Niner Noise
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5 NFL coaches on the hot seat down the stretch of 2017 season

By Peter Panacy

GREEN BAY, WI - AUGUST 12: Head coach Hue Jackson of the Cleveland Browns looks to the scoreboard in the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on August 12, 2016 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
GREEN BAY, WI - AUGUST 12: Head coach Hue Jackson of the Cleveland Browns looks to the scoreboard in the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on August 12, 2016 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – OCTOBER 29: Head coach John Fox of the Chicago Bears looks on as his team takes on the New Orleans Saints during the first quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on October 29, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – OCTOBER 29: Head coach John Fox of the Chicago Bears looks on as his team takes on the New Orleans Saints during the first quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on October 29, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

With a number of NFL teams scuffling well below expectations, Niner Noise takes a look at five head coaches who may be on the hot seat throughout the remainder of the 2017 season.

The 2017 NFL season has seen its fair share of surprises. Who would have guessed the Jets would be New York’s best team right now? And the Los Angeles Rams? Well, it looks like replacing former head coach Jeff Fisher with Sean McVay was the right move, for sure.

But there have been plenty of underachievers and disappointments too.

Some of those teams, like the San Francisco 49ers, are only in the initial phases of a complete rebuild. First-year head coach Kyle Shanahan is certainly safe for the foreseeable future, as he and general manager John Lynch look to reconstruct from the ashes that were the Niners’ previous regime under Trent Baalke.

San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers /

San Francisco 49ers

Other head coaches may not be so lucky, though.

In this slideshow, we’ll take a look at five of those head coaches who are likely on the hot seat down the stretch in 2017 and, more specifically, why.

Let’s start off this list with coaches we may think are on the list but are actually safer than one might expect.

John Fox, Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears’ John Fox has seemingly been associated with hot-seat and firing rumors for the past few seasons, so this is nothing new. Yet with a new quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky and a suddenly decent defense, the Bears may not be quite as bad as we thought they’d be early this season.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deserves a lot of credit here, and he’s likely to be a top head coaching candidate in 2018.

But how much of the Bears’ issues are due to Fox? Mike Mulligan of the Chicago Tribune argued, based off the numerous roster problems, responsibility should probably fall on the general manager, Ryan Pace.

Ben McAdoo, New York Giants

The Giants have been one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments this year. At 1-6 and rife with key injuries to players like Odell Beckham Jr., and Brandon Marshall, one could easily see why head coach Ben McAdoo would be on the hot seat.

After all, New York had pretty lofty expectations this season.

McAdoo wisely turned over the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan, which has helped to a point. While this helped win only one game, a more realistic solution for the Giants would be to look at some of their most basic problems, namely along the offensive line, before firing their head coach.

Now for the hot seats.