NFL Coaching Odds

                               

Alright, the NFL season is over which means coaches are ready to be fired.  It happens every year.  But this list isn't about "hot seats"...it's about the likelihood that the coach returns for the 2007 season.  Bill Cowher isn't on any hot seat...but he is low on my list.  Let's check it out.

1-DENNY GREEN, Cardinals.  Well, he's already been canned.  He's been a dead man walking ever since his media blowup.

2-JIM MORA, Falcons.  Same deal.  He's already been shown the door.  He began the season on a short leash....then navigated a team to a worse record than last year and a bad interview in Seattle.

3-BILL COWHER, Steelers.  He's done everything he can do in Pittsburgh, including winning a Super Bowl.  Most likely, he'll just go out to pasture and become an elder statesman for the Steelers or wait for a cherry college job. 

4-TOM COUGHLIN, Giants.  I think that barring a run to the NFC Championship game, Coughlin is gone.  He already was abrasive before...but this season it got out of hand.  The team is out of control and underachieved mightily. 

5-NICK SABAN, Dolphins.  No offense, coach, but take the Alabama job.  It pays well and offers some really good job security that Miami doesn't offer.  If he sticks in out in South Florida, he may get only one more year to turn it around.  With so much promise and an easy schedule, the Phins floundered.  Take the Bama job and cash the check.

6-ART SHELL, Raiders.  Shell should get at least one more year to show what he can do.  He was hired late, out of date and had a horrible offense to work with.  The team will have the #1 pick this spring and Shell can mold this team the way he wants it.  Also, I doubt that Al Davis would fire Shell too soon......again.

7-BRAD CHILDRESS, Vikings.  He was the toast of the league early on, but has become somewhat controversial as the season ended.  The team tanked down the stretch and there are rumblings that he and the players just don't get along.  It's even gotten to the point that some feel Childress gets petty revenge on outspoken players.  He'll get another season, but his job will be on the line, especially if there is a mutiny.

8-ROMEO CRENNEL, Browns.  Cleveland is stuck in limbo and there is nothing to suggest it will turn around soon.  I like Crennel, but this may not work out. 

9-BILL PARCELLS, Cowboys.  Parcells will decide if coaching the Cowboys is worth it or not.  Parcells usually walks around this time period with a team...and that was all without T.O. around.  It will come down to Parcells putting his foot down about Terrell Owens.  If Owens isn't cut, expect the Tuna to walk. 

10-JON GRUDEN, Buccaneers.  This was another awful season in Tampa for Gruden, but he may have bought another year.  His quarterback's spleen blew up, his running back just busted and the once reliable defense broke apart.  Still, the team has alot of avenues [money, draft picks] to turn it around...which should buy Gruden another year. 

11-ROD MARINELLI, Lions.  Nothing went right for the Lions this year....but Matt Millen will get the heat for this mess.  Of course, a new GM could mean a new coach on the way. 

12-JOE GIBBS, Redskins.  Gibbs won't be fired.  Never.  Even Daniel Snyder knows how unpopular that would be.  But he could "resign" at any moment and ride off into the NASCAR sky.  I think that Gibbs is a man of his word and that he'll stick it out in Washington. 

13-JACK DEL RIO, Jaguars.  The season was a disappointment, but there were tons of variables out of Del Rio's control.  His team was killed by injuries to key players and the retirement of Jimmy Smith.  Yet still, he was a win in the finale away from being back in the postseason. 

14-DICK JAURON, Bills.  He deserves another year in Buffalo and I don't think the Bills will make yet another change.  He got the team to a 7-9 record despite injuries and youth all over the team. 

15-MIKE SHANAHAN, Broncos.  It's tought to see him fired, but this franchise has been stuck in neutral since John Elway retired.  The mid-season switch to Jay Cutler will be criticized for years to come and the once steady demeanor of the team fell to pieces as the season ended. 

16-GARY KUBIAK, Texans.  Houston won three times as many games as last year and there are signs the team is getting better.  It isn't Kubiak's fault that they passed on Vince Young and Reggie Bush....nor it is his fault that Domanick Davis missed the entire season.  The one strike against Kubiak is that he was a QB coach and David Carr didn't show that he's the answer for Houston. 

17-MIKE MCCARTHY, Packers.  Hey, this lousy team finished 8-8 and were just barely out of the playoffs. 

18-SCOTT LINEHAN, Rams.  Linehan figured out how to use Steven Jackson correctly and pulled the Rams away from their gunning tendicies.  Once he gets the defense in check, this team could be on it's way to contending for the NFC West. 

19-MIKE NOLAN, Niners.  His team improved mightily this year and it's just a matter of time before Nolan gets his due. 

20-HERM EDWARDS, Chiefs.  Stop me if you heard this one before.  A Herm Edwards' coached team was nip and tuck all year long and barely snuck into the playoffs.  Heard that one, eh?

21-JOHN FOX, Panthers.  He hasn't gotten the kind of heat you would think.  This was a Super Bowl caliber team that failed to make the playoffs.  Usually that means you get a talking to from the owner.  Fox, however, has bought time with his 2004 NFC Championship and 2006 NFC title game appearance. 

22-TONY DUNGY, Colts.  He's not under any direst....but another Colts postseason flake-out and the microscope will be on him more.  He built up Tampa but couldn't seal the deal.  Maybe someone will feel the same thing about him in Indy. 

23-MARVIN LEWIS, Bengals.  They aren't firing him just yet....but he may have his leash shortened a bit.  If this was any other team, another 8-8 season [his third in four years] and no playoff wins with all that talent would mean the seat would be blazing.  Also, add in the fact that the Bengals were the joke of the football world with all their arrests and off the field antics.  However, these are the Bengals...and as long as fans are coming back to the stadium and buying merchandise...no change will be made. 

24-MIKE HOLMGREN, Seahawks.  It's been a bit of a disappointing season in the Pacific Northwest...but it isn't Holmgren's fault that Steve Hutchinson walked and the injuries of Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck. 

25-BRIAN BILLICK, Ravens.  Billick needed a good season to keep his job...and he gave Baltimore the 2nd best record in the AFC.  The team flourished once he took over the play calling duties on offense. 

26-JEFF FISHER, Titans.  His seat was unfairly hot early in the season.  For some reason, people felt that it was just time for him and the team to part.  But Fisher showed why he's the man.  After going 0-5, the Titans won 8 of their next 10 games and were as well coached a team as any in the league.  They are building something nice in Nashville. 

27-MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER, Chargers.  Marty Ball took on some new gadgets this season.  The transition to Philip Rivers went fairly well and his offense maximized LaDainian Tomlinson.  You're job is pretty secure when he registered the best record in the NFL. 

28-ERIC MANGINI, Jets.  He's one of the favorites for coach of the year.  Everything that Herm Edwards tried to get out of this bunch, Mangini did. 

29-SEAN PAYTON, Saints.  Most likely the coach of the year winner.  He added in Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and Marques Colston to a bad offense and made them one of the NFL's best.  He also helped transition this team back to New Orleans with class. 

30-ANDY REID, Eagles.  The much maligned Reid just did his magic again....pulling out another NFC East title.  This one was the most impressive since it was so hard fought and [mostly] without Donovan McNabb. 

31-LOVIE SMITH, Bears.  If you ask people about the Bears, you'd swear they were a 5-11 team that slushed thru another season.  But these Bears are the top seed in the NFC and Smith keeps his team trucking along with a great defense and great special teams. 

32-BILL BELICHICK, Patriots.  Dude has won three Super Bowls and now four straight AFC East titles.  He helms the only team that could go un-noticed at 12-4.  Yeah, he's going out on his own.