NFL hot seat: 5 head coaches who’ll be under scrutiny in 2019

There were a slew of head coaches who fell victim to the NFL hot seat in 2019, and Niner Noise predicts which ones might be there this upcoming season.

There’s a slim, smallish argument San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan winds up on the NFL hot seat in 2019 after going a combined 10-22 over his first two years at the helm.

After all, this is a results-based league. And despite a flurry of circumstances largely out of Shanahan’s direct control, those results haven’t been good for the Niners since Shanahan and general manager John Lynch signed six-year deals at the start of 2017.

A swarm of injuries, namely to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Jerick McKinnon, helped Shanahan avoid the too-hot NFL hot seat talk for the most part. Yet injuries are as just as big a part of the game as touchdowns, stats and field-goal tries.

Simply put, the 49ers weren’t exactly adequately prepared for those setbacks.

Still, Shanahan being just two years in on what’s been a massive overhaul in San Francisco likely keeps him safe in 2019. His seat might warm up a bit if the 49ers finish below the .500 mark for the fifth year in a row. Even then, the chances of the Niners parting ways with him would remain slim.

Not so much for a number of other head coaches entering this year, however.

Many coaches survived the swarm of firings that took place at the tail end of 2018. But that doesn’t mean their respective jobs are safe once the calendar turns on 2019.

Here are five who could find themselves victims to the NFL hot seat this year.