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Every year there's a turnover of about five or six NFL head coaches, and this year should be no different.This league is about instant success more than it is about being able to sustain a team. College coaches will get chance after chance and will have losing seasons excused because they're attempting to build a culture of winning and build a team the way they'd like.
In the NFL, that's certainly not the case as some coaches get the boot after only one year. Cam Cameron, for instance, has a 1-15 record as a head coach in the NFL, and it will probably stay that way. One bad year with the Dolphins had him back to being a coordinator and most likely will ensure he never sees a head coaching job again.
Of course, that's not guaranteed. I mean, Norv Turner, Dick Jauron, and Wade Phillips all have jobs, don't they?
Well, for now they do.
Norv Turner (San Diego)
Why the Chargers ever brought Turner in as their head coach in the first place is beyond me. I thought he proved he wasn't capable of running an entire team during his days in Washington and Oakland, but apparently A.J. Smith is just smarter than the rest of us.
Ya know, or not.
The truth is that Turner is the only thing standing in the way of this team reaching the Super Bowl. They have a great young quarterback, a very good receiving core, a hall of fame running back, and a solid defense. However, he is unable to prepare them for a game and can't win consistently. It's time for the Chargers to ditch Turner.
As an offensive coordinator, he's one of the best in the league. As a head coach, he's awful. The Chargers will continue to see seven, eight, and nine-win seasons as long as he stays.
Dick Jauron (Buffalo Bills)
Like Turner, Jauron does not know how to run a team. He can't get them to even perform up to their talent level much less coach them into the playoffs and beyond. As long as he sticks around, Buffalo will be doomed to seasons below .500, and will be nothing more than a team of under-achievers.
Realistically, the only hope of this Bills franchise staying in Buffalo is if Ralph Wilson hires a coach that can help Trent Edwards in his maturation as a quarterback, and get this group of talented individuals to play as a team. Dick Jauron is not that go, and it's time for him to go.
Wade Phillips (Dallas Cowboys)
Phillips is a fantastic defensive coordinator. However, he's not a head coach. He proved that in Denver, but for some reason, Jerry Jones thought he knew more than anyone else.
Am I the only one seeing a pattern with these three coaches?
Anyway, if Phillips wants to stay in Dallas as the defensive coordinator, I think any head coach would love to have him. But that is where he belongs. He's always been underrated as a defensive coordinator, as he was probably only a half-notch below Monte Kiffin, Dick LeBeau, and the late Jim Johnson.
It's time for a coach who can handle everything that comes along with Dallas.
Jim Zorn (Washington Redskins)
The genius that is Danny Snyder decided it would be a good idea to first hire Jim Zorn as an offensive coordinator (absent a head coach), then when he couldn't find a real head coach, decided to just promote Zorn and be done with it.
After an impressive 6-2 start in the first half of his first season, his team did a complete 180, finishing the year 2-6 for an unimpressive 8-8 result. Little did anyone know, that would be the highlight of his head coaching career.
His team is now 2-3 despite playing five consecutive teams without a win at the time, meaning that the Redskins are responsible for three teams getting off the schneid already this year. It appears as though they're going to do it for the Kansas City Chiefs next week, and Zorn could see his way out of D.C. before the halfway point of 2009.
Eric Mangini (Cleveland Browns)
Yes, it's only Mangini's first season as the Browns head coach, but he's already lost the locker room. The players don't like him, and worse yet I don't believe they respect him as a head coach. This is really a team that should have lost every game this season were it not for the Bills imploding on themselves.
Braylon Edwards has already been traded for what turns out to be peanuts, and it appears as though Brady Quinn will either be moving in the next few days, or during the offseason. Mangini wasn't even smart enough to know that when he declared Quinn the starter before the season that he had to stick with him no matter what.
Quinn is now officially ruined in Cleveland, marking up just another string of first-round misses that has buried this team.
Jeff Fisher (Tennessee Titans)
This may come as a surprise, but just one season removed from Mike Shanahan's surprise firing, it appears as though it's Fisher's time to go as well.
He's had great success as the coach of Titans, and of the Houston Oilers for that matter, but with this recent debacle in Tennessee, it appears as though his message in Tennessee has grown stale, and that it is time for a change.
Because he's been around so long and has had a lot of success, he gets a pass on a lot of things because you just assume that he'll fix it eventually. However, this winless start has to be throwing red flags into the face of the front office.
I'm a fan of Jeff Fisher, and think he could still be a successful head coach. Unfortunately it looks like it's got to be somewhere other than Tennessee.
Other coaches who may get the boot: Jack Del Rio (Jacksonville Jaguars), Jon Fox (Carolina Panthers), Raheem Morris (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Tom Cable (Oakland Raiders)
