Are these the worst coaches in NFL History?

Because the NFL season is so short, any number of small things can make a huge difference. Coaching decisions can either help advance a team’s fortunes, or hinder them to the point of no return. Certain sideline leaders seem to have all the answers from a motivational and tactical perspective, while others appear to have no clue what to do next.

It was a calamity from the beginning. The Jacksonville Jaguars brought in a local legend in to stabilize the franchise, but the opposite ended up happening. Meyer had a ton of success with the University of Florida, but thought he could coach the Jaguars with the same approach he utilized in college. The players didn’t take to that, and he was let go before his first season ended.

The Denver Broncos felt like they were a quarterback away from contending in the AFC West, and hired Hackett as their head coach to entice Aaron Rodgers to go there. That didn’t take place, and the Broncos were left with someone who was in way over his head. Hackett had several time management issues, and was dismissed before his first campaign was over.

Jackson had one of the most embarrassing runs in modern NFL history, and it was made worse due to HBO’s Hard Knocks show. Not only could fans see how bad things were going off of the field; the series gave them a glimpse as to how shoddily the operation was being run leading up to the season. Jackson had a 3-36 record as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

NFL teams have always tried to poach talent from other successful coaching staffs, often with mixed results. The Detroit Lions thought they had a carbon copy of Bell Belichick when they hired Patricia in 2018, but he was anything but. Detroit would go 13-29 under Patricia, and had a terrible defense under the former New England Patriots defensive coordinator.

Staying in Detroit, there wasn’t a lot of happiness to go around during the stretch from 2006-2008. Marinelli was the head coach during that time, and his tenure as Lions leading man was punctuated by a dismal 0-16 campaign in 2008. There weren’t a lot of redeeming offensive or defensive statistics in that period.

As the Meyer stretch and countless other examples prove, successful college head coaches don’t always work out in the NFL. Holtz would be one of the earliest guinea pigs, as he left North Carolina State to coach the New York Jets in 1976. The team floundered, only going 3-10 under a coach who was better suited for the college game.

He was actually halfway decent during his four year run with the Philadelphia Eagles, but crashed and burned once he took the same job with the Jets in 1995. Kotite finished his New York tenure with an abominable 4-28 record, and was a punching bag for the media. He would never get another head coaching job in the league.

There are some folks who are just better served being coordinators, and Rust would seem to fall into that category. He was a defensive coordinator for five teams for 14 seasons in the NFL, but was given a head coaching job in 1990 with the New England Patriots. Almost everything that could go wrong did that year, as the franchise went 1-15 during the season.

Cameron was a whisker away from being one of the few coaches in NFL history to never win a game. He presided over the 2007 Miami Dolphins, who finished 1-15. The team nearly lost every single game, but miraculously pulled out an overtime victory against the Baltimore Ravens to avoid history.

There’s no more difficult spot to be in than following a legend in professional sports. Petitbon had the unenviable task of being the next head coach after Joe Gibbs in Washington. It made sense considering he had been the defensive coordinator for 12 years, but his elevation to head coach went poorly. Washington finished with a 4-12 record in 1993, Petitbon’s only campaign at the helm.

If there’s one thing Campo was, it was consistent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the type of consistency the Dallas Cowboys were looking for. He was the head coach of the team from 2000-2002, and the Cowboys finished 5-11 in each of those three years. The franchise was looking to retool after 1990’s glory.

As the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Ditka’s resume stacks up well with a lot of the best head coaches in NFL history. However, his reign over the New Orleans Saints did not go as well, and was met with some questionable decision making. His most confounding choice was trading away his entire draft in 1999 to select Texas running back Ricky Williams.

Allen has the benefit of time on his side, as he’s currently the head coach of the Saints. However, he’s got a lot of ground to make up if he wants to avoid being on lists like this. He finished up with a career 8-28 record as head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2012-2014, which led some to question why New Orleans would give him a second chance.

The New York Giants are known for having some stellar head coaches throughout their history, but that wasn’t always the case. The Giants struggled in the 1970’s under Bill Arnsparger, who was only 7-28 from 1974-1976. New York thought they would fare better with Don Shula’s former defensive coordinator leading the way, but that was not the case.

An expansion franchise usually has a pretty rough go of it early on, but John McKay had to endure difficult times for the better part of nine seasons. That included an 0-14 campaign in 1976, and a 2-12 season in 1977. Tampa Bay went from historically bad to average after that, but would return to the cellar in the mid 1980’s.

Have we missed anybody? Who would you include?