NFL Odds: Brandon Staley Now Favored To Be First Coach Fired

Over the course of the summer, Josh McDaniels and Ron Rivera shared the distinction of which NFL head coach would be fired first. Both were considered to be on the hot seat entering the 2023 season, and their odds alternated at the top of the board from week to week. But after the first slate of games on the NFL schedule, there is a new leader in the clubhouse.

NFL Odds: Staley Most Likely Head Coach To be Fired First

Today, every team that put up more than 21 points won their game. The Chargers offense put up 34 and they lost.

There is a major issue with the Chargers defense. There has always been a major issue with the Chargers defense.

It starts with coaching. This isn’t an opinion. pic.twitter.com/lsvSFFanKn

— Ryan DePaul (@RyanDePaul) September 11, 2023

The Los Angeles Chargers have had high expectations since Brandon Staley arrived in 2021. He took over what was an already solid roster that was being built around young quarterback Justin Herbert, who has developed into a top-tier quarterback and MVP candidate over the last couple of seasons.

But despite taking over a team that was already half-built with a budding superstar quarterback, the Chargers have failed to win anything of significance. They’ve had middling regular season results, going 9-8 and 10-7 in his two seasons, with one playoff appearance. The time they did play in the postseason, they admittedly spent the entire summer trying to forget what happened.

The Chargers suffered a collapse of epic proportions during Wild Card Weekend last season. Staley had his team up 27-0 against the Jaguars before things fell apart completely, with Trevor Lawrence leading Jacksonville all the way back and to an eventual 31-30 victory to complete the comeback.

NFL coaches generally don’t get fired because of a single game performance, but Staley’s strategic approach and use of the clock in the second half of that contest was nearly unforgivable, and certainly put him on the hot seat.

But he and the Chargers had another season of high expectations ahead of them, and the franchise was willing to ride into 2023 with him at the helm.

Staley Passes Rivera And McDaniels On The Board

#BoltUp HC Brandon Staley on what was challenging for his defense against #FinsUp QB Tua Tagovailoa

(🎥: @NitecastMedia ) pic.twitter.com/cXXwL4HwPZ

— Nick Hamilton (@NickHamilton213) September 11, 2023

Things haven’t started off very well. While the Miami Dolphins are certainly a formidable opponent as they showed on Sunday, Los Angeles was the home favorite for the matchup between the two teams, and were expected to take home a victory if they had any hopes of making noise in the AFC in 2023.

It wasn’t a 27-point comeback, but the Chargers blew yet another late lead against Miami, giving up 466 passing yards to Tua Tagovailoa en route to an 0-1 start.

This puts Brandon Staley on the hottest of seats. According to the odds board at BetOnline, he is now the outright leader in the clubhouse to be the first NFL head coach fired this season. He comes in with a designation of +500, passing both Rivera and McDaniels for the top spot.

Rivera and McDaniels helped their cases a bit on Sunday. Both the Commanders and Raiders were able to come out of Week 1 with victories, making them at least somewhat less likely to be fired when that time rolls around during the middle of the season.

Mike Vrabel (+800) and Matt Eberflus (+1200) round out the top-5.

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