It took just eight weeks of the 2023 NFL season for the first head coach to be fired.

After a rash of poor decisions and some very public frustration from star players, Josh McDaniels is out as Las Vegas Raiders head coach after just 1.5 seasons. Now everyone has found themselves asking: Who will be the next head coach to go? 

Below we rank the likeliest candidates to lose their jobs before the 2023 NFL season comes to a close. 

1. Chargers HC Brandon Staley

It feels like Staley is perpetually one bad coaching decision away from being fired, but the guy has nine lives. Last offseason seemed like the perfect opportunity to move on from Staley, but the Los Angeles Chargers didn't do it and the results have been more of the same. I could see Staley signing his own exit papers as early as the upcoming game against the New York Jets on "Monday Night Football." If the Chargers inexplicably lose the game due to poor defensive play or some boneheaded coaching decision, Dean Spanos could say goodbye to Staley and make Kellen Moore interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

2. Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles

The NFC South is about as wide open as a division could possibly be and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are within striking distance of the division lead. They've lost winnable games in each of the past two weeks and they've got games against the Houston Texans (3-4) and Tennessee Titans (3-4) coming up. Winning those games will be vital for keeping pace in the NFC South race, but losing those games could be a death knell for the team's chances and for Bowles' future as head coach in Tampa. 

3. Panthers HC Frank Reich

I think that Bryce Young and the Panthers getting their first win against the Houston Texans bought this coaching staff some more runway, but that could be quickly used up if the team looks hapless against the Indianapolis Colts (Reich's former team) and the Chicago Bears over the next two weeks. David Tepper desperately wants Carolina to become a winner, and if he doesn't see the proper progress from this squad, he could be quick to pull the trigger on Reich and company. 

4. Bears HC Matt Eberflus

I'm probably lower than most on the idea that the Chicago Bears will fire HC Matt Eberflus (and GM Ryan Poles for that matter). The team found themselves buyers at the trade deadline, acquiring Commanders EDGE Montez Sweat. They just extended a defensive tackle on Thursday. They recently fired the team's running backs coach. They just beat the Raiders with Tyson Bagent as their starting quarterback in what was some big-time redemption for the rookie. It just feels like they're making all these moves that suggest ownership is allowing them to prepare for a future that they're a part of. That said, all it takes is some bad losses adding up for any goodwill this staff has earned to be the final straw for the McCaskey family.

5. Packers HC Matt LaFleur

The fact that the Green Bay Packers don't have a traditional "owner" makes me feel like it's going to be tough to see LaFleur fired in the middle of the season. The Packers have fallen below expectations and they were sellers at the trade deadline (Rasul Douglas). Still, I think that LaFleur will be afforded some more chances to see if he can get things trending in the right direction in the post-Aaron Rodgers era. However, If things take a nosedive and really start to spiral for Green Bay, we could see the team make a move before the season ends.

6. Commanders HC Ron Rivera

It feels like the Washington Commanders have already decided to move on from Ron Rivera given what transpired at the trade deadline. They're preparing for the future and not focusing on a win-now strategy. That said, I don't think they'll fire him in the middle of the season unless there is a really, really bad game and some sort of uproar from the players and fans. The organization really rallied around him in 2020 and supported him throughout his cancer diagnosis, so I think he'll be afforded some grace before he takes an offseason exit, potentially paving the way for Eric Bieniemy to take his place.

NFL Week 9 picks and predictions

Here it is football fans. The halfway point of the 2023 NFL season. Week 9 is here and we can finally start to talk about things like playoff implications and draft order implications.  There's games this week that are going to affect both of those things. Perhaps the biggest game of the week is Buffalo […]