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With the recent resignation of Bobby Petrino as head coach of the
Atlanta Falcons (and his replacement by longtime assistant Emmitt
Thomas), let's take a look at teams that replace coaches in mid-season. As
opposed to baseball, basketball, and hockey... it is somewhat unusual
for an NFL team to change coaches during the season. This is mainly due
to their only being 16 regular season games in the NFL where other
sports have many more than that. There are 32 teams in the NFL and
since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger there has been a change of coaches mid
season 59 times - that's less than two in-season coaching changes for
each team if you average it out. So, which team has changed coaches during the season the most? The
list of teams that has changed coaches mid-season once or twice since
1970 is decent sized, but from there we move into the upper echelon of
coaching instability.
NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Three Times Since 1970:Arizona/St. Louis Cardinals Cincinnati Bengals Buffalo Bills
NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Four Times Since 1970:Detroit Lions Tennessee Titans (done while still the Houston Oilers) New England Patriots Cleveland Browns
But, the champions of this category are...
NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Five Times Since 1970:Atlanta Falcons (just joined the club) New Orleans Saints San Diego Chargers Indianapolis Colts
There you have it, where does your team rank in coaching stability?A couple of interesting side notes that make great trivia:
There Are Eight Teams That Hadn't Changed Coaches Mid-Season At All Since 1970:Of these eight teams, four have a distinct advantage as they came into the league after 1995: Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, and the Houston Texans. But, the four longtime NFL teams that qualify: Chicago Bears Dallas Cowboys Green Bay Packers Pittsburgh Steelers
And a nice bit of trivia on the bad side of this issue:
There are only two NFL teams since 1970 that have changed head coaches mid-season in two consecutive years:New York Jets (1975 & 1976) Buffalo Bills (1985 & 1986)
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