The first head coach firing of the 2025 NFL season came on Oct. 13. The year before that, Oct. 8 was the first fateful day. With the calendar about to flip from September to October, history suggests at least one unfortunate coach will be out the door in the coming weeks, and there are a few candidates that may be in line for an in-season pink slip.
Some worked their way off scalding seats over the first three weeks of the 2026 season. Aaron Glenn (New York Jets) and Shane Steichen (Arizona), for instance, both have a win under their belts and were competitive in their losses. They could be out the door by the end of the year, but the chances that these highly scrutinized leaders become the first casualties of the coaching carousel are slimmer than they appeared at the beginning of the month.
At the same time, surprisingly rough starts for a few teams placed new pressure on coaches to right the ship. The Chargers and Packers, for instance, have a combined one win despite opening the year as perceived postseason contenders. Five of our NFL writers at CBS Sports convened for a roundtable discussion to determine which coaches are at the highest risk of becoming the first to lose their jobs in 2026.
"The Buccaneers coach had arguably the hottest seat in the NFL coming into the season, and not much has changed. In fact, his seat is probably hotter. After going 8-9 and missing the playoffs last year, Bowles fired most of his staff, which is typically a last-ditch effort before the entire operation gets overhauled.
The rearranging of the deck chairs hasn't done much to turn the tide in Tampa, with the Bucs stumbling to a 0-3 start to the season. Each of those losses has come in one-score games, and the organization just feels stale. With Baker Mayfield (thumb) dinged up, it may only get worse from here.
"I'd keep an eye on Week 5 when the Bucs travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys on 'Thursday Night Football' as a possible spot where a change could be made. If they fall to 0-5, that mini-bye after a Thursday night game — especially if the primetime loss is one-sided — has been a pocket where changes have been made in the past." "Todd Bowles is a firing waiting to happen. Baker Mayfield is hurt, and he was playing poorly before that.
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