NFL Power Rankings: Ranking head coaches on the hot seat after Week 5

2. Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

I mean, fair or not, the Cleveland Browns are 1-4. It's odd that the Browns have not yet benched Deshaun Watson, and Kevin Stefanski feels too smart of a coach to not make the move. It makes me think that someone above Stefanski, a two-time Coach of the Year, is telling him to keep Watson in the lineup.

Jameis Winston is their backup and is a capable player, and you never know; had then benched Watson earlier, they could have been 2-3 or even 3-2. The Browns are a flat-out mess with Deshaun Watson in the lineup, and unless something major changes, we could be headed toward a scenario where both Stefanki and GM Andrew Berry are out of a job.

Could the Browns be sellers at the 2024 NFL Trade Deadline?

1. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals

Man, this is just shocking. I think a lot of us just assumed that after the Cincinnati Bengals again started 0-2 to begin 2024, they'd yet again turn their season around. Well, the Bengals seem to have some major issues on defense, and they now sit at 1-4 on the season and are closer to the no. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft than being a playoff team. With some iffy opponents coming up, I am not sure even the Bengals can figure this out.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with the head coach, and Zac Taylor has never really ascended into being a very good head coach, and the bottom seems to be falling out from Taylor. He's not going to last the entire 2024 season unles the Bengals can have the sort of defensive turnaround that the Denver Broncos had in 2023 when they saved their season.

The Broncos had actually started 1-5, and ended up sitting at 7-6 weeks later. That's the kind of turnaround it's going to take for the Bengals to save their season, but I am not sure the coaching staff is nearly good enough for that.