Kevin Stefanski couldn’t avoid the conversation this week.
There were NFL coaches who were perceived to be on the hot seat before the 2024 season even began. The Cleveland Browns coach, coming off a playoff berth last year, wasn’t necessarily one of them. But now the Browns (2-8) enter Week 12 “Thursday Night Football” against the Pittsburgh Steelers off to the franchise’s worst start since 2017, and suddenly Stefanski’s name is being brought up in sports talk radio segments in Cleveland as an NFL head coach in danger of being fired.
“I think probably because I grew up listening to (Philadelphia radio), I’m smart enough to not worry about outside noise,” Stefanski told reporters Tuesday. “I get that’s part of this gig. That’s life in the big city. My sole focus is getting this team ready to get a win on Thursday night. That’s it.”
The coaching carousel is, at this point, a familiar part of the rhythm that exists within the NFL calendar. There were eight new head coaches this season. There have been, on average, seven teams that got rid of their head coach over the past five years. The New York Jets already made Robert Saleh the first NFL head coach fired this season after Week 5, and the New Orleans Saints became the second team to make a midseason coaching change when it let go Dennis Allen earlier this month.
The moves have only further stoked speculation about the next coach to be fired, and who else appears to be on the hot seat as playoff hopefuls fade and disappointing teams finish out their schedule. Here’s a sampling of some of the odds, predictions and hot seat lists now that the end of the 2024 NFL regular season is less than two months away.
NFL coach hot seat rankings
The Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns are among the NFL teams that analysts are predicting could (or should) consider a coaching change based off what’s happening during the 2024 season.
- Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears
- Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders
- Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
NFL next coach fired odds
Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson and Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus are the favorites to be the next NFL head coach fired before Week 12 of the 2024 season.
The Jaguars (2-9) are currently in last place in the AFC South. Pederson, who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 and took Jacksonville to the NFL divisional round in 2022, has lost 14 of his past 17 games dating back to last season.
The Bears (4-6) have lost four games in a row and Eberflus, on track for his third consecutive season with a sub-.500 record, had to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron less than a year after hiring him this past offseason. Eberflus has won just 14 of his 44 games as head coach for Chicago.
