Special Report
NFL Teams That Always Fire Their Coaches
February 4, 2019 5:23 pm
Last Updated: January 12, 2020 9:55 am
Since the beginning of the 2018 NFL season, eight of the league’s 32 teams have fired or parted ways with their head coach. The Arizona Cardinals fired head coach Steve Wilks after just one season at the helm. Most coaches get more time to shape their team, but overall, NFL coaches have a very short shelf life.
When NFL fans are frustrated with the performance of their team, their anger is often directed at the head coach. Head coaches run their teams, so ultimately all the responsibility falls on their shoulders. Whether they fail to get the most out of their players, struggle to draw up successful game plans and adjustments, or just have too much bad luck to overcome, NFL coaches can lose their jobs very quickly.
Throughout the entire histories of the 32 active NFL franchises, the average coach has lasted about 3.8 years. But this is not the case for every team. Some keep their coaches for more than a decade as they keep winning trophies, while others have impatient owners and demanding fanbases, leaving little to no room for error.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the average head coaching tenure of all 32 NFL teams on professional football database Pro-Football Reference to determine the teams where coaches always get fired.
Historically bad teams are always looking for the one coach who could turn them into a winner. The New England Patriots were one such franchise, firing their coaches most frequently before hiring Bill Belichick. New England went 5-11 in Belichick’s first year but hasn’t had a losing season since, winning six Super Bowls and showing no signs of stopping nearly two decades later.
The eight NFL teams that relieved their head coach of his duties either during or after the 2018 NFL season — Green Bay, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Miami, Tampa Bay, Denver, Arizona, and the New York Jets — are all hoping to hire a long-term solution to their coaching issues who will bring postseason success.
Click here to see teams that always fire their coaches.
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