Belly Up’s Over-Reactionary Coach’s Hot Seat Scale – NFL Week 9

Welcome to Belly Up’s Over-Reactionary Coach’s Hot Seat Scale for NFL Week 9! (Or BUORCHSS for short.) Well, friends, we’ve gone over the halfway mark of this NFL season and there’s nowhere to go down from here. There will always be movement in the Hot Seat Scale, so let’s see who’s gone where after Week 9. (Here’s the Week 1 column if you need the scales. Keep in mind that there will be a test on this at the end of the term.)

Coach-For-Life

Matt LaFleur, Raheem Morris, Sean McDermott, Matt Vrabel, John Harbaugh, Andy Reid, Mike Zimmer, Romeo Crennel, Jon Gruden, Mike Tomlin, Brian Flores, Sean Peyton.

Talk about your roller coaster of seasons: a month ago, the Atlanta Falcons were 1-5 and in danger of a high draft pick. One coaching move later, and Raheem Morris has the Falcons two games out of a playoff spot. And don’t look now, but here come the Vikings. After Mike Zimmer switched up to a run-heavy offense, Dalvin Cook has been the primary beneficiary. The Vikes are riding a two-game winning streak as a result. Meanwhile, Mike Tomlin’s Steelers survived a slow start to remain perfect. Should the 1972 Miami Dolphins be worried? Considering the next four games for the Steelers are Cincinnati, at Jacksonville, Baltimore, at Washington… maybe?

Tepid

Kyle Shanahan, Vic Fangio, Pete Carroll, Frank Reich, Matt Rhule, Joe Judge, Kliff Kingsbury, Bruce Arians, Bill Belichick.

Two coaches have climbed out of the Instant Pot! Belichick’s Patriots came back from 10 points down on Monday Night to the Jets (THE JETS!!!) to win at the death. Mark Week 9 of the NFL season as when Belichick probably climb back into the Coach-For-Life hot seat scale. Another coach to climb out of the Instant Pot was Judge. His Giants survived a comeback by the Washington Football Team to capture their second win of the season. Elsewhere, Arians and Carroll’s respective teams were lit up; Arians’ Bucs to the Saints on Sunday Night Football and Carroll’s Seahawks were fed their lunch by the Bills. Both of their team’s winning streaks came to crashing halts.

Instant Pot

Matt Patricia, Matt Nagy, Ron Rivera.

Let’s welcome Matt Nagy! Following a 5-1 start, his Bears have lost their last three games and have been knocked out of the last NFC playoff spot. The primary reason? The Bears’ offense inability to score points in the third quarter.

Bears points scored in the third quarter this season:
0
0
0
0
0
7
0
0
0

But they’re in striking distance!

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) November 8, 2020

It’s as if Nagy and Adam Gase (who I’ll get to in a moment) share the same brain. They do control playcalling for their respective teams. So, if the shoe fits…

Patricia and Rivera’s respective teams both lost their games, although Rivera’s team nearly came back from a 17-point deficit. By the way, if Alex Smith doesn’t win Comeback Player of the Year, it’d be a bigger injustice than Jethro Tull winning the Best Heavy Metal Album Grammy in 1989.

Circle of Hell: Level 8

Adam Gase, Anthony Lynn, Mike McCarthy, Doug Marrone.

Here’s a live look at Gase sitting in his office this morning:

Will he be toast? Not likely. In last week’s news conference, general manager Joe Douglas said Gase would likely remain head coach for the rest of the season. It appears that the tank is on at One Jets Drive. In Jacksonville, Marrone’s Jaguars only surrendered 27 points in NFL’s Week 9 to break their ominous streak. However, they couldn’t prevent their seventh consecutive loss being handed to them. McCarthy’s Cowboys surprisingly took the game to Pittsburgh, but couldn’t hang on to give the win to Garrett Gilbert in his first NFL start. And the Chargers couldn’t blow a double-digit lead because they never had one (though they did have a 3-point lead at the half). But Lynn’s team fell to 2-6 after losing to the Raiders.

Toast

Bill O’Brien, Dan Quinn.

Bye Week

Zac Taylor, Kevin Stefanski, Sean McVay, Doug Pedersen.

Got your own take about the NFL hot seat scale? Leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter: @WhoIsRyanMcC. And don’t forget to check out my podcast No Credentials Required (new episodes every Wednesday) and my live stream show A-Round for the Weekend (most Friday evenings).