For about half of the league’s head coaches, Black Monday is an annual day of fear, if not utter demise. The season ends and some front offices immediately give their coach the ax. Of course, a few coaches will slip through the cracks and miraculously retain their jobs, but franchises are generally impatient and more than willing to find out if the grass is greener on the other side. This season’s Black Monday will be no different.
Chuck Pagano, Indianapolis Colts
Pagano has failed to get much positive play out of the defensive side of the ball, which is supposed to be his area of expertise. Pagano took over the Colts in 2012 and has only had one season in which his defense finished better than 20th (ranked 11th in 2014). This year, the Colts will finish in the bottom five or just outside of it.
Pagano, to this point, has been saved by Andrew Luck. Luck has struggled to stay on the field this season, but for the past three years, he was the key factor to the Colts success. He was gift-wrapped to the Colts at No.1 overall and has been a clear franchise quarterback in the three years before 2015, and his dip in 2015 has been directly related to playing through injury or being sidelined by them. Without a quality Luck to lean on, the Colts will miss the playoffs in 2015. Granted, not having your starting quarterback will derail most teams, but this was more of a revelation as to what kind of team Pagano is running when Luck is not taken into account.
Jeff Fisher, St. Louis Rams
Nobody screams “mediocre” like Jeff Fisher. No Fisher-lead team has finished with more than 8 wins since 2008. That is a streak that stretches into his final two years as the Tennessee Titans head coach. Fisher has been riding on a handful of uncharacteristically good seasons, and that needs to come to an end. His Rams teams have been largely underwhelming and the team has every right to move on from him.
Many will point to Sam Bradford’s overwhelming injury history as the root of the problem, but Fisher even debunked that narrative this year. Fisher and the Rams decided to move on from Bradford and allow Fisher to bring in his own guy to lead the offense. With a very Fisher-esque move, the Rams gave up Bradford to the Eagles in exchange for Nick Foles. Late round draft picks were also involved, but the gist of the trade was that Fisher gave up a competent quarterback for Foles, who turned out to be the worst starting quarterback in the NFL this season.
The question now is whether or not Fisher will get a pass because of Todd Gurley. While Gurley was an exceptional pick and will undoubtedly be a star player for years to come, his “revival” of the offense will never happen under Fisher. With Fisher at the helm, there is a large risk that Gurley ends up being a workhorse for a mediocre team for years, making him the next Steven Jackson and ultimately leaving his career to the shadows. Fisher has struggled in the past and is struggling now. The Rams need to move on before it is too late.
Mike Pettine, Cleveland Browns
As per usual, the Browns are a mess. While the ownership and management also deserves a fair amount of blame, Pettine has been a porous head coach. Like many others on this list, Pettine is a failed defensive coach, but Pettine’s story has a bit of a twist. Not only can Pettine not handle his side of the ball well, but he can not seem to figure out how to handle players in general.
Johnny Manziel is the biggest example of this. Manziel is and always was a player who needed time to sit in the league and come into his own. Once he hit the field, mistakes should have been expected, but he is a player who, more so than normal, requires a staff to truly believe in him and make him feel like he is the man. Pettine botched it. After giving Manziel the reigns midway through the year due to an injury to Josh McCown, Pettine then stripped the starting job from Johnny after a minor drinking incident. Once McCown goes down again, Manziel is again given the job over Austin Davis. Pettine can not seem to figure out whether or not he needs to discipline Manziel or let him play, and messing around in the middle of that street will get a coach killed.
And it has. Pettine’s mishandling of players on top of the poor defenses he has fielded during his time in Cleveland has lead to a rightful termination. Two years seems like a quick firing, but Pettine has not made much, if any, improvements to the Browns as a whole. It would be fair to say it is the management that has screwed up more than Pettine, but even then, it would be better for Pettine’s interest to get out, if that were the case.
Honorable Mentions
Mike McCoy, San Diego Chargers
Lovie Smith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
