Who will be the first NFL coach fired? The 2027 NFL coaching carousel is months away and we have yet to see a head coach fired after the first two months of the 2026 NFL season. With that said, looking around the league, it is only a matter of time before the proverbial axe drops on a head coach.

Coming out of Week 8, let us dive into the latest NFL coaching hot seat and rank head coaches in order of most likely to be fired by the end of this season.

1. Aaron Glenn, New York Jets

Is New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn going to be fired this month? Maybe not. After all, reporting last week from Zack Rosenblatt indicated at the end of October that ownership was unlikely to fire its second-year head coach during the regular season. That is even with knowing the infamous stat entering Week 8 that the Jets had been outscored 107-6 in the final two minutes of the first half during his tenure. What has certainly made his job security more tenuous is that New York’s defense has allowed 30.7 points and 358.7 total yards per game in the last three weeks. Bad coaching decisions and clock mismanagement have cost the Jets multiple wins this season. It’s when, not if, the Jets fire Glenn.

2. Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts

After firing general manager Chris Ballard, the Indianapolis Colts made it clear that head coach Shane Steichen would be given time to make a case for sticking around in 2027. As respectable as that is, especially since the Colts offense has not really been an issue during his tenure, it means a lot less when the interim general manager starts shipping out veterans and meaningful talent in exchange for future draft picks. Sunday’s loss (42-7) to the Jacksonville Jaguars showed the impossible task that Steichen is being asked to pull off. Players know this organization has thrown in the towel on the 2026 season; that is going to show up in the effort and execution on the field. With the Colts likely to look like the worst NFL team for the rest of the season, we tend to doubt Steichen makes it to Week 18.

3. Dan Quinn, Washington Commanders

With a 17-point win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 1 and a tie against the division-leading New York Giants on Oct. 11, it is likely that Dan Quinn has bought himself more time. Winning the NFC East is out of the question given the state of the Commanders roster, but Quinn is well-liked in the locker room and that favorable reputation throughout the organization might result in him being allowed to finish out the season. With that said, Commanders general manager Adam Peters knows his seat is warming up and one surefire way to cool it off a bit is by firing the head coach and taking a second crack at a coaching search with the hopes someone new can turn it around. Quinn, who went 5-12 in 2025, already got his second chance this offseason when he hired new coordinators. With those levers off the table, he is next to be fired.

4. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles

Let’s remember some recent history regarding this situation. Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie privately met with head coach Nick Sirianni in January 2026. The organization was wildly dissatisfied with a second-half collapse in 2025 that saw the team go from 8-2 to 11-7 after losing at home to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Round. Sirianni’s job was saved, in large part, because he was willing to be flexible on changes to the Eagles coaching staff. Roseman and Lurie are now witnessing one of the most expensive rosters in the NFL head for its first season with five or fewer wins since 2020, and it would be just the second time since 2013 that the Eagles failed to win at least seven games. Sirianni’s Super Bowl ring and career .656 winning percentage might mean he gets the dignity of finishing out the season. Immediately after the regular-season finale, though, we think Sirianni is fired.

5. Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers

One would think that the only 0-7 team with an offense that has gone 27 consecutive drives without a touchdown would see their guy atop the NFL coaching hot seat. The Los Angeles Chargers are not your average franchise and head coach Jim Harbaugh still has a career .633 winning percentage in the NFL despite this seven-game losing streak. Some teams might be willing to write this off as a disastrous season, especially since the head coach made the postseason the previous two years with 11-6 records. Here is the problem for Harbaugh. His history at every stop of his head-coaching career is both defined by success and a personality that has grown tiresome for those around him. That style, one might call abrasive and grating, has led to teams moving on from him even when things were going really well. We cannot fathom what the environment is like around him in a disastrous year. By the end of this season, even if it costs a lot to move on from him, we suspect morale will be bad enough that ownership has no choice but to make a change.

6. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys

Brian Schottenheimer clearly has the full support right now of Jerry Jones. Whether that is because the Dallas Cowboys owner does not want to admit hiring a career assistant who no NFL team seemingly considered to be worthy of becoming a head coach or because Jones does not want to pay the money necessary to fire a coaching staff and bring a new one in, it is hard to say. What we do know for a fact is that as awful as the Cowboys defense has been in these last two seasons, the bigger disappointment in 2026 is an offense that is far too inconsistent for how much money is invested into it. Firing a head coach before his contract expires is extraordinarily rare for Jones. What would make him go against that precedent? Perhaps a third consecutive season without a postseason appearance, something this storied franchise has not experienced since 2011-13.