In the NFL, the head coach takes full responsibility for the success or failure of the team. There may be a very thin margin that separates a very successful head coach, or coaching that apart very quickly, resulting in a souring relationship with the team and upper management. However, some coaches have been wrongfully fired for the most outlandish of reasons possible. When it goes bad, it goes bad very quickly.
Here are the 10 worst NFL head coach firings in recent history:
Mike Vrabel
The Tennessee Titans hired Vrabel as their head coach in 2018 until his recent unexpected firing after the 2023 season. Vrabel revitalized the Titans by bringing the team to the playoffs for three straight seasons, including a trip to the AFC Championship game in the 2019 season. The relationship with the front office started to deteriorate when the Titans traded away star wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles for a draft pick and got next to nothing for him out of Treylon Burks who the Titans drafted. The 2023 Titans also dealt with a lot of injuries and a weak offensive line as Vrabel was shown the exit. Don’t be surprised if Vrabel finds another head coaching gig elsewhere in the NFL, and makes the Titans regret this awful firing.
Jim Harbaugh
Before Jim Harbaugh won the College Football National Championship, with the Michigan Wolverines, he was the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 until 2014, when he turned the then woeful 49ers into a juggernaut. Harbaugh led the 49ers to three straight NFC Championship appearances and a Super Bowl 47 appearance before losing to his brother, John Harbaugh, and his Baltimore Ravens 31-34. Harbaugh’s relationship with his team and the front office slowly fell apart in the 2013 season, even though owner, Jed York, denied the claims at the time. Harbaugh left the 49ers after the conclusion of the 2014 season and said, “I didn’t leave the 49ers, I felt like the 49ers hierarchy left me.” Harbaugh would become the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines and the 49ers would struggle until Kyle Shanahan resurrected the 49ers in the 2019 season with a Super Bowl 54 appearance.
Mike Shanahan
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Speaking of Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan’s father, Mike Shanahan is notably famous for being the head coach of the Denver Broncos, which won back-to-back Super Bowls. He was once the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders from 1988 until 1989. Shanahan had a bitter relationship with then Raiders’ owner Al Davis, and his team. Shanahan led the Raiders to a 7-9 record in 1988 and was shown the exit in the middle of the 1989 season being replaced by Art Shell. Shanahan became an assistant coach for the Broncos and San Francisco 49ers before returning to the Broncos and leading them to Super Bowl glory in 1997 and 1998. The Raiders did have some success under Shell’s leadership but never made it to the Super Bowl and relocated back to Oakland for the 1995 season.
Jimmy Johnson
Perhaps the strangest firing on this list was Jimmy Johnson’s. Johnson won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and was not brought back after winning Super Bowl 28 due to tensions between Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Johnson was replaced with Barry Switzer, who led the Cowboys to a victory in Super Bowl 30 against the Pittsburgh Steelers but Switzer had some off-the-field issues. He feuded with Troy Aikman and ultimately resigned after the 1997 season. Johnson, on the other hand, coached the Miami Dolphins from 1996 until he resigned from the organization in 1999. Jones and Johnson seemed to have patched things up, recently, by inducting Johnson in the Cowboys Ring of Honor in the 2023 season. Imagine the potential, if Jones and Johnson could have worked better together. They possibly could have won more Super Bowls in Dallas! Maybe the Cowboys wouldn’t be the playoff laughing stock, which they are now.
Andy Reid
Andy Reid’s head coaching career began with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, where he turned the Eagles into a playoff powerhouse in the early 2000s and led the team to four straight NFC Championship game appearances and an appearance in Super Bowl 39, where the Eagles lost 21-24 to the New England Patriots. Reid is currently the most successful head coach for the Eagles on record, even though the Eagles fired him after a miserable 2012 season. Reid was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013 where he led the team to playoff appearances every year except 2014 and won Super Bowl 54 against the San Francisco 49ers and Super Bowl 57 against his former team, the Eagles. Talk about poetic justice.
Doug Pederson
Speaking about the Philadelphia Eagles, Doug Pederson was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 2016 until 2020 and was an Andy Reid disciple- having been an assistant coach under Reid’s leadership from 2009 until 2015 with the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively. The Eagles brought in Pederson in 2016 where he turned Carson Wentz into an MVP-like candidate in 2017 until he injured his ACL and backup Nick Foles led the Eagles to a Super Bowl 52 victory over the New England Patriots. Pederson’s time in Philadelphia came to an end after a rough 2020 season when the team went 4-11-1 after it was alleged that Pederson lost games on purpose to get the team a higher draft position as well as fueling disagreements with the coaching staff. Pederson would take a year off from coaching and join the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022, where he led the team to the playoffs that same year.
Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick is known as the hooded genius, who coached the New England Patriots from 2000 until 2023 and led the team to six Super Bowl championships. Before all of that, Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991 until 1995. During his time in Cleveland, Belichick led the Browns to a playoff appearance in 1994 where the team made it to an AFC Divisional round appearance. They lost that matchup to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Belichick was fired after the 1995 season, when the team was relocated and transformed into the Baltimore Ravens and he returned to assistant coaching until the Patriots hired him in 2000. The Browns, on the other hand, were inactive from 1996 until 1999 when they became the NFL’s biggest laughing stock and made the playoffs once in 2002. It was not until Kevin Stefanski came to town and fixed things up, in 2020.
Tony Dungy
Tony Dungy was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 until 2001 when he turned the then-losing franchise into an annual playoff contender. Dungy led the team to an NFC Championship game appearance in 1999 and coached some of the NFL’s most talented defensive players like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, and John Lynch. He was fired after the 2001 season and was replaced by Jon Gruden who did lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl 37 championship until the Bucs started to struggle after the 2003 season and would not return to relevancy until 2020. Dungy became the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2002 and won Super Bowl 41 with Peyton Manning. If Dungy wasn’t fired by the Bucs, he certainly could’ve made the team into a championship dynasty in the 2000s.
Jim Caldwell
Jim Caldwell was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2009 until 2011 when he led the team to a Super Bowl 44 appearance before losing to the New Orleans Saints. Caldwell was fired from the Colts after a disappointing 2-14 record, and he didn’t have Peyton Manning, all season long, as he recovered from neck surgery. Caldwell then became the head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2014 where he led the team to the playoffs and lost to the Dallas Cowboys- controversially. Caldwell led the Lions to two more winning seasons before getting fired in 2017 after the Lions finished the season with a 9-7 record and was replaced by Matt Patricia who did next to nothing in the Motor City. The Lions do have a happy ending when they hired Dan Campbell as their head coach, who turned the team into a winner and won their first playoff game since 1991.
Tom Coughlin
Tom Coughlin was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from their inception in 1995 until he was fired in 2002. During his time in Duval County, Coughlin led the team to four playoff appearances including two trips to the AFC Championship game in the 1996 and 1999 seasons respectively. Coughlin was fired by ownership in 2002 and joined the New York Giants in 2004 where he went on to win Super Bowls 42 and 46 against the heavily favored New England Patriots. After selling his team to Shad Khan, the then Jaguars owner, Wayne Weaver admitted that one of his biggest regrets was firing Coughlin. If the Jaguars hadn’t fired Coughlin, he could’ve possibly led the team to a Super Bowl appearance and championship in the 2000s instead of the Jaguars being only a mediocre franchise at the time.
