On Sunday night, after the New Orleans Saints lost their seventh straight game, this time to the lowly Carolina Panthers, they were seemingly rebellious and had their cell phones at the ready. Defensive lineman Cam Jordan posted about the pointlessness of it all and how he had higher expectations, but a Panthers player was mocking.

Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders joked about the team’s tanking and entertainment product.

But those comments were relatively innocuous compared to the posts of former Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas, who hijacked a tweet thread during the game criticizing quarterback Derek Carr and the organization. Thomas went after Carr for the type of passes he threw to star receiver Chris Olave in a game that Olave left with a concussion – and generally called Carr “ass.” Carr then had to spend part of his postgame press conference denying that he had actively tried to inflict a head injury on his teammate. At this point it was abundantly clear that the entire Saints season was off track.

On a perhaps related note, Saints owner Gayle Benson fired head coach Dennis Allen on Monday morning. It is noteworthy that this step took place in early November; It’s clearly becoming clear that this is going to be a disappointing season in New Orleans, and Allen probably didn’t have much job security to begin with, but the Saints’ general MO has been Opposite from reactionary. Neither Gayle Benson nor her late husband Tom had ever fired a coach midseason since purchasing the team in 1985.

But apparently the growing dissatisfaction with Allen in the locker room began to affect Benson, and that was enough. The Saints named special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi as their interim head coach.

Perhaps the team will benefit in the short term from having Rizzi’s voice carry more weight in the locker room than Allen’s, but it seems more likely that this is finally the start of a tough reset in New Orleans than it is the kind of move , which is designed to save this season. Given all the injuries the Saints sustained in the first half of the season, particularly along the offensive line, a turnaround seems unlikely. The Saints are the second team to fire a head coach this season, joining the Jets, and they likely won’t be the last.

It’s been a strange year as a coach. The season began with several coaches on teams with recent success — like Mike McCarthy in Dallas or Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia — widely considered to be on the hot seat. Both men are still in office, but their situation appears to be precarious. But they are not alone, and in my opinion the coaches currently in the hot seat fall into the following three categories:

A Matter of Time: Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders; Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

The Raiders are lucky that New Orleans decided to make the big move and make headlines this week. Without this, more attention could be focused on what’s going on in Las Vegas. The Raiders lost to the Bengals on Sunday, giving up 41 points and posting a league-worst record of 2-7. On Sunday night, they fired three key offensive coaches who had been hired to Pierce’s staff just nine months ago: offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello.

Don’t get me wrong, very few people in Las Vegas are doing great this season, but it’s hard to believe that Pierce has already managed a complete turnaround with the coaches he only recently hand-picked. This is either a panic attack or something Pierce agrees to in order to keep his own job. Either way, it seems unlikely that things will work out for Pierce in the long run.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

And don’t forget the Raiders absolutely love Fire coaches. Pierce is hers 12 Coach of this century – and that includes Jon Gruden, twice. One of those previous coaches was Dennis Allen! Until they fired him!

The writing also seems to be on the wall in Jacksonville. It’s been three and a half seasons since Trevor Lawrence was number one. 1 pick and supposed franchise savior. Pederson hasn’t been in control this entire time (remember the Urban Meyer era?), but these are supposed to be the seasons when a team goes all-in on a franchise QB on a rookie contract win. But Lawrence now has his big second contract, the Jaguars have had just one playoff win since Pederson arrived in 2022 and are going nowhere at 2-7 this season. Pederson has failed to give this team an identity and they are a disaster when it comes to situational football, struggling on both sides of the ball in the red zone and on third downs.

It’s hard to imagine Pierce or Pederson coaching in Las Vegas or Jacksonville next season. The only question is whether there will be such a spectacular failure between now and January that an in-season layoff will be justified. Pederson’s decision to call a wheel route to third-string running back D’Ernest Johnson in the red zone when his team was down five points with 1:42 left against the Eagles might have been close. Lawrence threw a game-winning interception on that play.

Was in the hot seat for so long that he melted into it: Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

Do we spend enough time thinking about the fact that perhaps it’s Jerry Jones’ strange mistake in keeping McCarthy employed just to remind McCarthy on a weekly basis that he’s in control?

McCarthy’s seat is simultaneously the hottest in the game and has been hot for so long that I have to imagine he has lost all sensory abilities and feels absolutely nothing of it. In addition, his contract expires at the end of the season. Unless this happens before Week 18, he technically cannot be released at all and may not be extended.

The Cowboys have already lost more games this season than in any of the last three full seasons. This has more to do with them screwing up the entire offseason than it does with McCarthy’s coaching job specifically, although Ezekiel Elliott not showing up to work isn’t a good testament to his leadership skills. But I’m counting on that The It would probably take some soul-searching for Jones, but this is probably the kind of disappointing season that ultimately leads him to end things with McCarthy one way or another.

Standing quietly in the corner and hoping no one notices them: Brian Daboll, New York Giants; Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns; Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles; Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears

There are a number of coaches who have to be a little grateful that organizational collapses in New York and New Orleans covered up their own mess.

In Chicago, Eberflus’ chair oscillated between warm, cool and warmer again, especially after back-to-back disasters that resulted in the Bears giving up blatant touchdowns at the end of halftimes in recent games. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams could ultimately step in to save the day, but Eberflus’ team doesn’t seem prepared for the situation on a regular basis.

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Sirianni is in an interesting place. He started this season completely on the hot seat, but now that his Eagles appear to be getting back on their feet, it’s less clear than ever what role he actually plays within the team. Vic Fangio’s defense hasn’t given up 20 points in over a month and is becoming a team force, while the Kellen Moore-coordinated offense only appears to be finding its footing after the team’s veteran offensive linemen embraced a more run-based approach during the bye week. Still, Sirianni has been asked to be a CEO-type this year, and if the team has success with him in that role, he’ll likely be safe.

The main question with Stefanski is whether he will ultimately become a victim of the complete failure of the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland.

Daboll kept his job despite a disappointing 2023 season and a conflict with former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. In some ways, he’s doing a good job of trying to put together an offense that doesn’t require Daniel Jones to ever throw the ball. But the Giants appear to be a contender for the first pick in next year’s draft, and I’m not sure there’s enough evidence that Daboll (and perhaps general manager Joe Shoen) will be in the mix to take that pick meet.

All of these candidates could move in and out of a job over the next two months, but for now they should be reasonably content to stay under the radar.