Jan 02, 2026
3 min read
Changes are happening to seven NFL teams.
For fans of struggling teams, one of the biggest days on the NFL calendar is Black Monday.On the first day after the end of the regular season, teams often announce the firing of their head coach, looking to find a new path and hope for new success.
7 NFL Head Coaches Could be fired on Black Monday
Change is on the horizon for seven teams in the NFL.
2025 saw two coaches fired mid-season with the Titans parting ways with Brian Callahan and the Giants firing Brian Daboll.It was an immediate net improvement for Tennessee, while the Giants were, well, still terrible.Here are tk other trainers who are on the hot seat to the point that it wouldn't be a surprise if their names hit the headlines on Black Monday.
Mike McDaniel - Miami Dolphin
Has Mike McDaniel done enough to save his job?in case.For most of the year, it seemed like a certainty that McDaniels would get the ax, but the Dolphins have won five of their last seven games and it's hard to justify seeing this as a foregone conclusion.
Now we see McDaniel's limitations as a teacher.A person's skill, if not very special driving.
If Miami decides to go in a new direction, then McDaniel will be the hottest offensive coordinator on the market.
Pete Carroll - Las Vegas Raiders
Many people predicted the Raiders in 2025. Heck, many of us thought Pete Carroll taking a 4-13 team loaded with talent, adding Geno Smith, and peaking with Ashton Jeanty would make Vegas a dark horse for the playoffs.
How wrong we are.
Carroll looked lost at work this season.For the first time ever, the task seemed too great for him.There was no noticeable adjustment, very little tackling and a lot of passing, causing loss after loss to pile up.The question for the Las Vegas brain trust is whether you want Carroll to lead with a top 5 pick, potentially No. 1 overall — and a new franchise QB at that.
It could be an "honorable departure" for Carroll, allowing the Raiders to find a new coach without embarrassment.Right now, it's hard to get too excited about the future of this team with Pete at the helm, given Carroll's coaching legacy.
Kevin Stefanski-Cleveland Browns
If we read the tea leaves on what is going on in Cleveland, it is difficult to imagine a situation with Stefanski as the head coach.It's strange to think that the perennially disappointing Browns would be involved with the two-time Coach of the Year winner, but when we get down to brass tacks, the team is stagnant.
The Browns had just two winning seasons during Stefanski's six-year tenure.He has a career winning percentage of .440 as a head coach after having enough time to make his mark on the team.There are dozens of legitimate reasons why none of this mess is Stefanski's fault, from the draft to the middling agency work, and that's before we even get into the Deshaun Watson debacle.No coach could have pulled it off under the circumstances, but it still looks like a situation where both the Browns and Stefanski need a fresh start.
Zach Taylor - Cincinnati Bengals
It all boils down to one key question: How small are the Bengals?
Taylor is arguably one of the least talented, least predictable, poorest coaches in the NFL, whose sins are often overshadowed by Joe Burrow and Ja'Mar Chase until he becomes Teflon.Cincinnati is more likely to lose their star player's salary than pay two coaches at once with a contract that runs through 2027.
Having a .457 winning percentage for the Bengals is ridiculous given the offensive talent on this team.Taylor should go, but whether he does will depend on how willing Mike Brown is to open his checkbook.
Jonathan Gunn - Arizona Cardinals
Things just don't click in Arizona ... again.The big blow against Jonathan Gannon that is continued as chief coach is the incredible lack of improvement on the defensive side of the ball, which should be an area that may affect changes with the cardinals.This is a team that ranked 29 at permitted points, 24 against the pass and 25 against the flow.But the quarterback position was responsible for this year's woes.
It's been three years of missed playoffs, lack of improvement and unclear direction.With a potential new quarterback on the horizon, it's time to make another coaching change and keep swinging to find the right guy.
John Harbaugh - Baltimore Ravens
Harbaugh is undoubtedly a great coach, but his time with the Ravens appears to be coming to an end.It's been 13 years since a Super Bowl victory, and while Baltimore has been a staple of second-chance games for most of that time, not reaching the level that has almost been the calling card for most of Lamar Jackson's season.
It's fair to wonder if this team needs to modernize its coaching style by bringing in new blood to look at the roster and team building, instead of just going back to the same plan and hoping things will be different.
It's not bad for a .500 season, especially with the Ravens' bad luck with Jackson's injury, but it feels like it's about time.
Aaron Glenn - New York Jets
Taking over the Jets is a difficult job at the best of times.Take over at a time when the team traded two of the best defensive players in Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner, without a good answer in the QB, and the team in need of a massive cultural change made it impossible.
That being said, Glenn didn't show much in his lone season as a head coach.The Jets have been one of the worst teams in football this year and the effort just isn't there.It's a bit like Jerrod Mayo's one-year stint with the Patriots, and we've seen what happened to that franchise too quickly to figure out that way doesn't work and change course.
It wouldn't be an ideal outcome for Glenn, who left the best coordinator job in football to come to New York, but the situation is simply unacceptable.
