Ranking the 5 worst NFL coaches for 2024 (oof, Mike McCarthy)

Being an NFL head coach is a Herculean task.

The buck stops with you everywhere. You're expected to lead by example and deliver even when you're having a bad day. All of those teensy-tiny in-game decisions with timeouts and fourth-down calls come down to your headset. For better or worse, your team's identity is ultimately a blend of your personality and leadership style. And when a player or two fails in disspiriting defeat, it is your responsibility and yours alone to paint yourself as the scapegoat, putting your own job security at risk while taking fire from a relentless media contingent.

Please, anyone looking for a job, don't line up all at once.

READ MORE NFL:

The men below might not be cut out for everything that's asked of an NFL head coach. From frustrating inertia and indecision to troubling roster situations and team mental implosions, they all have their own glaring flaws that are impossible to ignore. For my money, for their own unique reasons, they are the current worst coaches in pro football, "leaders" who are almost a deterrent to their teams enjoying any semblance of progress. For posterity, I did not include rookie coaches, as assigning them any evaluation without any exposure to the NFL would not be fair.

Here are the NFL's worst sideline leaders heading into the 2024 season.

5. Brian Daboll, New York Giants

Evaluating Daboll in a proper fashion depends on your perspective.

On the one hand, he made a Daniel Jones-led offense and undermanned Giants team look competitive en route to a berth in the Divisional Round in 2022. Those Giants had no business qualifying for the NFL's de facto quarterfinals, and it was because Daboll pulled all the right strings, maximizing everything he had in the cupboard. He looked like the NFL's next great coach for pulling off such a masterful campaign. On the other hand, the Giants fell back to Earth in 2023. With a thud. They started 2-8. They lost eight games by double digits, four by at least 20 points. They were in the bottom five in total offense and total scoring, and they were only slightly less embarrassing on the defensive end.

Even a meme craze centered around stereotypical Italian backup quarterback Tommy DeVito would not make the Giants more interesting or competitive.

The question is: Where does the buck stop with Daboll?

I don't think it was fair to expect him to replicate the magic of 2022 in his sophomore season. The Giants' roster wasn't good enough to sustain that kind of play for another season. But we're in Year 3 now. Big Blue spent a lot of money and draft capital on both of its trenches this offseason. Rookie receiver Malik Nabers is the type of playmaker the Giants haven't had since prime Odell Beckham Jr. Another 6-11 campaign filled with few bright spots for Daboll isn't going to sit well with New York ownership. He deserves patience to see his program through, but rampant losing makes everyone anxious and skeptical about whether a plan is worth waiting for. The clock is ticking.

4. Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears

The Bears are fortunate that general manager Ryan Poles seems to understand Caleb Williams is Chicago's meal ticket. Because without earnest investment in supporting the No. 1 overall pick quarterback, it'd be hard to have much faith in the Bears' procedurally generated head coach. Well, if I'm being candid, even with Williams around, I don't feel positive that Eberflus is destined to be his steward for a decade-plus as the Bears ideally morph into an NFC power.

The laundry list of Eberflus's mistakes to this point speaks to someone who takes way too long to learn from their mistakes. In 2022, Eberflus's mismanagement of games helped the Bears to the worst record in the NFL. It was excused as a learning experience on a team with a roster that closer belonged to the CFL. OK, sure, fine. But in 2023, Eberflus continued his rash of mistakes. Despite having press cornerbacks and no consistent pass rush (at least until Montez Sweat arrived), he elected to have the Bears play a soft zone for the first half of the year, leaving their unit's fatal flaw even more vulnerable. Make it make sense.

As a supposed "CEO" coach, the defensively-focused Eberflus also doesn't appear to have much active input on Chicago's offense. That's all well and good, and it's not entirely abnormal in the NFL landscape, but it also makes his offensive coordinator selections that much more important because they have to stand on their own. Unfortunately, he struck out on Luke Getsy. Badly. Here's hoping the Shane Waldron decision is different because Eberflus can't afford another massive misstep on that side of the ball.

Eberflus remains the Bears' head coach because they won five of their last eight games in 2023. Their three losses were all one-score affairs to playoff teams that could've gone the other way. There might be something here. He better build on that late-season success with a young generational quarterback where Chicago has put all of its eggs in the basket. Or else.

3. Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints

Ah, Dennis Allen. I have but one question for him: What would you say you ... do here?

I'm serious. Allen has a reputation for defensive genius, and the Saints have been no slouches during his tenure so far, but they've hardly been elite. They haven't played like the kind of shutdown defense that lifts all boats and justifies a complete mess everywhere else. They've been OK, barely keeping the Saints afloat in a mediocre division and middling conference. With Derek Carr in the fold, the New Orleans offense has somehow become even more predictable, throwing Alvin Kamara to the wolves while expecting Chris Olave to win one-on-one on designed go-routes way too often. The Saints still think utilizing Taysom Hill the way they do keeps defenses on their toes instead of inspiring laughter over an oversized, slower, glorified running back wasting valuable touches.

Klint Kubiak, an ex-San Francisco 49ers disciple, could be the cure for Allen's Saints' ailment on offense. (It should be noted that he hasn't really changed his offense in years, either.) So, I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking from Allen or a franchise that has shown it's comfortable staying in a mucky, stagnant neutral.

2. Robert Saleh, New York Jets

Poor Robert Saleh. Already faced with the unenviable task of making the Jets a winner, this man lost his starting quarterback to an Achilles tear one series into the 2023 season. From there, Gang Green's year unraveled, bit by bit, with backup Zach Wilson at one point saying he didn't want to contribute to the dumpster fire. Imagine one of the biggest busts in pro football history starting a potential mini-mutiny because he sees an avoidable catastrophe unfolding. If I'm being candid, I'm not sure I wouldn't have been just as despondent and defeated as Saleh was by Thanksgiving of last fall. Even if the Jets didn't implode outright, Saleh lost control of the reins in a manner that makes you doubt whether he has the chops to be a difference-making coach.

Saleh deserved another year, a rebound, because the Jets organization, on the whole, deserved a chance for redemption. And the defense is still great, though it has lost some of its luster. The Jets fancy themselves a championship contender as long as Rodgers stays healthy. In the event a 40-year-old Rodgers doesn't stay on the field for the entire season, Saleh probably can't say he has that margin for error anymore.

1. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

I'm threading a needle with McCarthy here. Stay with me.

Do I believe he's genuinely the worst coach in the NFL? Probably not. He's shown he knows how to optimize a roster for regular-season success. His Cowboys have won 36 games over the last three years and two of the last three NFC East division titles. They're usually a well-tuned offensive machine with Dak Prescott orchestrating matters and more than hold their own on defense. Yeah, the Dallas roster has been rock-solid, but it still takes someone pulling the right strings to get it across the finish line.

There's the rub for McCarthy. For as much as he knows how to get the Cowboys to thrive from September through December, nothing about him has changed the moment the football becomes single-elimination in January. His in-game management remains atrocious. He somehow still bungles basic clock and timeout decisions like he's still on the Green Bay Packers sideline. His game plans, especially on offense, have been predictable and soft, opening the Cowboys to an onslaught from their playoff opponents the moment they feel even a slight stagger from Dallas. They put the Cowboys behind the eight-ball before they've had a chance to settle in.

That, in itself, is the biggest issue. Over three years into his tenure, the Cowboys still freeze like a deer in headlights as soon as they face adversity in the postseason. This is not a mentally tough Cowboys team battle-tested for the playoff gauntlet. It's a front-running group that doesn't know how to adjust or how to respond when the going gets tough, and that is an indicting reflection of the head coach.

The Cowboys will probably win 11-12 games again in 2024. Heck, they might even repeat as NFC East champions. But as long as McCarthy stays their coach, you can bet on them vomiting all over themselves come playoff time.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Ranking the 5 worst NFL coaches for 2024 (oof, Mike McCarthy)