Will the Giants poor play get Dabol fired first? Could it be one of three AFC figureheads? Maybe another head coach?
You know it’s going to happen, you just don’t know who it’s going to happen to until it does. Some time between the start of the NFL season, Thursday night Sept. 4, and the final game of the regular season, Jan. 4, a head coach is going to get fired.
Who will it be?
Here are four men who probably shouldn’t buy green bananas.
Brian Dabol, New York Giants
It’s hard to believe Dabol tops the list after he was the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2022 when he took a bad Giants team to the playoffs and a playoff win over Minnesota. He followed that season by going 5-11 and 4-12 the past two years so his seat got a whole lot warmer. A quick look at the Giants schedule shows the team plays six 2024 playoff teams in their first eight games. And the two non-playoff teams they play are both road games at Dallas and at New Orleans. If New York starts 0-8, or even 1-7, Dabol could be out of a job by the end of October.
Zach Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Very few teams outside of Pittsburgh hold onto coaches longer than the Bengals. It is probably why Taylor is still employed. They made defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, once thought of as defensive genius for how he contained Patrick Mahomes, as the scapegoat after last year’s failure to make the playoffs. Last year’s 9-8 finish despite MVP performances by both quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver JaMar Chase featured seven losses by a touchdown, or less. That is a direct reflection of the head coach. Miss the playoffs again this season, and be eliminated before the end of the season and it won’t be a Merry Christmas in the Taylor house.
Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts
The former Eagles offensive coordinator went to Indy with a lot of hype after helping Philadelphia get to Super Bowl XXXVII. When the team drafted Anthony Richardson in the first round of the 2023 draft Steichen was supposed to mold him into another Jalen Hurts, if not better. That hasn’t happened. And neither has much else in Indianapolis. The team went 9-8 in Steichen’s first year, but a botched end of the season cost them a playoff berth. Last year the team went 8-9 giving new meaning to the term Indianapolis 500. The AFC South remains the league’s weakest division. If the Colts don’t start fast and at least challenge for the division, Steichen could find himself calling Nick Sirianni and asking for a job back in Philly.
Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins
McDaniel probably doesn’t belong on this list, but the Dolphins front office people and ownership have itchy trigger fingers. When the team made the playoffs McDaniel’s first two years he was thought of as quirky. The playoff failures followed by last year’s playoff miss and all of a sudden quirky becomes strange. With New England much improved and the Jets a little improved the AFC East is better than it has been. McDaniel, an offensive-minded man, now has to deal with three defensive-minded coaches in his division in Buffalo’s Sean McDermott, New England’s Mike Vrabel and New York’s Aaron Glenn. If he doesn’t beat those guys, he could be out of a job in a hurry.
