We're now about halfway through the 2026 NFL Season, and whether it's trade deadline moves or head coaching decisions, things are about to get wild. The trade deadline is about one week away - it's on November 10th, shortly after Week 9.
In the coming days, we'll see contenders trying to acquire key players for a hopeful Super Bowl run, and pretenders trying to get what they can for those players. During that hectic time, we could also see some of those pretenders making the tough call to part with their head coach during the season.
Let's dive into our updated head coach hot seat power rankings for Week 9, ranking the coaches based on how likely we believe they are to being moved on from during the season.
Shane Steichen is on a boiling hot seat as Week 9 approaches
8. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers have lost two games in a row after winning two games in a row. They did win the division last year, but finished 8-9, and not only is a losing record not very likely to win the division most years, but you also simply can't have that as your team expectation.
Canales has helped quarterback Bryce Young play the best football of his career, but this team is still stuck in the mud a bit and have not separated themselves from the 'average' teams in the league.
If the Panthers can't go on a bit of a streak here and continue to hover around .500, it's natural to wonder how long Canales can survive as the Panthers head coach.
7. Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Now 3-5 and very much alive in the NFC South, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers actually have a positive point differential and are very much alive in the division. With that being said, the Buccaneers are still a losing football team and have done a lot of losing since the halfway point of the 2025 season.
The Bucs have just stalled out the last year-ish under Todd Bowles, a head coach who has never really established himself as a worthy head coach in this league. He's certainly a sharp defensive mind, and is probably best-suited as an elite defensive coordinator.
Tampa Bay may need to win the division this year for Bowles to survive, and this two-game winning streak really should not make us miss the big picture here.
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