The 2025 NFL regular season has come to an end, and there are already some appealing head coach openings around the league. One of the tougher days on the league’s annual calendar arrived with Black Monday. Yes, 14 teams have their sights set on a run to Super Bowl LX, but for the other 18 teams, the offseason is here, and that means reevaluating everything, including the coaching staff.
Last year saw Jerod Mayo, Doug Pederson, Mike McCarthy, and Antonio Pierce lose their jobs after the season ended, joining Robert Saleh, Dennis Allen, and Matt Eberflus, who were relieved of their duties during the 2024 regular season. It worked out great for teams like the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears, who landed top coaching candidates in Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson respectively, and immediately won their division.
This season already saw two coaches fired mid-season, Brian Daboll of the New York Giants and Brian Callahan by the Tennessee Titans.
What coaches suffer a similar fate now that the season is over? We will be tracking that here.
Brian Callahan, Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans had the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
They also had the first head coach firing of the year as well.
Tennessee parted ways with Brian Callahan back on October 13, just five weeks into the season. Callahan’s tenure ended after a string of questionable moments for the young head coach, including a decision not to challenge a potential catch early in the season that led those of us in the media space wondering if the head coach knew the catch rules.
Who really does, when you think about it?
This is not the only change that came to Tennessee this year, as news in recent days indicated that the team is implementing a change in the front office structure ahead of their coaching search. General manager Mike Borgonzi will be in charge of the coaching search, and report directly to owner Amy Adams Strunk.
Brian Daboll, New York Giants
Brian Daboll was the next head coach to see his time cut short.
The Giants let Daboll go after the team started 2-8, with a history of blowing double-digit leads a leading cause behind the firing. Daboll was let go hours after the Giants blew a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter, giving up 14 unanswered points en route to a 24-20 loss.
That was the second time this season the Giants lost despite leading by at least ten points with under four minutes remaining. Earlier this year New York led the Denver Broncos by 26-8 with just over ten minutes remaining in the game, and still led by ten at the four-minute mark.
The Giants lost that game by a final score of 33-32.
Raheem Morris, Atlanta Falcons
While Callahan and Daboll were let go during the season, Black Monday has come early in 2026.
The Atlanta Falcons won their season finale over the New Orleans Saints, a win that improved Atlanta’s record to 8-9 and pushed the Carolina Panthers into the playoffs as champions of the NFC South. It was also the Falcons’ fourth consecutive win.
But it was not enough to save Raheem Morris. The Falcons parted ways with Morris after the win, despite players such as Drake London and Bijan Robinson voicing their support for Morris. His tenure in Atlanta ends after a pair of 8-9 seasons.
The Falcons also fired GM Terry Fontenot.
Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
Kevin Stefanski’s time in Cleveland has come to an end.
The Browns announced the firing of Stefanski on Monday morning, ending a six-year run in Cleveland. The Browns made the playoffs during his first season in charge, finishing with an 11-5 record. Then after back-to-back losing seasons the Browns returned to the playoffs in 2021, losing on Wild Card Weekend to the Houston Texans.
Cleveland finished with losing seasons each of the past two years, including a 5-12 record this past season.
A revolving door at the quarterback position likely doomed Stefanski’s tenure. The trade for Deshaun Watson never panned out, and subsequent stopgap options ranging from Joe Flacco to Shedeur Sanders never quite delivered.
Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, in a statement, indicated their “tremendous gratitude” for Stefanski’s leadership over the past six seasons, but emphasized that the results of the past two years “have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change at the head coaching position is necessary.”
Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders
Pete Carroll’s return to the NFL lasted one season.
The Las Vegas Raiders began the year with a win over the New England Patriots — a victory that certainly looks good on paper given New England’s season — but things spiraled from there. The Raiders lost 14 of their next 15 games, with only a win over the lowly Tennessee Titans breaking up what would have been a 15-game losing streak.
That earned the Raiders the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore are likely options for Las Vegas.
According to a statement from owner Mark Davis, GM John Spytek will “lead all football operations in close collaboration with Tom Brady, including the search for the club’s next head coach. Together, they will guide football decisions with a shared focus on leadership, culture, and alignment with the organization’s long-term vision and goals.”
Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals
Jonathan Gannon is the latest head coach to get some bad news on Black Monday.
His was a rocky tenure in the desert. Hired after helping the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl LVII, Gannon spent three years in Arizona.
He never posted a winning season.
The Cardinals finished with a 4-13 record his rookie season, and while they improved to 8-9 during 2024, they took another step back in 2025, finishing 3-14. His record in Arizona over those three years of 15-36 fell wildly short of expectations.
Yes, there is a quarterback situation to sort out, but Gannon’s background on the defensive side of the ball helped that unit rise to the top of the league rankings.
John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
John Harbaugh was an unexpected addition to the firing list on Tuesday after the season wrapped. He was the second-longest tenured head coach in the league before “mutually parting ways” with the Ravens. It’s a safe bet Harbaugh is going to be in the mix for multiple openings if he chooses to jump right into a new job.
Harbaugh has a Super Bowl on his resume, but it was 14 seasons ago. This year’s squad disappointed in 2025 by missing the playoffs, but it is hard not to think this would be different had his kicker not missed a field goal as time expired and Baltimore won the AFC North. Across 18 seasons, Harbaugh had a record of 180-113 and was the 2019 AP NFL Coach of the Year.
There have been reports that Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson had experienced a rift in their relationship. Earlier in the week, Harbaugh said he did not give credence to anonymous sources. On Sunday, following the team’s stunning loss to the Steelers, Jackson did not want to talk about it at all.
