Black Monday Nears: Several NFL Coaches Face Uncertainty

The NFL’s Black Monday for coaches is still nearly a week away, but expectations are already rising around the league about several potential changes coming for non-playoff teams. 

As the league approaches the last weekend of the regular season, multiple teams are already bracing for large-scale transitions. Among the developing situations:

• Cardinals: Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “I feel good,” when asked this week about his job status. The team, however, is 3–13 as it finishes its fourth straight losing season, and it has reached the playoffs just once in the last decade. “No one’s happy. I’m not happy. Players aren’t happy,” Gannon said. “Through adversity, you’ve got to change. So, I’ve got to change, and we’ve got to change some things, but we’ll get to that.”
• Raiders: Las Vegas head coach Pete Carroll is both a Super Bowl champion and a two-time national champion in college football. This season, though, he hasn’t won a game since Oct. 12 as the Raiders have sunk to a 2–14 record and are in line for the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Similar to Gannon, Carroll said he is confident that he will be able to retain his job. “From all the guys I’ve talked to, I do feel like I have [ownership’s] support,” Carroll said. “What does that mean? I don’t know, but our conversations have been really good.”
• Jets: After a celebrated run as the Lions’ defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn’s tenure as the Jets’ head coach has been far worse. The team has sunk to a 3–13 record and has been outscored 153–46 in the last four games. Amid an ugly history of Jets coaches, only Al Groh in 2000 was a one-and-done in the last 45 years. Regardless of what happens with Glenn, a direct conversation with owner Woody Johnson is forthcoming. “I think Woody knows just as well as anybody, I’m not going to b.s. him about anything at all,” Glenn said. “I think that’s a good thing about our relationship, that we’re going to be straightforward with each other.”
• Chiefs: Andy Reid, the NFL’s highest-paid head coach at $20 million and a three-time Super Bowl winner in Kansas City, is set to return in 2026 after a surprising and highly disappointing campaign that includes an end to a decade-long playoff run. “I think I’m coming back, right?” the 67-year-old Reid said. “If they’ll have me back, I’ll come back. You never know in this business. That’s a tough one, but I plan on it, yeah.”
• Browns: Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski is a two-time NFL coach of the year, but the team is just 7–26 in the last two years, even after Sunday’s upset of the Steelers has restarted speculation regarding his status. “As you can imagine, my sole focus is on [the upcoming] game versus Cincinnati, but I would also tell you I’m privileged to have this job.”
• Falcons: Atlanta had a big win over the Rams on Monday Night Football, but the team has not posted a winning season or reached the playoffs since 2017. Owner Arthur Blank has brought in outside consulting firm Sportsology to review the team’s football operations, an assessment that will include GM Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris. 
• Steelers and Ravens: The two teams will play on Sunday Night Football for the AFC North division title. A report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter earlier this week suggested the losing coach in that game, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin or Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, could leave his post, with a move to broadcasting possible. Tomlin has already been under rising scrutiny, despite never posting a losing record in his 19 seasons with the Steelers. 

Help Wanted

Already this season, the Giants have fired former NFL coach of the year Brian Daboll, and the Titans have dismissed Brian Callahan, and those teams are currently led by interim coaches.