Three weeks into the 2026 NFL season, the league’s picture is starting to sharpen fast. Some teams are pushing toward the top. Others are already sliding into trouble, and October has a way of making that trouble feel a lot more urgent.
That’s the backdrop for a few coaches who suddenly look like they’re hanging on instead of steering the ship. In-season firings have become part of the NFL landscape, and there’s no reason to think that pattern stops now if teams keep spinning their wheels.
Todd Bowles is in a rough spot in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are 0-3, and Baker Mayfield is expected to miss a few weeks with a dislocated thumb.
That leaves Bowles and his staff trying to solve a problem that already looked tough enough before the injury. Tampa Bay regressed in 2025 and started drifting off course around the middle of that season.
Even before this latest setback, the ceiling under Bowles has not been especially high. Now the bigger concern is whether the Bucs are still winless when Mayfield returns, because by then it may already be too late for Bowles.
Nick Sirianni is dealing with a different kind of mess in Philadelphia. The Eagles can live with a loss to the Chicago Bears in a primetime spot, but losing to a third-string QB is another matter.
Sirianni, who does not call plays, always seems to have some form of drama around his team. The Eagles have also gone one-and-done in the playoffs in 2021, 2023, and 2025, which makes it hard to point to any sustained, reliable success.
After the loss to Chicago, it’s fair to wonder whether the unraveling has already started. The offense has looked inefficient, the defense has been unusually poor, and even at 2-1, the Eagles don’t seem to do anything particularly well this season.
Sirianni, as usual, is right in the middle of it.
Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers are another team that should have people asking hard questions. Los Angeles has lost six games in each of the last two seasons, and through three games this year, the Bolts are already halfway to that number.
In Harbaugh’s third year as head coach, the Chargers look significantly worse than they did in his first two seasons. The roster has not been special, and the coordinator hires this offseason have been a total disaster so far.
Harbaugh also does not call plays, which leaves the obvious question hanging over the whole operation: what exactly is he doing?
In Other News...
Jim Harbaugh Just Turned Up The Pressure On Justin Herbert
After the Chargers 24-16 loss to the Bills, Jim Harbaugh did something he rarely does in public: he put the spotlight squarely on Justin Herbert. Harbaugh also made sure to note the coaching staff shares responsibility for the offenses sluggish start, but his message was plain enough. Herbert needs to be better, and the Chargers need a sharper return from a quarterback who has opened the season with more interceptions than touchdowns and a low completion percentage.
Herbert did not push back. He accepted responsibility for the offenses performance and said the turnaround begins with him, which at least keeps the conversation pointed in one direction for now. For a team trying to settle its identity under Harbaugh, the tension is obvious: the coach is demanding more from his quarterback, and the quarterback knows the next step has to come from his own play. [Read more 🡒]
Harbaughs Biggest Chargers Problem Is Starting To Cost Them
The Chargers are off to a frustrating 0-3 start, and the strange part is that the defense has given them chances to change the script. In Sundays loss, the unit forced five turnovers, a number that usually should be enough to tilt a game in your favor, but the offense could not turn those takeaways into enough points to make them matter.
What has started to draw the most scrutiny is Jim Harbaughs decision-making on fourth down. Several conservative calls ended in field goal attempts instead of a more aggressive approach that some analytics models favored, and a later fourth-and-10 try from their own 45-yard line failed and handed the opponent momentum at a pivotal moment. For a team already searching for traction, those choices are becoming part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Quentin Johnston Puts Chargers Fans Back In A Tough Spot
Sean Payton had plenty to unpack after Denvers fourth-quarter comeback, but for Chargers fans the more familiar concern came from the other sideline chatter. Quentin Johnston owned up to a costly drop in a recent loss, a reminder of how quickly a single miscue can tilt a game and reopen old doubts about the offenses reliability in tight moments.
Johnston said he understands how difficult those moments can be, and for Los Angeles thats what makes the conversation linger. The Chargers have spent enough time trying to steady themselves through uneven stretches that every missed chance gets magnified, especially when a receiver with Johnstons role is involved and the margin for error keeps shrinking. [Read more 🡒]