Five Coordinators On The Hot Seat

Five Coordinators On The Hot Seat
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We’ve already had one NFL head coach fired this season — Brian Callahan was out in Tennessee after six games. Fans are waiting to see who will be next, but it might be a while before another head coach gets canned.

In the meantime, there are a number of coordinators on the hot seat themselves. Often, head coaches desperate to hold onto their jobs will fire underperforming coordinators to buy themselves some time, even if it’s not really their fault. Other times, coordinators will be forced out due to poor performance, especially when a season is going sideways.

Below, I’ve outlined five coordinators who are currently on the hot seat, what got them there, and why each team might feel the need to make a change. Let’s dive right in:

Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus

Eberflus got his NFL start with the Browns in 2009 after serving as the defensive coordinator at Missouri. He was a linebackers coach there and in Dallas before the Colts hired him as their defensive coordinator in 2018. After three years in Indy, he spent three unsuccessful years as the head coach in Chicago before being fired, and new Dallas HC Brian Schottenheimer brought him back to Dallas just this year.

This one is easy. The Cowboys defense ranks last in the NFL in yards per game, 30th in points allowed per game, 30th in rush defense and 32nd in pass defense. They are easily the worst defense in the NFL by most metrics, and while injuries (and the Micah Parsons trade…) certainly haven’t helped, a lot of the issues rest on Eberflus.

An old-school defensive coordinator, Eberflus has a specific scheme he likes to run and he stubbornly refuses to alter it. Two weeks ago, the Panthers torched Dallas on the ground, running hog-wild over them to an upset win. Carolina would routinely line up in two-tight end sets, giving them seven blockers on the line of scrimmage. These seven-man blocking schemes were dicing up the Cowboys’ four-man fronts, running multiple double teams on every play to great success. Eberflus never adjusted, asking his overpowered line to hold up snap after snap to no avail.

And that’s just one example. Dallas’ victory over the Commanders in Week 7 likely buys the staff a little breathing room, but this defense is a problem. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott continues to play at an MVP-caliber level and the wins aren’t coming with it, because of Eberflus’ defense. There’s only so long the Cowboys will put up with that.

Atlanta Falcons OC Zac Robinson

A prolific college quarterback at Oklahoma State, Robinson joined the Rams staff in 2019 after a short NFL playing career. He bounced between assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coaching roles before eventually being promoted to passing game coordinator in 2022. In 2024, new Falcons HC Raheem Morris hired Robinson to his staff in Atlanta as the offensive coordinator.

At first glance, seeing Robinson’s name on this list might surprise you. The Falcons rank...