3 NFL coaches on hot seat after Week 1, and 3 getting warmer

Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, and half of the teams in the league are basking in a 1-0 start.

The other half are hoping to avoid the dreaded 0-2 mark as Week 2 approaches.

Each Wednesday of the NFL season we’ll take a look at the hot seat rankings, starting with the three coaches under the most pressure, and those behind them who are feeling the heat as well. Here are three coaches who, after how things went in Week 1, are feeling the heat to avoid dropping to 0-2 this week.

In a classic case of “be careful what you wish for,” Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel had this to say Monday after his team was blown out by the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

“I would say the good news and the positive is I don’t see how it could be worse,” McDaniel said of the team’s 33-8 loss to Indianapolis.

There were worrying signs in Miami ahead of Sunday’s debacle, starting with a 2024 campaign that went off the rails as the team missed the playoffs, and friction between quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill, who seemed on his way out of Miami after last season.

Factor in a rebuilt offensive line, questions in the secondary -- magnified by a difficult joint practice with the Detroit Lions where it seemed Amon-Ra St. Brown was open on every snap -- and lingering doubt over Tagovailoa, and you have a tenuous situation at best.

On Sunday, the Dolphins will be in the friendly confines of Hard Rock Stadium to welcome the New England Patriots, a team that underwhelmed in Week 1. That could be a reprieve of sorts for McDaniel. But then they face Josh Allen and company on the road, and on a short week.

And if it somehow manages to get worse? That could spell trouble for McDaniel sooner than we think.

Brian Daboll on Monday committed to Russell Wilson as the starter for the New York Giants here in Week 2.

How much longer will that be the case?

Wilson was largely ineffective in Sunday’s loss to the Washington Commanders, completing 17-of-37 passes for 168 yards and a QBR of 25.5. While he was only sacked twice, Wilson was under pressure early and often, as the offensive line struggled to protect him with left tackle Andrew Thomas sidelined with a foot injury.

That pressure played a role in Wilson’s woes, as he looked skittish in the pocket on several key plays in the second half.

Daboll does have a rookie quarterback card to play, with Jaxson Dart waiting in the wings. But he also has to balance getting Dart into the lineup with a brutal schedule. This week, the Giants take on the Dallas Cowboys on the road, followed by games against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Then, after a game against the New Orleans Saints -- which could be an option for the rookie -- the Giants play the Philadelphia Eagles, the Denver Broncos (in Denver), and the Eagles over another tough three-game stretch.

Longtime Giants insider Ralph Vacchiano had this to say about Daboll in the wake of Sunday’s loss:

”This was supposed to be the year his offensive genius finally came through. He got a quality, veteran quarterback in Russell Wilson. The Giants strengthened the line, they had weapons, they even had a defense to help out. They were sure they had built a team capable of competitive football and at least competent offense.

But this was the opposite of all that. Instead, the offense looked so oddly familiar in their 21-6 loss to the Commanders. The Giants had just 231 yards in the game and didn’t get into the end zone. Wilson was a very unimpressive 17-of-37 for 168 yards, while running eight times for a team-high 44 yards. He had no chemistry with No. 1 receiver Malik Nabers, who caught 5 of 12 targets for 71 yards. The Giants’ running backs ran 15 times for 30 yards.

In Year 4 of Daboll, with an 18-33-1 record and coming off a 3-14 season, they are out of excuses, and so is he. If he can’t fix this offense soon, he might not make it to the end of the year.“

Just how much time does Daboll have left?

Brian Callahan has two big things going for him as Week 2 approaches.

First, he is a second-year head coach. Second is the fact that the Tennessee Titans drafted Cam Ward with the first-overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, a fact that likely buys Callahan some time to sort things out. So a loss on the road against the Denver Broncos, and one of the league’s top defenses, while starting a rookie quarterback, is not going to be fatal for his tenure.

However.

Callahan has come under fire in Nashville and beyond in the wake of the Titans’ Week 1 loss to the Broncos. One reason is the playcalling, particularly on a drive just before halftime. Tennessee started a possession on its own 7-yard line with just 47 seconds left in the first half. While they had a pair of timeouts at their disposal, they were also nursing a 6-3 lead.

Going into the locker room on the road, in Ward’s first start, with a lead of any size might have been huge for the Titans. Given that, one might expect Callahan to be a big conservative on that possession.

Instead, he called three consecutive passes. All of those resulted in incompletions, running just nine seconds off the clock. The Titans were forced to punt and Denver -- with the help of a pass interference penalty on their ensuing possession -- scored their first touchdown of the season on the following drive to take a 10-6 lead.

Chimere Dike salvaged something for Tennessee before halftime, as his 71-yard kickoff return put the Titans in range for kicker Joey Slye, whose 42-yard field goal on the final play of the half made it a 10-9 Broncos’ lead. But Callahan’s aggression in that situation certainly caught some attention.

With some outlets describing it as “coaching malpractice.”

Then there was this play:

Ward connects with fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor on a throw along the right sideline, but the pass was ruled an incompletion. Callahan did not throw the challenge flag, and when asked about the play after the game, noted that the rookie WR only got an elbow down in-bounds, which was not enough.

Well, similar to the title of one of John Madden’s books, One Knee Equals Two Feet, one elbow also equals two feet.

Callahan stated on Monday that he “misspoke“ after the game, but that is of little solace at the moment.

Callahan likely has some time, given the presence of a rookie quarterback and a rebuilt roster. But this was a tough start.

In the fashion of the “Other Teams Receiving Votes” category you see in college football polls, here are some more coaches to watch in the weeks ahead.

After how Bryce Young finished the 2024 season, the arrow was trending up for the young quarterback and his head coach. But Young and the Panthers offense struggled Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, with the QB completing just 18-of-35 passes for 154 yards, a touchdown, and a pair of interceptions in the 26-10 loss.

A win lowers the temperature on the seat below you, but as we have often seen in the NFL, things can change in a hurry. If the Indianapolis Colts continue to play well, Steichen likely stays safe. But if Sunday’s blowout win over the Miami Dolphins was more a reflection of the status of things in South Beach, Steichen’s fortunes could change.

Hoping to avoid another brutal start, Zac Taylor played starters such as Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase in the team’s preseason games.

They got out to a win in Week 1, but barely. And were it not for a missed field goal, a missed extra point, and a pair of interceptions the Bengals might have suffered an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Taylor was under pressure to begin the season, and that pressure remains even after a win in Week 1.