NFL head coach on the hot seat after Week 2: No. 3 Matt Eberflus, Bears
The Bears are a bad football team. They were a bad football team last year when they went 3-14. And they don't look any better in 2023.
At least last year they pulled off a surprise victory over the 49ers in Week 1. This year, they're 0-2 after two double-digit losses to the Packers and the Buccaneers.
Sunday's loss to Tampa Bay was bad enough that head coach Matt Eberflus really has no excuses. His defense had 27 points put up on them by Baker Mayfield. Luke Getsy, his offensive coordinator, has done such a terrible job with Justin Fields that once-loyal fans have given up on the quarterback.
Eberflus was hired in 2022. In a perfect world, he'd get more than one season and a couple of games to put his stamp on the team. But the NFL coaching carousel is far from the perfect world. Owners are impatient and front offices are always willing to throw head coaches under the bus to save themselves, especially when the coach in question has lost 12 games in a row.
If Eberflus's Bears don't start to show improvement, he could be an early candidate to get the ax.
NFL head coach on the hot seat after Week 2: No. 2 Brian Daboll, Giants
Brian Daboll saved himself from the No. 1 spot on this list when his team engineered a thrilling comeback victory over the Cardinals. But don't let the win fool you. The head coach still has to answer for why his team was in that position at all.
The Giants came into the season expecting to compete for the playoffs. The only thing the Cardinals are going to be competing for this year is the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. New York needing to erase a 21-point second-half deficit is a problem.
Why did it take falling down 20-0 at halftime for the Giants offense to open up? Daboll denied to Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News that he took over playcalling in the second half but it sure looked like something changed. If he truly didn't start calling plays, then he should have. If he did and is just trying to obscure it, he should have earlier.
The head coach also frustrated some by having Saquon Barkley carry the ball between the tackles as the Giants tried to kill the clock before the game-winning field goal attempt. The running back got injured because of it. That injury could put the team in more hot water if it causes him to miss time.
New York has now played eight quarters of football this season. They've played decently in just two of them.
Daboll deserves to be on the hot seat until he proves those first six quarters were the outliers.
NFL head coach on the hot seat after Week 2: No. 1 Brandon Staley, Chargers
Brandon Staley had to be on thin ice after blowing a 27-0 lead in the playoffs to the Jaguars last year. Losing by two in Week 1 to a good Dolphins team wasn't the end of the world, but the head coach gets far less grace after a Week 2 loss to the Titans.
It wasn't just another loss while blowing a fourth-quarter lead this season. By Tyler Schoon's count, it was the eighth time in three seasons Staley has lost a game with the Chargers despite holding a fourth-quarter lead.
This time, it was against an unimpressive Tennessee team. LA was up by four points earlier in the fourth after a Keenan Allen TD grab. They gave up a touchdown with just over two minutes remaining and needed a last-second field goal to force overtime.
Justin Herbert and company even got the ball to start the extra period but they went three-and-out. The Titans rolled down the field for the game-winning field goal.
Staley is a defensive head coach, so he certainly owns the 27 points his defense gave up to the Titans. That's the most points scored by Tennessee since last November when they scored a season-high 27 against the Packers.
The Chargers have too many good players on both sides of the ball for this to keep happening to them. But they don't play like a well-coached team. That's on Staley.
