Winless Teams After Three Weeks and Their Regimes
Are any of their head coaches or general managers in danger of losing their jobs after the 2025 season?
NFL Week 4 is underway as I write this. After four weeks of the season are out of the way, you have a good idea about who are the likely playoff contenders and who are likely to be seeking a regime change after the season.
There’s always talk about why teams don’t just make their switches midway through the season, but seldom does that result in a team turning its fortunes around. If a change happens midseason, it’s likely because the head coach has lost the locker room (as in, players no longer give effort and are openly complaining about things) or because a general manager has shown a clear unwillingness to change.
Otherwise, changes are most likely going to happen after the season after it’s clear that the head coach and general manager have tried everything during the season and nothing has worked.
There are a few teams that entered Week 4 with 0-3 records. Let’s look at those teams in question and ask ourselves about the probability of a change after the season.
Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins were blown out by the Colts, lost a one-score game to the Patriots and lost by two scores to the Bills. Their offense hasn’t been bad but their defense has been really bad.
Chris Grier hasn’t done the best job of building the team since he took over as general manager in 2019. Mike McDaniel is a good offensive mind but that isn’t enough by itself to be a successful head coach.
The Dolphins roster arguably needs an overhaul, which would be enough to justify firing Grier at the end of the season. And if Grier goes, it’s best to let McDaniel go and start from scratch.
There are some games ahead that the Dolphins could win, but maybe not enough to finish with a winning record. At the rate things are going, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Dolphins make changes after the season.
New York Giants: The Giants might have sent the Cowboys to overtime in Week 2 but the Cowboys aren’t exactly a top team this season. Meanwhile, they barely got much going on offense against the Commanders and Chiefs and their defense isn’t good.
General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll came together when the two were hired in 2022. In all likelihood, if one goes at season’s end, the other one goes, too.
Like McDaniel, Daboll is a good offensive mind but that isn’t enough by itself to be a good head coach. As for Schoen, he’s done some good things but not enough since the Giants made the playoffs back in 2022.
The Giants were putting up a respectable outing against the Chargers in Week 4 as I wrote this. Whether the Giants can get a winning record remains to be seen, but they’ll have to show a lot of improvement in the coming weeks.
If the Giants fail to get a winning record, it’s going to be difficult to justify keeping Daboll and Schoen. If they get a winning record, they might get one more season, but it will take a lot of work to get a winning record.
Houston Texans: Things have not gone as the Texans expected to open the season. While the three games they lost have been close contests, they’ve generated little in the way of offense. The defense has been decent but it’s not a unit that can carry the team.
As of this writing, the Texans were winning a low-scoring game against the Titans. If the offense continues to struggle, will current coordinator Nick Caley keep his job? He was supposed to be an improvement over Bobby Slowik but the Texans offense is arguably worse than last season.
I’m not certain that the Texans would make a regime change after the season if they don’t make the playoffs. While it’s true the AFC South isn’t a strong division, something has to be said for DeMeco Ryans getting the team to the playoffs in his first two seasons and winning their first playoff game each season.
I’m not convinced that the Texans would fire general manager Nick Caserio, either. He’s done a solid job thus far and probably deserves another season. If the Texans continue to struggle this season, then next season might be the one in which Caserio and Ryans are on notice. It’s more likely the Texans make a change at offensive coordinator after the season if the offense can’t get on track.
Tennessee Titans: The Titans hired a new general manager, Mike Borgonzi, while keeping head coach Brian Callahan. Through the first three weeks, the Titans haven’t impressed, with the offense struggling against the Broncos and the defense struggling against the Chargers and Colts.
I’ve already mentioned the Week 4 game against the Texans, in which the offense didn’t do much in the first half. Callahan was the Bengals offensive coordinator when he was hired as head coach, so he was supposed to be a good offensive mind. But has he shown that?
If the Titans can’t get things together, it could be easy for them to let Callahan go and try again with another head coach hire. But the issue the Titans is have is they are getting into the habit of making a switch position at either general manager or head coach while keeping the other.
I’m guessing the Titans will make a switch if they don’t at least win more than the three games they won last season. If they do fire Callahan, they need to keep the new head coach linked with Borgonzi rather than making independent decision about the general manager and head coach.
New Orleans Saints: The Saints are in a rebuild — or, at least, they should be. Though they lost their first two games by one score, they got blown out by the Seahawks, making it clear they have a lot of work to do to become a playoff contender.
I’ve believed that general manager Mickey Loomis has needed to be let go for some time, given his issues with cap management and roster building as of late. With that said, I don’t think you get rid of head coach Kellen Moore after one season, given that he doesn’t have much to work with on offense.
Given that the Saints are getting closer to exiting a bad cap situation, it probably makes sense to keep Loomis alongside Moore to see if they can get back on track in 2026. What Loomis has to do, though, is not restructure every contract just so he can go bring in free agents. He needs to work with Moore on building through the draft, enabling them a better chance for success in future seasons.
New York Jets: While the Jets are 0-3, they have made things interesting in games against the Steelers and Buccaneers. They were in position to win both games, a good sign for a team that was entering a rebuild year.
There’s no sign that head coach Aaron Glenn is in over his head and he’s getting the most out of the players he has. General manager Darren Mougey has approached the team situation well thus far.
It goes without saying that I believe that Glenn and Mougey should get another season together. The main question is what they do at quarterback, as they will need to find a young passer to develop. They also need to show they can be patient when it comes to building the team and that Glenn can keep the Jets competitive. Doing both just might get the Jets in position to become a playoff contender.