Hot Seat Heating Up: Five NFL Coaches Facing Must-Win Situations Heading Into Week 3
It’s only been two weeks into the 2011 NFL season and believe it or not–there are already a handful of head coaches on the hot seat that find themselves in desperate need of a win heading into Week 3. Here are five head coaches that need their team to come up with a win in Week 3 to make their hot seat a little cooler.
5. Andy Reid–Philadelphia Eagles
It’s hard to imagine this so-called “Dream Team” facing a must-win situation this early in the season, but the Eagles can’t afford to lose their home opener to the New York Giants and drop to 1-2 on the season. This team is loaded with so much talent on paper and Andy Reid knows the pressure is on him more than ever this season to finally win a Super Bowl after all of the offseason additions–both on offense and defense.
Reid took most of the blame for Philadelphia’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week and he should considering the argument can be made the Eagles beat themselves with all of the turnovers they had on offense. This is a head coach with a very successful 12-year tenure as head coach that includes six NFC East Championships and nine playoff appearances–but no Super Bowl to show for them. Anything less than the Lombardi Trophy will be considered a failure for Philadelphia this season and if they fail to reach their third Super Bowl in franchise history–a majority of the blame will be placed on Reid.
4. Pete Carroll–Seattle Seahawks
While it may be unfair to have Pete Carroll on this list considering he’s only in his second season as head coach–these are the defending NFC West champions. And as bad as it sounds, despite their 0-2 start–they seem to have just as good of a chance to win the division as the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and St. Louis Rams considering nobody is above .500 heading into Week 3.
The Seahawks find themselves in the perfect situation this weekend to get their offense going as they host the Cardinals in their home opener. Seattle’s offense ranks last overall in the NFL and has only scored 17 combined points through the first two games. Sure, Tarvaris Jackson hasn’t lived up to his potential yet and Sidney Rice has yet to play–but it’s hard not to blame the head coach when things get this bad. It’s only Week 3 and Seattle already finds themselves in a must-win situation.
3. Jack Del Rio–Jacksonville Jaguars
Unfortunately, Jack Del Rio is too familiar with the hot seat considering he’s found himself on it numerous times over the last few seasons. Del Rio has reached the playoffs twice in his first eight seasons as head coach with Jacksonville–but he hasn’t recorded a winning record since the 2007 season when the Jaguars went 11-5.
Just like Carroll and the Seahawks, the Jaguars’ offense has struggled to produce points over the first two games (only 19 points) and is coming off an embarrassing 32-3 loss to the New York Jets–but they’re still in decent shape with a 1-1 record. The organization took quite the heat after the surprising release of David Garrard right before the start of the regular season and is making a bold move this week by starting rookie Blaine Gabbert over Luke McCown–who threw for just 234 yards with zero touchdowns and four interceptions over the first two games–against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. With Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts struggling, this is the perfect time for a team like the Jaguars to overtake the AFC South.
Otherwise–Del Rio could be looking for a new job in 2012.
2. Tony Sparano–Miami Dolphins
After back-to-back 7-9 seasons and a handful of talented candidates looking for head-coaching jobs this offseason, everybody expected the Dolphins to part ways with Tony Sparano–but that obviously didn’t happen. Miami deserves to be cut some slack since their first two games have been anything but easy considering they faced two teams expected to make a strong run at the playoffs in the New England Patriots and Houston Texans–but that doesn’t mean Sparano’s job is safe.
Not only are the Dolphins the only team in the AFC East without a win, but they’re the only team that’s not 2-0. Miami has a favorable matchup against the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. They’ve managed to keep in each of their first two games–but the Dolphins 31st ranked defense needs to figure out a way to step it up if they have any chance of winning this weekend–or anytime soon.
1. Todd Haley–Kansas City Chiefs
It’s only been two weeks–but it’s safe to say the Chiefs have already hit rock bottom this season and no head coach’s seat is as hot as Todd Haley’s. As if losing Eric Berry in Week 1 wasn’t already bad enough, Kansas City received more bad news the following week against the Detroit Lions when Jamaal Charles tore his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season.
With all due respect to the Buffalo Bills and Lions, back-to-back blowout losses against these two teams must have been painful for Todd Haley and company to deal with considering these two teams combined for 10 wins in 2010. On top of that, the Chiefs have only scored 10 points this season and contain the third most difficult schedule in 2011–so Kansas City could be in for a long season.
Haley did a phenomenal job with helping the Chiefs get to the playoffs last season after finishing 4-12 the year before–but this is a new year. Many wondered if Kansas City’s magical season in 2010 was just a fluke due to a favorable schedule and after two games–it appears that may be the case. Haley faces a difficult challenge for the rest of the season with turning his team around despite two of their star players being out for the season and he’ll certainly face heavy criticism if Kansas City continues to play this poorly.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter @DanParzych
Email Dan: [email protected]
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