Likely to be fired

Mike Munchak (Tennessee)

Mike Munchak’s name has been on the hot seat for a while in Tennessee, with many believing he’d be fired last off-season. He was kept around, predictably as he had only finished his 2^nd season with the team, but this time around he might not be so lucky. Munchak has a 21-26 record in 3 seasons and has failed to take the team to the playoffs. This year, the Titans are 6-9, heading into a week 17 home finale against the Texans. Owner Bud Adams, who hired Munchak, has died so the team is going to be under new leadership and the new leadership could easily let Munchak go in an attempt to get the team unstuck out of the mud.

Rex Ryan (NY Jets)

Rex Ryan reportedly told his team before their week 16 win over Cleveland that he was getting fired after the season. Reports have refuted that, but still no one would be surprised if Ryan was let go. Ryan and injured reserve quarterback Mark Sanchez are the only real holdovers from that era and with new GM John Idzik in charge, there’s been an expectation for the past year or so that this would be the end of Ryan’s tenure in New York, which saw him go 41-38 (pending week 17), make two NFC Championships, but fail to make the playoffs in each of his final 3 seasons. Now fired former GM Mike Tannenbaum was more to blame for that and I actually don’t agree with letting Ryan go, after he led this bunch to a 7-8 record with his strong defense, but right now it seems inevitable. Rex Ryan and Jim Schwartz are the longest tenured NFL head coaches without division titles. In today’s NFL, that likely means you’re gone.

Mike Shanahan (Washington)

This is where it gets messy. There’s no doubt right now owner Dan Snyder wishes Mike Shanahan was gone, after a 24-39 tenure that saw him make the playoffs just once. Shanahan might not even want to be there, after he reportedly thought about resigning last January because he hated working with Snyder, only to be stopped by RG3’s torn ACL and the bad personal PR that would have come with resigning after that. However, Shanahan wants to get his 7 million dollars in 2014 salary and he wouldn’t get that by resigning this off-season, while Snyder doesn’t want to fire him because he’d have to pay him that. You have to think eventually Shanahan will be gone, but it might be messy.

Dennis Allen (Oakland)

Dennis Allen’s record in 2 seasons with the Raiders isn’t that good, as he’s 8-23, but he’s only in his 2^nd year and he’s been put into a near impossible situation with a team devoid of talent and in salary cap hell, so I wouldn’t agree with him being let go just yet. However, it doesn’t sound like Mark Davis’ apple has fallen far from his dad’s tree and, now that he’s in charge, he may be just as impatient with head coaches as father Al Davis. Allen’s requests to have his assistants signed to extensions have already been denied by Mark Davis, which is never a good sign.

Jim Schwartz (Detroit)

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Jim Schwartz needed to make the playoffs to save his job. After being eliminated from the playoffs last week at home to the 6-9 Giants, it would be hard to see Schwartz being kept. The Lions were 6-3, looking at a schedule that featured just one likely playoff team (Philadelphia) over their final 7 games, but now they sit at 7-8 and already on the outside looking in. I have no idea how he keeps his job after that. The Lions are a talented team, but they are consistently plagued by things like losing close games, committing turnovers, and allowing return touchdowns, things that are supposed to be inconsistent. At the end of the day, they need new leadership. They have the talent to be a 12-4 team, but they’ll probably never get there under Schwartz. Schwartz is 29-50 in 5 seasons, with one playoff berth and no division titles.

Borderline

Jason Garrett (Dallas)

There have been conflicting reports on whether or not Jason Garrett is coaching for his job in this week’s NFC East play-in game. Certainly, Garrett being fired after a 29-27 tenure with no playoff appearances in Dallas would be no surprise. However, Romo’s injury might have saved Garrett’s job as it would allow him to deflect blame for a potential week 17 loss to Philadelphia, which would eliminate them from playoff contention. I could see this one going either way.

Greg Schiano (Tampa Bay)

There was a time earlier this season when Schiano seemed like the most likely head coach in the NFL to be canned, after the Buccaneers 0-8 start, which was filled with numerous reports about the players dislike of Schiano’s coaching style. However, now the Buccaneers are 4-11, including some impressive wins, such as double digit wins over Tampa Bay and Atlanta and upset wins over a Miami team that will likely make the playoffs and a Detroit team that was still playing well at the time. Of their losses, most have been close and they’ve fought all along. That could be enough to save Schiano’s job, especially since this is only his 2^nd season. He has an 11-20 record thus far.

Leslie Frazier (Minnesota)

Leslie Frazier led the upstart Vikings to a 10-6 record last season and looked like a coach of the year candidate, after they went 3-13 the year before. The Vikings predictably picked up his option for 2014, but this is the NFL and now they may be regretting that, as the Vikings are 4-10-1. Frazier is now 20-32-1 as head coach of the Vikings and the Vikings can get out of their mistake of picking up his option by letting him go this off-season. At the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if they kept him around for his contract year.

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