Sports News With The NFL

The Cleveland Browns made the first coaching change of the NFL season with the firing of Hue Jackson two weeks ago.

More will come. Maybe not in-season, as the history of interim coaches reversing a tumbling team’s course is dismal. Tank your way to a better first-round draft pick and then fire the guy.

With Week 10 approaching and every team having played eight or nine games depending on its bye week, this is about as close to the midpoint of the NFL season as one can get. So here’s the hard look and a short list of coaches on the hot seat. Fellas, put on that flame-retardant underwear:
• Dirk Koetter, Buccaneers. This just isn’t working. The offense cranks out yards, but defensively the Bucs are awful.
• Vance Joseph, Broncos. Just isn’t getting the job done. The Broncos are looking at back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the early 1970s.
• Mike McCarthy, Packers. You have Aaron Rodgers and go to one Super Bowl? They’ve missed the playoffs the last two years and this one isn’t going swimmingly.
• John Harbaugh, Ravens. Four straight playoffs misses and another looming? That would be five absences in the six years since winning the Super Bowl.

Others to keep an eye on: Todd Bowles (New York Jets), Jason Garrett (Dallas Cowboys), Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks). Carroll would be the least likely of these three to be let go. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still prizes Garrett for reasons unclear. Bowles gets the short straw in this trio.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman