Patience is thinner than ever in the NFL, and it’s a certainty a handful of head coaches will be fired during or after the 2026 season. It happens every year — it’s just reality. Here are five coaches under the most pressure.
Training camps are just getting underway, and yet the pressure is already intense on a handful of head coaches around the NFL who face make-or-break seasons.
Of course, job security in such positions is always tenuous and any coach is one disappointing season away from being out of a job.
In all, nearly one-third of the head coaching jobs in the NFL turned over after last season with nine coaches fired and Mike Tomlin stepping down in Pittsburgh.
That’s near the high end of the coaching shakeup scale, but significant perennial turnover is inevitable — and can include almost anyone at any time.
John Harbaugh was let go last winter after 18 seasons, 180 wins and a Super Bowl title. Sean McDermott was sent packing after seven straight playoff appearances (eight in nine years overall) and a 98-50 record.
On the other end of the spectrum, Brian Callahan lasted just six games into his second season as head coach of the rebuilding Tennessee Titans before getting canned last year.
Some NFL head coaches don’t even make it that far — among the notable recent examples of quickly doomed coaching tenures, Nathaniel Hackett lasted just 15 games into his first season as Denver Broncos coach in 2022, Urban Meyer just 13 games into his first season with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, and even an NFL legend like Pete Carroll got just one abysmal year with the Las Vegas Raiders before being sent back to retirement.
So, yes, the pressure is on every NFL head coach this season to varying degrees, but these are the five likely coaching for their jobs the next five to six months.
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Todd Bowles
Honestly, the most surprising outcome of the last offseason coaching carousel was that Bowles was retained by the Buccaneers.
He’s 35-33 with one playoff win in four thoroughly mediocre seasons in Tampa Bay.
Sure, the Bucs had won three straight NFC South titles before missing the playoffs last year at 8-9 (nonetheless tying for first in the NFL’s weakest division while losing a three-way tiebreaker). But even in those years, the team went 8-9, 9-8 and 10-7.
Bowles didn’t take over a rebuilding project in Tampa Bay. He took over a team that won 24 games, including a Super Bowl, over the previous two seasons with expectations of continuing that success.
Bowles, who had failed in his first head coaching opportunity while going 24-40 in four seasons with the New York Jets, was the defensive coordinator on that 2020 Bucs Super Bowl title team and was the hand-picked successor of his predecessor Bruce Arians.
In his first season, Tom Brady’s last at quarterback, Bowles’ Bucs backed into the playoffs despite a losing record before getting blown out 31-14 by the Dallas Cowboys in the wildcard round.
Even with Brady retired, the Bucs remained a veteran-built team with high expectations and reset at quarterback with free agent Baker Mayfield. Despite another middling 9-8 finish, the Bucs again made the playoffs in the weak NFC South and dominated the Eagles in the wildcard round before losing 31-23 to the Detroit Lions in the divisional round.
That could be counted as momentum for Bowles’ tenure, along with a 10-7 finish in 2024, especially as the Bucs’ offense ranked third in the NFL in yards and fourth in scoring led by a rejuvenated Mayfield.
But offensive coordinator Liam Coen was hired away by the Jacksonville Jaguars after that season and proved himself as a first-time head coach last year while leading the Jags to a 13-4 record. While the Bucs dropped to 21st in yards and 18th in scoring without him.
Now, there were other factors involved in that offensive collapse. After a blistering start, Mayfield played most of the season with mounting injuries as his performance cratered, and star receiver Mike Evans missed most of the campaign due to injuries.
Perhaps, that’s why Bowles got a pass, but another season toeing one side or the other of a .500 record and not resembling a true contender isn’t going to cut it.
And the problem for Bowles is that he’s been dealt a much worse hand in 2026.
Evans bolted for the San Francisco 49ers in free agency, defensive leader and star linebacker Lavonte David retired, and on Monday star defensive tackle Vita Vea formally demanded a trade over failed contract extension talks.
Simply put, it’s hard to see Tampa Bay being any better in 2026 — and thus it’s hard to see Bowles lasting beyond this season as head coach.
2. Cincinnati Bengals Coach Zac Taylor
Taylor has deserved some patience in Cincinnati the last few years.
He earned that equity by getting the Bengals to their first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years, after the 2021 season, and then back to the AFC championship game the following season.
He earned that because star quarterback Joe Burrow has played just one full season in the three years since then, including just eight games last season (in which the Bengals went 5-3).
But as Harbaugh, McDermott and countless other coaches have found out over the years, such equity only buys so much patience.
Taylor’s Bengals have now missed the playoffs three straight years (including a 9-8 finish in 2024 with Burrow playing all 17 games).
As an offensive-minded head coach, he may also get some reprieve from the disaster the Bengals defense has regressively become in that time. The team changed defensive coordinators last year, bringing in Al Golden, and ranked 31st in yards allowed and 30th in points allowed.
That’s largely a byproduct of the front office.
Cincinnati upgraded its defensive line this offseason, trading the No. 10 pick in the draft to the New York Giants for Pro Bowl DT Dexter Lawrence while signing veteran DT Jonathan Allen. But the pass rush might be worse in the 2026, the Bengals still have the worst set of linebackers in the league and the secondary is largely the same as last year.
And yet there’s a lot of preseason hype for Cincinnati, largely driven by the prospect of a healthy Burrow lighting up the scoreboards again with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Co.
Maybe something clicks defensively, or maybe the Bengals offense is indeed simply good enough to overcome the defensive deficiencies. Either way, it would seem to be now or never for Taylor — now with a 52-63-1 record in seven seasons — to get his team back on an upward trajectory and into contention.
After all, there’s no shortage of coaches who could oversee a successful offense with Burrow, Chase and Higgins and a perennially woeful defense and churn out .500 seasons.
3. Detroit Lions Coach Dan Campbell
Who doesn’t like Campbell?
He’s a players’ coach, respected by his locker room. He’s a high-energy, endearing motivational presence who shows raw emotion and speaks candidly. Plus, he’s helped bring the Detroit Lions out of the abyss in recent years.
But the Lions’ championship window isn’t going to stay open forever, and they absolutely squandered 2025, entering the season tied for the fifth-best Super Bowl odds before stumbling to a 9-8 finish and missing the playoffs entirely.
The Lions were among the biggest disappointments in the NFL last year — plain and simple — after building momentum with a 12-5 finish and NFC championship game appearance in 2023 and a 15-2 record in 2024 before getting upset in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The talent is still there. Detroit remains absolutely loaded on offense, and if the defensive dropoff last season can be attributed in some part to a significant injury toll, then the potential for a healthier unit drives optimism for a bounce-back this year.
The concern, though, is how much Campbell was being propped up by his coordinators during those peak seasons, especially former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Johnson left to become the Chicago Bears head coach last year and in one season transformed and invigorated that franchise — the same way his offenses did for the Lions during his time in Detroit.
Campbell may be a classic CEO head coach — the right man to galvanize the locker room and set the tone on game days … as long as he has elite coordinators to do the hard work.
Campbell deserves another shot to prove that’s not the case — or to prove that he has the right coordinators in place after bringing in former Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing to replace fired John Morton, while young DC Kelvin Sheppard returns for a second season.
But if the Lions, with all their talent, aren’t contenders in 2026, it’s fair to wonder if the team is squandering its best chance for success in a very long time by anchoring to the wrong head coach.
4. Indianapolis Colts Coach Shane Steichen
To be fair, it looked like Steichen had some momentum going for the Colts in his third year at the helm last fall.
Indianapolis started 8-2 and the offense was humming with free agent QB addition Daniel Jones in the midst of a career-best season and Jonathan Taylor producing at as high a level as any running back in the NFL.
But injuries undercut Jones from there as he initially tried to play through a fractured fibula and then tore his Achilles tendon. The Colts lost their final seven games and missed the playoffs.
Should Steichen get a pass because he lost his starting quarterback and the team had no better option than to bring 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement five years after he threw his last NFL pass?
Sure, to some degree.
But it doesn’t sound like Steichen has much slack left entering his fourth season.
Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon, who took over control of the team in May 2025 following the death of her father Jim Irsay, made her expectations this season clear for Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard.
“We have been very clear with Chris and Shane that giving them another opportunity means that the sense of urgency for them to deliver and perform has never been higher,” Irsay-Gordon said. “Chris and Shane are both capable of facing this challenge head on and finding a way to achieve the results our fans deserve, which is winning games, getting to the postseason and ultimately winning championships.”
Ultimately, it’s perfectly fair to set this as a make-or-break season for Steichen. He’s 25-26 in three years as head coach while so far topping out at nine wins (in his debut season).
The challenge for Steichen is that he may have a worse roster than a year ago.
In order to afford the massive new 4-year, $114-million contract to retain free agent wide receiver Alec Pierce, the Colts had to basically give away former No. 1 WR Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That leaves Pierce (whose never had even 50 catches as a season while making his mark as a deep threat, not a well-rounded WR1) and fourth-year WR Josh Downs as the other notable wideouts on the roster, with second-year tight end Tyler Warren set to remain a high-volume target. Also, Pierce is recovering from offseason ankle surgery and not even certain to be available by Week 1.
The defense, meanwhile, looks worse on paper in replacing its top three tacklers (including 2024 second-team All-Pro Zaire Franklin) while counting on multiple rookies in key spots and lacking much proven production in the pass rush.
5. New York Jets Coach Aaron Glenn
Glenn may have taken over a total rebuilding job last season with the Jets, but he did absolutely nothing to inspire confidence that he was building toward anything while going 3-14 with a defense that became the first in NFL history since interceptions became a stat in 1933 to go without a single pick all season.
Glenn, the Lions former defensive coordinator, could have been expected to at least make some mark on that side of the ball. Instead, the Jets ranked 25th in total defense and 31st in points allowed — a significant dropoff after ranking third in total defense and 20th in scoring defense the year before.
Glenn wasn’t given much to work with offensively with Justin Fields installed as the starting QB after failed opportunities in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
But all in all, it was a disastrous debut for the first-time head coach.
New York had a strong draft, taking top edge rusher prospect David Bailey, top tight end Kenyon Sadiq and much-needed WR help in Omar Cooper Jr. in the first round. The Jets were aggressive in general this offseason, trading for veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, signing veteran linebacker Demario Davis, re-signing star running back Breece Hall, trading for veteran quarterback Geno Smith, etc.
So the pressure absolutely should be on Glenn to show something in Year 2 after he looked thoroughly overmatched in the position last season.
Warm Seats: Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn, Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
