We’ve already had one NFL head coach fired this season — Brian Callahan was out in Tennessee after six games. Fans are waiting to see who will be next, but it might be a while before another head coach gets canned.

In the meantime, there are a number of coordinators on the hot seat themselves. Often, head coaches desperate to hold onto their jobs will fire underperforming coordinators to buy themselves some time, even if it’s not really their fault. Other times, coordinators will be forced out due to poor performance, especially when a season is going sideways.

Below, I’ve outlined five coordinators who are currently on the hot seat, what got them there, and why each team might feel the need to make a change. Let’s dive right in:

Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus

Eberflus got his NFL start with the Browns in 2009 after serving as the defensive coordinator at Missouri. He was a linebackers coach there and in Dallas before the Colts hired him as their defensive coordinator in 2018. After three years in Indy, he spent three unsuccessful years as the head coach in Chicago before being fired, and new Dallas HC Brian Schottenheimer brought him back to Dallas just this year.

This one is easy. The Cowboys defense ranks last in the NFL in yards per game, 30th in points allowed per game, 30th in rush defense and 32nd in pass defense. They are easily the worst defense in the NFL by most metrics, and while injuries (and the Micah Parsons trade…) certainly haven’t helped, a lot of the issues rest on Eberflus.

An old-school defensive coordinator, Eberflus has a specific scheme he likes to run and he stubbornly refuses to alter it. Two weeks ago, the Panthers torched Dallas on the ground, running hog-wild over them to an upset win. Carolina would routinely line up in two-tight end sets, giving them seven blockers on the line of scrimmage. These seven-man blocking schemes were dicing up the Cowboys’ four-man fronts, running multiple double teams on every play to great success. Eberflus never adjusted, asking his overpowered line to hold up snap after snap to no avail.

And that’s just one example. Dallas’ victory over the Commanders in Week 7 likely buys the staff a little breathing room, but this defense is a problem. Cowboys QB Dak Prescott continues to play at an MVP-caliber level and the wins aren’t coming with it, because of Eberflus’ defense. There’s only so long the Cowboys will put up with that.

Atlanta Falcons OC Zac Robinson

A prolific college quarterback at Oklahoma State, Robinson joined the Rams staff in 2019 after a short NFL playing career. He bounced between assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coaching roles before eventually being promoted to passing game coordinator in 2022. In 2024, new Falcons HC Raheem Morris hired Robinson to his staff in Atlanta as the offensive coordinator.

At first glance, seeing Robinson’s name on this list might surprise you. The Falcons rank sixth in the NFL in total offense, behind just the Cowboys, Colts, Bills, Chargers, Chiefs and 49ers. They’re 10th in passing and fourth in rushing — a balanced attack that gets their bevy of playmakers involved.

But a closer inspection reveals a deeply broken offensive unit in Atlanta right now. Despite churning out all those yards, the Falcons rank 28th in points per game. Situationally, this offense cannot function, grinding to a halt in the red zone and in clutch “gotta have it” moments that are the true test of an offense’s ability. When the team needs a key conversion or the field gets condensed, the offense freezes up.

Second-year QB Michael Penix Jr. is one of the lowest-graded passers in the NFL, struggling to keep the offense on schedule. The Falcons were shut out by the Panthers and mustered just 10 points in Week 7 against the 49ers.

Robinson is one of the main culprits for this inefficiency. The Falcons are signaling their playcalls with their formations, almost exclusively running when lined up under center and throwing from the shotgun. Atlanta’s base offense is the pistol, but even then they primarily run out of that formation and have other significant tells in their alignments, such as where certain sub-package tight ends line up snap-to-snap.

When you watch the tape, Penix is not being put in position to succeed. Some of that is on him, and he is a young quarterback who will hopefully continue to improve. But Robinson bears a lot of responsibility for this as well. Morris and the Falcons will have to decide if they want Robinson to be the one to continue to shepherd the development of Penix, a player the franchise invested a lot into.

Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing

Petzing was one of the Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon’s original hires back in 2023. He previously spent time as an offensive assistant coach with the Vikings and Browns, serving as a quarterbacks, tight ends, and wide receivers coach at various times in his career.

It was an inauspicious start to Petzing’s career, as Arizona ranked 19th in total offense and 24th in points scored in 2023, but he was working with a limited roster. Last season, the Cardinals ranked just outside the top 10 league-wide in both categories, but were let down by a limited defense.

Coming into this season, there was a lot of optimism that the Cardinals could make a push for a wild card berth in Gannon’s third year. The offense seemed to find something that worked in 2024, and moderate improvements were expected from some of their young players. More importantly, the defense got an overhaul, with some major upgrades brought in along the defensive line and at cornerback. And so far, the defense has mostly held up despite some injuries in the secondary. The Cardinals rank in the middle of the pack in most defensive categories — nothing incredible, but certainly an improvement. The offense, on the other hand, has been a major letdown.

The Cardinals are 2-5 and the offense is the main reason why. Arizona is 22nd in yards per game, 20th in passing yards per game, 18th in rushing yards per game and 20th in points per game. The advanced metrics are much less kind to the Cardinals, ranking them as one of the least efficient offenses in the league on a down-to-down basis.

The thing is, the personnel the Cardinals are working with isn’t that bad. Second-year WR Marvin Harrison Jr. hasn’t been the generational talent he was billed as coming out, but has started to gain his footing the last few weeks. Injuries have decimated the Cardinals at running back, but the offensive line has pieces, and between Harrison, TE Trey McBride, and WR Michael Wilson, the pass catchers are there.

It’s not a great sign that the two best offensive outputs for the Cardinals have come in the last few weeks with starting QB Kyler Murray out with an injury. Backup QB Jacoby Brissett has pushed the ball down the field more effectively, but this scheme isn’t helping either of them.

If the losing continues, it might not just be Petzing that’s out of a job. Gannon has a lot riding on turning around this losing streak, too, as the Cardinals started 2-0 before losing five straight by a combined 13 points. That is some brutal luck in close games, but for most of that time, the offense hasn’t done its part. If staff changes need to be made, Petzing is likely the first to go.

Baltimore Ravens DC Zach Orr

A former NFL linebacker who joined the Ravens in 2014 after going undrafted, Orr had to medically retire after three seasons but re-joined Baltimore as a defensive assistant just a year later. After spending the 2021 season in Jacksonville as an outside linebackers coach, Orr came back to the Ravens as their inside linebackers coach from 2022-2023. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2024 after Mike Macdonald left to take the Seahawks’ head coaching job.

The Ravens entered the year as one of the favorites for the Super Bowl, yet they sit at 1-5 coming off their bye with one of the worst defenses in the league. Baltimore ranks 30th in total defense, last in points allowed per game, 28th in pass defense and 26th in rush defense. The Ravens gave up 41 to the Bills, 38 to the Lions, 37 to the Chiefs, and 44 to the Texans.

Still, it’s hard to determine how much blame Orr should shoulder when the Ravens have been beset by so many injuries. All-Pro DT Nnamdi Madubuike is out for the season, and Baltimore has also been without LB Roquan Smith, CB Chidobe Awuzie, CB Marlon Humphrey, ED Adisa Isaac and ED Kyle Van Noy for various stretches.

Ravens HC John Harbaugh and the players in the locker room have consistently voiced support for Orr and dismissed the idea of making a change. It’s hard to see the Ravens firing Orr at this point, but Harbaugh’s hand may be forced if things don’t imporve. His own job security has been called into question recently, and while that sounds crazy given Harbaugh’s pedigree and track record of success, it’s true that Baltimore is wasting a season of two-time MVP QB Lamar Jackson’s prime. Sometimes, seasons like this have consequences in the form of firings, even if it seems premature.

New York Giants DC Shane Bowen

Lastly, let’s talk about Bowen, who’s had his job security called into question after the Giants’ collapse against the Broncos last week. New York had a 19-0 lead over Denver heading into the fourth quarter and gave up 33 points, the most a team has ever given up in a fourth quarter in NFL history. It’s hard to take into account anything that happened in the first three quarters of this game when it ends like that.

Bowen played linebacker at Georgia Tech and got his NFL start with the Texans. He eventually joined the Titans as their outside linebackers coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2021, joining Brian Daboll’s staff in New York in 2024.

Through seven weeks, the Giants rank 29th in total defense, 23rd in points allowed per game, 25th in rush defense, and 26th in pass defense. What’s particularly frustrating about those numbers is that despite all of New York’s struggles to build a cohesive offense over the years under Daboll, their defense this year is quite talented. Their defensive line, in particular, is one of the best in the league, with elite pass rushers across the board with guys like DT Dexter Lawrence, ED Brian Burns, ED Kayvon Thibodeaux, and rookie No. 3 pick ED Abdul Carter.

Though the Giants have been battling injuries at linebacker, their secondary got an overhaul this year too. The additions of S Jevon Holland and CB Paulson Adebo boosted the talent in this group, while CB Cordale Flott is one of the highest-graded corners in the league. The Giants have a trio of quality safeties in Holland, Dane Belton and Tyler Nubin.

There’s only so long you can go on blaming the personnel before you have to look elsewhere. This Giants defense should be better than they are given the talent they have, but for whatever reason it’s not working. That usually calls for a coaching change.

Daboll dismissed the idea of making coaching staff changes after their Week 7 collapse in his press conference on Monday, but his hand might be forced soon. Daboll’s own seat might be the hottest in the league, and if the Giants keep losing — New York is 2-5 — he may need to make someone else the fall guy to buy himself more time this season.