We are approaching hot seat season, a time of year when the reality of a team's record begins to manifest itself in the form of various coaches being shown the door. Hue Jackson is already out in Cleveland and while it looked like before the season we might see minimal coaching changes, there are a number of different coaches who could be shown the door.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora -- who detailed his full list of coaching hot seat candidates here -- joined the Pick Six Podcast -- it's a daily NFL pod, you should listen below and subscribe here: via iTunes | via Stitcher | via TuneIn | via Google Play -- to talk about who we might see getting fired.
One team he's sure will end up being on the market for a new coach? The Baltimore Ravens.
"I would be shocked if John Harbaugh would be back. I said as much before the season, because I thought they were going to go 8-8 like they always do. And that's not going to be good enough, and Harbaugh and [assistant GM Eric] DeCosta ... I don't know anybody in that organization who's thinks that's gonna work for five or 10 years. So if you're hitting the reboot and you're taking the quarterback, I think the odds were always drastically against Harbaugh.
"We talked about this last year, it was about this time last year, the Packers and Ravens should trade coaches. Because neither of those coaches is doing a baloney one-year extension again. And it's all coming to a head after 2018 because neither of these teams are as good as people think they are, and both these coaches are going to be lame ducks in 2019 and they're going to walk out the door and that's what's going to happen."
La Canfora went on to point out that McCarthy, who has also won a Super Bowl, is an unlikely fit in Baltimore, primarily because the "bloom is off the rose" when it comes to his offensive innovation, and the Ravens no doubt want some young, offensive mind to work with Lamar Jackson.
Maybe it shouldn't be that stunning to find out the Ravens and Harbaugh to be heading for a split. As JLC points out, this has been building for quite some time now.
"That's not surprise that we're talking about the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9. He's been there 11 years. He and [Joe] Flacco, it's run its course," La Canfora pointed out. "We talked about this last week I think. I did a big piece on them midweek. They're 8-35 since the Super Bowl run against teams that went to the playoffs [counting 2018 as of now]. They're 44-45 since they went to the Super Bowl. Joe Flacco, on the road, since the Super Bowl win, is the 40th ranked passer in football. He's got a quarterback rating of 76 on the road through five and a half seasons, with nine more interceptions on the road than anyone else. The next highest is Eli [Manning] with 43. Flacco's got 52! 48 touchdowns and 52 interceptions on the road over five and a half seasons."
Yikes. That's not great, Bob. And the change in Flacco, coupled with the change in general manager (from Ozzie Newsome to Eric DeCosta) gives the Ravens an ample opportunity to make a change at coach as well. It could be a full-blown reboot for Baltimore in that sense.
And it's not as if getting rid of Harbaugh would be a surprise; owner Steve Bisciotti said this offseason he considered making a change. Which is why Harbaugh returning at this point is a long shot.
"It's over. He counts $27 million against the cap next year. There's no more guaranteed money left. It was always over. Even if they didn't draft Lamar Jackson, they would be looking at bringing back Tyrod [Taylor] for a year or looking at the draft," La Canfora pointed out. "So if you're making all those changes and you've already committed to the next GM, I don't see a path to keeping Harbaugh.
"The long shot has always been John Harbaugh coaching the Ravens Week 1 2019."
Maybe the Ravens make a run. They came out of the gate hot this year, playing excellent defense and looking much better on offense thanks to a rejuvenated Joe Flacco and improved corps of wide receivers. But over the last three weeks, things have fallen apart. The Ravens gagged to the Saints at home, got blasted by the Panthers on the road and then handled by the Steelers in a critical home matchup for the division.
They're 4-5, they're reeling and if things don't improve over the second half of the season, they are likely going to be looking for a new head coach.
Find out who else is likely to change coaches and check out our midseason awards by listening to the show in the player above. Don't forget to subscribe: via iTunes | via Stitcher | via TuneIn | via Google Play!
