Black Monday tracker 2025: Every NFL coach fired from the 2024 season (and whether they deserved it)

Black Monday is a brutal one for the 18 NFL coaches that failed to make the playoffs. That's the day they're most likely to get called into an uncomfortable meeting with franchise ownership, then asked to pack up their offices.

2025 might be a little light on firings, but that's only because we've already had a busy season of turnover. Four teams -- the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and New England Patriots have already fired their head coaches. All but the Patriots did so in the middle of the 2024 regular season.

Let's break down the names and whether they deserved it:

1. Robert Saleh, New York Jets

The Jets couldn't fire Aaron Rodgers after a 2-3 start, so they fired Saleh instead. The former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator was able to turn New York's defense into an imposing unit but unable to get his offense to even approach those levels. In his three-plus seasons at the helm, the Jets never finished higher than 24th in the NFL when it came to points scored.

Firing him did not fix New York's woes. The offense continued to sputter under interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, who closed out the season on a 3-9 run that extended the franchise's playoff drought to a 14th year.

Did he deserve it?: Yes and no. Saleh's 20-36 record is certainly worthy of criticism. But he helped the Jets approach competence in a stretch where Zach Wilson, Mike White, Joe Flacco, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle all started games at quarterback. He was evidently the glue that kept an elite defense together; the Jets dropped from third in defensive efficiency in 2023 to 31st in 2024 after firing their head coach.

2. Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints

Allen was a bridge between the end of the Sean Payton era and New Orleans's present. The former Oakland Raiders head coach served as Payton's defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2021, observing the end of the Drew Brees era before taking the reins as the man trusted to lead his team to a solid regular season and eventual playoff flameout.

Allen never got quite that far. He was hamstrung by general manager Mickey Loomis's "buy now, pay later" philosophy when it came to the salary cap. Without a Hall of Fame quarterback behind center and following a string of draft misses, the Saints fielded an aging roster with a talent gap at several key positions. Allen couldn't make up for that and was fired after two-plus seasons and an 18-25 record in New Orleans.

Did he deserve it?: Probably, but in a respectable way. Allen kept the defense intact for a team that hovered around .500 his first two seasons despite starting quarterbacks like Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston and Derek Carr all outside their primes. But that fell off in 2024 as his veterans got older and the team's lack of depth left little by which to replace them. Allen feels like a Pat Shurmur type -- a good assistant unable to be the answer when elevated to a top job.

3. Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears

Eberflus had two seasons to turn Justin Fields into a viable starting quarterback and 12 games to do the same with Caleb Williams. He failed on both counts, mixing in some truly baffling game management in the process. His 2024 boiled down to the world's worst Hail Mary defense and the NFL's dumbest timeout usage -- two games that bookended the six-game losing streak that led to his firing.

The former Indianapolis Colts coordinator helped mold the Bears defense into a top three unit over the last half of 2023. But that unit backslid mightily and he was unable to maximize Williams or the numerous young draft picks that arrived alongside him thanks to 2023's trade of the top overall pick to the Carolina Panthers. His backslide ended after 12 games in 2024 that saw a 4-2 start turn into a 5-12 season.

Did he deserve it?: Oh yeah. Eberflus was on the hot seat in 2023, but a strong finish saved his job and offered the opportunity to mar the growth of another young blue chip quarterback. Eberflus seized his shot, spiraled out and will not be missed in Illinois.

4. Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots

Mayo was Bill Belichick's heir, but the Patriots' succession plan failed to pan out. While he was given a young talented quarterback, the deficiencies across New England's depth chart proved too much to overcome. When that teamed up with a stark and sudden defensive drop-off, it spelled the end of the Mayo era after just 17 games and four wins.

The next man up gets Drake Maye, Christian Gonzalez and, uh, Christian Barmore? There's plenty of work to be done here, but the Patriots have 2025's most estimated salary cap space -- even if their Week 18 win over the Buffalo Bills pushed them out of the top spot in this spring's NFL Draft.

Did he deserve it?: Sort of. Mayo was dealt one of the worst hands any first year coach could have -- a talent deficient roster, a young stud quarterback with limited blocking or receiving help and an aging team owner looking to cement his Hall of Fame bonafides while he's still around to enjoy it. Robert Kraft didn't have the patience to deal with a long-time Patriot whose first season was filled with rookie mistakes ranging from playcalling to clock management to throwing players and assistants under the bus (whether purposefully or not) while talking to the media.

Mayo may not have been the answer. But he never had the chance to prove he could learn from his mistakes. Rather than allow another year's delay of New England's rebuild, Kraft opted to go back to the drawing board -- potentially to bring a more tested veteran coach to the fray to speed Maye's development.

5. Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Pederson's demise in Jacksonville was inevitable and shocking all at once. The former Super Bowl winner had immediate success with the Jaguars, in part because he wasn't Urban Meyer. He led the team to the postseason in his first season, then pushed Trevor Lawrence toward legendary status by erasing a 30-0 deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round.

An 8-3 start followed in 2023, but the team crumbled from there. Injuries to Lawrence and an undermanned defense spearheaded a collapse. Pederson went 5-18 in his final 23 games, plummeting out of the playoff picture and returning Jacksonville to its stasis as an AFC South punching bag. He made it to the end of the 2024 season, but his firing was inescapable.

Did he deserve it?: 5-18. You don't get to come back from that.

6. Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders

Antonio Pierce seized his opportunity as the Raiders' interim head coach in 2023. Las Vegas's players were so happy he wasn't Josh McDaniels that they rallied to a 5-4 finish that winter, doing enough to elevate the former linebacker to the full-time job.

That effect didn't carry over to 2024. The defense Pierce had punching way above its weight class regressed. A quarterback battle between Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O'Connell went as well as you'd expect. The Raiders couldn't even tank right; two December wins proved to be the difference between the first overall pick (where Vegas could draft a passer) and the sixth slot (where Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward will likely be off the board).

Pierce survived Black Monday and got to do his end-of-season press conference. Mark Davis fired him on Tuesday instead, because the Raiders are nothing if not a bit sloppy.

Did he deserve it?: Pierce appeared overmatched as a head coach but elite as a motivator. It would have been nice to see what he was capable of with a better roster, but issues from clock management to his use of challenges (one call overturned in five tries) put a ceiling on his first head coach gig. A second season could have helped, but like Mayo an impatient owner drew the curtains on a former linebackers coach turned top guy after one full season at the helm.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Black Monday tracker 2025: Every NFL coach fired from the 2024 season (and whether they deserved it)