NFL ‘Black Monday’ primer: Where all 32 NFL head coaches stand

Black Monday is not a friendly day for head coaches around the NFL. Typically one day after the regular season ends, multiple coaches find themselves on the unemployment line.

That will come to fruition once again as teams look to move off mistakes following terrible 2022 seasons.

Could a couple head coaches end up being one-and-done? What about some surprise firings? Below, we look at all 32 NFL head coaches and where they stand on Black Monday around the league.

Related: NFL head coaches fired during the 2022 season

Black Monday will pass without any fuss

• John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens: Despite being without Lamar Jackson for five games and dealing with multiple injuries to core players, Harbaugh finished his 15th season as Baltimore’s head coach with 10 wins. It’s the ninth time these Ravens have won double-digit games under Harbaugh. With a playoff game set against the Cincinnati Bengals, it’s obvious Harbaugh will only leave Baltimore if it’s what he opts for.

• Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills: What a difference a head coach makes. After years of being active on Black Monday, Buffalo now has one of the top individuals at his position in the NFL. Dealing with off-field tragedy and a scary late-season on-field situation, McDermott navigated the Bills to a 13-win season for the second time in three years. He’s now a resounding 62-35 as their head coach.

• Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals: Speaking of turning things around, a rebuilding Bengals team boasted a 6-25-1 record during Taylor’s first two seasons. After leading this long-downtrodden organization to its first Super Bowl appearance since 1989 this past February, he has Cincinnati heading into the playoffs amid an eight-game winning streak and looking like a legit Super Bowl contender.

• Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions: While it did not lead to a playoff appearance, Detroit’s late-season run took Campbell completely off the hot seat and looking very much like a long-term option in the Motor City. The Lions won eight of their final 10 games and were in postseason contention until late in Week 18. Things are looking up for this organization and its head coach after knocking Green Bay out of playoff contention in the finale. That’s fun.

• Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars: Back in 2020, the Philadelphia Eagles got off to an early start for Black Monday by firing Pederson 16 games into the season. It was a stunning move given that he had led this team to the Lombardi Trophy less than three calendar years earlier. Jacksonville pounced, hiring Pederson ahead of the 2022 campaign. It has paid off big time. The Jags earned a rare playoff appearance with a Week 18 win over Tennessee. The Pederson and Trevor Lawrence pairing looks to be a force. What a great hire this was by Jacksonville.

• Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs: Speaking of the Eagles and Black Mondey, they fired Reid following the 2012 campaign after he led them to nine playoff appearances and a conference title in 14 seasons. Reid caught on with the Kansas City Chiefs later that winter and has not looked back. That included a Super Bowl title following the 2019 campaign. In 10 seasons with the Chiefs, Reid has posted a 118-45 record. That’s just insane.

• Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings: The Vikes thought they had reeled in Jim Harbaugh after making Mike Zimmer a victim of Black Friday last January. Instead, Harbaugh opted to go back to Michigan with this former Rams assistant heading to Minneapolis. It was a seamless transition for the Vikings with the team posting a 13-4 record in his first season.

• Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: We’ve heard rumors about a potential trade of Belichick from the Patriots. That seems utterly ridiculous. What we do know is that this six-time Super Bowl champion is not leaving the Pats until he chooses to do so. At 70 years old and with New England looking nothing like a contender, that could come sooner rather than later.

• Brian Daboll, New York Giants: A top-end NFL Coach of the Year candidate, Daboll is coming off a 9-7-1 record in his first season as New York’s head coach. This led to the Giants’ first playoff appearance since after the 2016 season. Clearly the future face of this franchise, Daboll has taken his success as the Buffalo Bills’ offensive coordinator and run with it (almost literally).

• Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles: Philly received some criticism for hiring Sirianni to replace the aforementioned Pederson following the 2020 season. After a ho-hum 9-8 start to his career, some were already calling for his head. About that? The 41-year-old New York native is coming off a regular season in which Philadelphia posted a league-best 14-3 record. In fact, this represented the Eagles’ best regular season since back in 2017. Eagles fans hope the results are the same with the Lombardi returning to the City of Brotherly Love.

• Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: Here’s a stat people seem to gloss over. Pittsburgh has had three head coaches since the end of the 1968 season. Three head coaches. Manning that spot since replacing Bill Cowher back in 2007, Tomlin is nothing short of royalty in the Steel City. He joins a few other head coaches in determining his own future after leading the team to 10 playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title.

• Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers: Shanahan’s 52-46 record in San Francisco is not great. It’s not until we realize he’s led the team to a Super Bowl appearance and NFC Championship Game over the past three seasons. San Francisco now enters the NFL Playoffs having won 10 consecutive games, five of which have come with rookie seventh-round pick Brock Purdy starting under center. Shanahan is not going anywhere any time soon.

• Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks: It was about this time last year that rumors suggested Carroll could be on the hot seat heading into Black Monday. Seattle was coming off a disastrous 7-10 season. Russell Wilson would soon be traded. The Carroll tenure seemed to be over. About that? He did an astounding job leading the 12’s to a 9-8 record in 2022. Seattle now has an opportunity to shock the division-rival San Francisco 49ers on the road come NFL Wild Card Weekend. Imagine that!

• Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa finished the 2022 regular season with an 8-9 record. Despite this, it was able to earn the NFC South crown and will host the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs. Whether this is enough for Tom Brady to return remains to be seen. What we do know is that Bowles has a darn good chance to be back in this role for a second season.

Related: NFL head coaches on the hot seat

Some question marks heading into Black Monday

• Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears: It seems to be highly unlikely that Chicago will make Eberflus one-and-done. That’s especially true with him being a hand-picked hire of general manager Ryan Poles. With that said, it’s hard to overlook the fact that these Bears lost 13 of 14 after a 2-1 start to the season. That’s just brutal.

• Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns: After leading Cleveland to an 11-5 record and a rare playoff appearance in his first season, things have gone downhill for the head coach. The Browns are coming off a drama-filled seven-win 2022 campaign, their second consecutive losing effort. One has to wonder whether general manager Andrew Berry will make the decision to build this Deshaun Watson-led squad around another head coach. We’ll find out soon enough.

• Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys: To say that McCarthy is under pressure heading into the playoffs would be an understatement. Dallas’ playoff failures of the past quarter-century have come under a microscope following its loss to the San Francisco 49ers in last season’s NFC Wild Card round. For his part, McCarthy didn’t inspire much confidence with the Cowboys’ late-season performance ahead of a first-round game against the Buccaneers. If the ‘Boys were to lose that one, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jerry Jones moved off McCarthy after three seasons.

• Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers: This is now an interesting situation following Green Bay’s home loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 18. With a win, these Packers would have been playoff bound. Now, Aaron Rodgers’ future in Green Bay is up in the air. What does that mean for LaFleur? Even after posting a 47-19 record in his first four seasons with the Packers, he could be on the hot seat.

• Brandon Staley, Los Angeles Chargers: In-game and late-season decision making has been an issue for Staley during his time in Southern California. Back in Week 18 of the 2021 season, his decision-making process cost the Chargers a win over Las Vegas and a playoff spot. Staley then opted to play his starters Sunday despite Los Angeles already being locked into the No. 5 spot in the AFC Playoffs. At this point, we’re not 100% sure that the Chargers’ brass is sold on him long-term. A loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs could lead to Staley getting his walking papers.

• Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams: In what has to be considered a real shock, reports out of Los Angeles indicate that McVay is leaning toward resigning after six seasons. For the young head coach, it’s all about spending time with his new wife and transitioning to sports media. Whether this happens remains to be seen. What we do know is that the defending champs are coming off an ugly and injury-plagued 2022 season. Perhaps, that will lead to a surprise on McVay’s part as Black Monday comes calling.

• Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins: Seen as an innovative offensive mind dating back to his days with San Francisco, McDaniels opened his first season with Miami in stellar fashion. The team won eight of its first 11 games before injuries to Tua Tagovailoa and others popped up. It then lost five consecutive before a playoff-clinching Week 18 win over the Jets. Despite leading Miami to just its third playoff appearance since 2002, rumors out of South Beach suggest he could be on the hot seat. We’re just not buying it.

• Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints: Sean Payton’s decision to resign following the 2021 season led to Allen getting his first head coaching gig since his disasterclass of a performance with the then-Oakland Raiders. Now that Payton wants to return to the sidelines, rumors persist that he could come back to New Orleans. Even if that doesn’t happen, the Saints’ 7-10 record in Allen’s first season can’t be seen as a good thing. Whether that’s enough for him to be one-and-done on Black Monday remains to be seen.

• Robert Saleh, New York Jets: The positives first. New York improved from four wins in Saleh’s debut season to seven wins in 2022. Now, the negatives. These Jets lost six consecutive to close the season. They scored 15 points in their final three games. Second-year quarterback Zach Wilson was a walking soap opera while showing himelf to be in over his head. The Jets are now already looking for a replacement. Could that lead to Saleh getting his walking papers? While unlikely, it is a possibility.

• Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans: Following their season-ending Week 18 loss to Jacksonville, Titans fans wanted to blame Vrabel. That’s extreme given the situation recently-fired former Titans general manager Jon Robinson put his head coach in. Despite a lack of talent, Vrabel still had his team in playoff contention in the final week of the season. At issue here is a seven-game losing streak to conclude the campaign. Ouch!

Status of interim head coaches heading into Black Monday

• Steve Wilks, Carolina Panthers: How good was Wilks once Carolina called on him to replace Matt Rhule? The Panthers posted a 6-6 record once Rhule was fired. It has led to widespread speculation that he could return in a full-time basis. In fact, Wilks will interview for the job here soon. It would not be a surprise if the former Arizona Cardinals head coach gets an opportunity to lead this squad in 2023.

• Jerry Rosburg, Denver Broncos: Solely a special teams coordinator since entering the NFL ranks back in 2001, Rosburg was just a placeholder in Denver following the firing of Nathaniel Hackett after less than one season. He will not be back in this role in 2023 with Denver setting their targets high in search for a new head coach.

• Jeff Saturday, Indianapolis Colts: Owner Jim Irsay shocked the football world by hiring this former Pro Bowl center to be Indianapolis’ head coach. He had zero head coach experience at a college or professional level. What followed some of the worst football we’ve seen in the NFL in some time. While the Colts might be saying the right thing here, Saturday is as good as done.

Hot seats on fire with Black Monday here

Arthur Smith, Atlanta Falcons

Falcons owner Arthur Blank is among the most-loyal in the NFL. It’s in this that most believe he’ll give Smith more than two years to turn this thing around in Atlanta. But the head coach’s body of work over this two-year span leaves a lot to be desired.

Having earned his keep as an innovative offensive mind during his time with the Tennessee Titans, that has not transitioned to Atlanta. The Falcons finished 28th in scoring in 2011 and ranked in the bottom 10 this past regular season.

Josh McDaniels, Las Vegas Raiders

Josh McDaniels’ first season in Las Vegas was an unmitigated disaster. The team boasted a 6-11 record with nine of those losses coming by one score. The Raiders blew four double-digit leads throughout the season.

The only thing potentially saving McDaniels’ job is the fact that he still has four years remaining on his current contract and the fact that owner Mark Davis is cheap.

Ron Rivera, Washington Commanders

Embattled Commanders owner Daniel Snyder will play a major role in the decision-making process here. As for Rivera’s complete body of work on D.C., Washington is 22-27-1 since he was hired ahead of the 2020 season.

With a talented young defense and some good skill-position players, this is not what we’d call a success. It ccould make him one of the first victims of Black Monday.

Victims of NFL Black Monday

Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona Cardinals

An argument can be made that Kingsbury was one of the worst head coaches during his tenure in Arizona. Here’s a guy who posted a 28-37-1 record since joining the Cardinals. Arizona has lost 17 of its past 22 games, too.

Now that Arizona is coming off a disastrous 4-13 season, its brass made the decision to move off Kingsbury. It’s somewhat surprising in that the Cards singed him to a contract extension less than a calendar year ago. But with the product we’ve seen in the field recently in the desert, this was the right move.

Lovie Smith, Houston Texans

David Culley went one-and-done with the Texans a season ago. Smith has now followed him after posting a 3-13-1 record for a Houston team that lacked the talent to compete.

At this point, there’s a question about the direction of the Texans’ organization. They have fired two consecutive head coaches after one season. And in reality, the decision to hire Smith last offseason didn’t seem to make much sense.