and with the names that could be available on the 2022 NFL head coach cycle, the Jaguars should be thinking about ways they can get out of this relationship.
Bears HC Matt Nagy another coach who could be fired
The Chicago Bears‘ brain trust of GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy bought themselves one additional year after backing into the 2020 playoffs.
The Bears have had a couple of postseason births under Nagy, thanks to their stellar defense in 2018 and 2020.
Even with those playoff appearances, the primary reason Nagy was brought to Chicago was to bring offensive brilliance to the table, and that simply has not happened.
The Bears prioritized Mitchell Trubisky with their top pick of the 2017 NFL Draft and passed on both Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, who have been MVP-level players on the field.
After sticking with Trubisky as long as they could (and probably longer than they should have), the Bears went out in the 2021 offseason and signed Andy Dalton, then drafted Justin Fields.
The move to draft Fields should have, in theory, bought Nagy and Pace more time, but it seems to have only made their seats hotter and hotter.
Every passing week, it seems like there are reasons to point the finger at Nagy for stunting Fields’ growth in some way. That’s not to say there has not been progression from Fields, but the Bears should be able to see at this point that Nagy is probably not the coach that is going to get the best out of Fields, a possible star.
Vic Fangio is on the hot seat with the Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos finished strong in the 2019 season, going 4-1 over their final five games and showing promise with young Drew Lock as their quarterback.
Vic Fangio made the decision to fire young offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello in the 2020 offseason, bringing in veteran play-caller Pat Shurmur instead.
That decision had a ripple effect that has led to where we are today — with Fangio looking like he will be one of the top defensive coordinator hires in the NFL in 2022.
Fangio still has seven games to prove he deserves to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos. At 5-5, they are hardly a mess in terms of their record and still have a good shot at the AFC playoffs at this point in time.
With that said, Fangio has not been a good game manager as a head coach in the NFL, routinely making bizarre decisions with challenges and timeouts.
Fangio knows football as well as anyone in the league, and the guy can coach a defense, by golly. He has been as adaptable as anyone in the NFL as far as creating schemes to stop NFL offenses, no matter what era we’re talking about.
Even as strong as Fangio is as a defensive play-caller, there remain major questions at this point about whether he’s the best long-term fit for the Denver Broncos as a head coach.
If the Broncos don’t go 4-3 or better in their final seven games of 2021, Fangio is likely going to be looking for a job for the 2022 season elsewhere, and quite frankly, he won’t have a hard time getting one. He’s still exceptional as a defensive coordinator.