Traditionally the day after the last regular season NFL game is when head coaches are fired by team owners.
Analysts generally predict who will be out of a job on what is termed “Black Monday.”
This past offseason two NFL head coaches were miraculously not fired but should have been.
They are hanging on to their jobs in 2021, but no one knows how long that will last.
These two head coaches are those on the thinnest of ice in 2021.
2. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
Mike McCarthy won a Super Bowl during his long tenure with the Green Bay Packers.
His reputation must be what saved him from Jerry Jones pulling the plug on him after a disastrous 6-10 2020 season.
Equally troubling to the lack of wins, it seemed as though McCarthy did not have control of the locker room.
Mike McCarthy is the favorite to be the first NFL coach fired pic.twitter.com/oCqz2AOu7E
— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) May 27, 2021
While he lost the star quarterback Dak Prescott to a season-ending injury, it was how the team reacted when backup quarterback Andy Dalton suffered a concussion that made some question McCarthy’s leadership.
Andy Dalton took a nasty hit to the head pic.twitter.com/Yg913OGotr
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 25, 2020
After this play, none of Dalton’s teammates got in Washington Football Team linebacker Jon Bostic’s face calling him out for such a flagrant hit.
They did not defend their quarterback.
McCarthy said after the game:
“We speak all the time about playing for one another, protecting one another. It definitely was not the response you would expect.”
Another plus in McCarthy’s favor is that for some odd reason, Jones does not fire head coaches as quickly as he should.
Jason Garrett wore out his welcome years before he was officially let go by the Cowboys.
1. Matt Nagy, Chicago Bears
Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl and four playoff games in five seasons.
Fired.
Matt Nagy has not won a playoff game in three seasons.
Safe?#DaBears pic.twitter.com/SWnuqvX6e7
— Duke Coughlin (@ThatPodGuyDuke) January 11, 2021
Let’s start with the guiding principle that Matt Nagy is supposedly an offensive mastermind.
He completely mismanaged his starting quarterback situation throughout 2020.
Starting and benching Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles with no rhyme or reason did not help the Bears.
They finished 8-8 again; the same record they had in 2019.
Nagy’s only winning record as a head coach was his rookie year of 2018 when the Bears went 12-4.
He is not the only one who should be fired in Chicago; GM Ryan Pace has not done much to merit continuing in his job either.
The mismanagement by the Pace/Nagy team continued into the offseason.
Once again, quarterbacks were the issue.
The Bears tried to get Russell Wilson from Seattle, but there was no way Pete Carroll would let that happen.
@ChicagoBears have a new QB. He's not named @DangeRussWilson or @deshaunwatson
The team will sign quarterback Andy Dalton to a one-year, $10-million contract that contains another $3 million in incentives #Bears #Chicago #DaBears #NFL #Kennythesportsguy #NFLFreeAgency pic.twitter.com/zyFcRMfzyj
— Kenny The Sports Guy Podcast (@kenny_sports) March 16, 2021
To remedy the situation, the Bears signed Dalton to a hefty one-year contract and called him the starter.
Trubisky is out so the prospect of a Dalton/Foles season with two backup quarterbacks did not sit well with Bears fans.
Pace/Nagy got a second chance when Ohio State’s star quarterback Justin Fields practically fell into their hands during the 2021 NFL Draft.
Now Nagy has to manage the dynamic of the quarterback room containing Dalton, Foles, and Fields and figure out how to manage Fields correctly so the Bears will finally have a franchise quarterback.
Given his previous history, there is no guarantee he can do it.
A misstep this season should ultimately cost him his job.