Yardbarker
x
The good, bad and questionable from NFL's end-of-season coach firings
Jonathan Gannon. Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The good, bad and questionable from NFL's end-of-season coach firings

One day after the end of the 2025 NFL regular season, four teams have joined the coaching carousel.

The Tennessee Titans and New York Giants got a head start with in-season firings, and the Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders entered the fray with firings of their own.

Some recent moves were easier to explain than others. Below, we examine the good, bad and questionable of the NFL's firing spree.

Good: Arizona Cardinals fire Jonathan Gannon

The Cardinals entered their bye last season at 6-4 and a puncher's chance of reaching the playoffs. In the 24 games since, they've gone 5-19, with only the Tennessee Titans, who fired head coach Brian Callahan earlier this season, posting a worse win percentage during that span. (h/t Stathead).

Arizona regressed significantly in Year 3 under Gannon. After posting a positive point differential in 2024, the Cardinals were outscored by 133 points in 2025, their worst margin since Steve Wilks' disastrous one-year run in 2018. Hired after serving as Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator, Arizona had one of the worst defenses in the league this season, ranking No. 29 in scoring (28.7 points per game) and No. 27 in total defense (357.7 yards per game).

As The Ringer's Sheil Kapadia noted on social media, Gannon's .294 win percentage is 200th of 207 coaches with at least 50 career games.

Bad: Cleveland Browns retain GM Andrew Berry, fire HC Kevin Stefanski

The wrong one is staying.

Despite agreeing to the worst trade in NFL history by sending three future firsts (along with two fourths and one third) to the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson — then giving him $230 million guaranteed — in 2022, Berry somehow avoided the axe on Monday while Stefanski, a two-time Associated Press Coach of the Year, was fired.

To be fair to Cleveland, the timing was right to part ways with Stefanski after he led the team to just eight wins over the past two seasons. But how about putting some responsibility on the person who constructed the flawed roster with a glaring hole at quarterback? Just a thought.

Instead, the Browns will be in the awful position of having Berry oversee the upcoming coaching search, which should make any candidate hesitate. What happens if, a year from now, Cleveland once again misses the playoffs and the team moves on from Berry? Then, whoever's coaching will be at the mercy of a general manager who didn't hire him.

There's a reason the Browns are the NFL's worst franchise, and Monday was another excellent example of why.

Questionable: Atlanta Falcons fire Raheem Morris following four-game winning streak

The Falcons probably needed to clean house after missing the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season and failing to take advantage of playing in the league's most dreadful division. But ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter's post to social media early Monday gives some reason for skepticism.

Per Schefter, Atlanta became the first team since the 2021 Raiders to finish a season on a four-game win streak but fail to bring back their head coach. In that instance, Las Vegas hired Josh McDaniels, finished 6-11 in 2022 and has averaged five wins per season in the three subsequent years.

Atlanta had too much talent to be mediocre, and better coaching could count for a couple of wins by itself next year. Based on all available data, the organization made the correct call. 

But since when have the Falcons done anything right? We're talking about a team that always picks the wrong door. If any team can turn a sure win into a loss, it's the one that does it better than the rest.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

Yardbarker +

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!