Who Will Be The First NFL Coach Fired This Year?

Surprisingly, not a single NFL coach has been given a red slip as our 2011 season hits the midway mark and 8 of the 32 teams have 2 wins or less.

But the time is coming, rest assured. NFL owners are already gearing up to replace some dead weight. Some coaches just don’t know it yet. Let’s take a look at some of the worst teams in the NFL and get an idea on their coaches job security. Here are the odds that these losing coaches last the season.

Pete Carroll – Seattle Seahawks 2-6

There are several coaches on this list of bad teams that have just begun their careers. Pete Carroll is one of them with just a year under his belt.

The 7-9 Seahawks last year made the playoffs to become the first losing team to do so and thanks to the horrible NFC West division Carroll was able to bumble into the playoffs.

Not this year. The Niners own the division and the other three teams have just 5 wins between them and they’re all on this list. Carroll was brought in to rebuild the team and he’ll most likely be given a few more years to prove that his mediocrity in New England all those years back was a fluke and those NCAA Championship years at Southern Cal are what the Seahawks will see in the future.

Seattle went through some trouble to hire Carroll and payed him a lot to run the franchise as well as coach the team so it’s hard to imagine they would pull the plug this early.

Odd of being fired : 300:1

Ron Rivera – Carolina Panthers 2-6

Ron Rivera was a defensive stud at San Diego and is still in his first year as a head coach.

He’ll be fine. Their 2-6 record isn’t anything to be proud of but the Panthers are surprisingly competitive with rookie QB Cam Newton. They have been in almost every game and the franchise is rebuilding.

Rivera still has a few years to go before the panic button gets punched.

Unless Ron decides to bench Cam and start Jimmy the Panthers will only keep improving.

Odd of being fired : 250:1

Leslie Frazier – Minnesota Vikings 2-6

Another new coach stuck with a bad team, Frazier could be in for a mix if the ownership/stadium issue doesn’t get fixed but that’s down the road.

In his first full year Frazier didn’t impress until he benched aging QB Donovan McNabb in favor of rookie Christian Ponder who added a spark and fight back to the team that is just a couple years removed from the NFC Championship game.

Frazier should be cool in Minny for now unless the team gets uprooted to L.A. and fully cleans house or he puts McNabb back into the game.

Odd of being fired : 150:1

Ken Whisenhunt – Arizona Cardinals 2-6

The Card can win with a QB. They proved that by taking Whisenhunt and the franchise to their first Super Bowl just 4 seasons ago. But since then it’s been downhill as Kurt Warner retired and the revolving door at QB hampered the team.

Whisenhunt carefully built his staff from former Pittsburgh Steelers staff members and even went after big free agent QB Kevin Kolb. So far that has provided just 2 wins and the faint whisper of copier machines running of resumes at the team office.

Ken can still turn it around to keep his job this year but he’s on real thin ice in the desert right now and we all know how fast that will melt in the Arizona sun.

Odd of being fired : 50:1

Steve Spagnuolo – St. Louis Rams 1-7

Despite their horrible record, the Rams have played some good ball in the last 2 weeks and should be 2-6 if it weren’t for a 99-yard punt return for a TD by Arizona in OT last Sunday. But bad luck always hits more in an offseason.

Spags is on the fence, no doubt. The Rams have suffered a ton of injuries this year but excuses are no reason for this team to be this bad already this year. Spags went 1-15 his first year and then 7-9 his second year after just missing out on that last playoff spot that Pete Carroll took into the postseason.

But the Rams started off 0-6 this year which prompted the rumors of the team looking for a new coach. They have the most talent they have had since Kurt Warner was on the team and all we are getting are excuses, not wins.

Personally, I think he should be able to finish this year and see if he can turn it around. Me thinks it might be too late, though

Odd of being fired : 25:1

Jim Caldwell – Indianapolis Colts 0-9

Of all the coaches on this list there’s absolutely no reason Caldwell should be on it. He was given the keys to a Ferrari and seemingly just sat back and watched it idle in the driveway until the engine gave out.

And that engine is Peyton Manning.

The saving grace for Caldwell is that he can claim the team wasn’t prepared for the loss of Manning. Of course, I say he should be held fully accountable because it’s his job to get the team ready and crappy drafts and virtually no free agent signings have indicated that he was content to sit back and ride out the glory that Tony Dungy worked so hard to build.

I’ve never seen a coach do so little to maintain such a good team and the Colts have just slowly sucked over the last 3 years until this year to prove that there was no plan B for Manning’s loss and no talent to take over.

Odd of being fired : 3:1

Tony Sparano – Miami Dolphins 1-7

It’s been said that Tony was fired at the beginning of the season but just hasn’t been told yet. There’s actually some truth to that as the Dolphins front office made a fool of themselves in the offseason to court former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh to South Beach.

Of course, Tony was still there coach and Jim took the job in San Fran so it was a little awkward.

It’s all but a given that Sparano will be booted at the end of the year at the latest.

Odd of being fired : 1:1

Jack Del Rio – Jacksonville Jaguars 2-6

If there’s one coach that has stayed despite mediocrity, it’s Del Rio.  For the last three years we always hear he will be let go and he stays.

He has only two playoff seasons in nine years and is 21-33 since 2008. His coaching methods are outdated and the franchise is struggling to stay in town as the small market of Jacksonville coupled with the worst economy in decades make the NFL scratch it’s head at why a beach town that can’t give away tickets has a team and L.A., the biggest market, goes without.

I’ll give the Jags credit for being patient with Del Rio. Too many teams are quick to boot a coach during a bad year but Del Rio has had 3 winning seasons in his 9 years there and the last one was in 2007. I’m a bit stunned they haven’t given Del Rio his pink slip yet. The team has had serious trouble filling seats and losing seasons with little to root for just make life Hell for everyone in the front office.

It’s time the Jags gave the city one more bit of enthusiasm before the talks of moving to L.A. kick up again at the end of this losing season.

Odd of being fired : 1:1