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Ten or more head coaches could join Scott Linehan and Lane Kiffin in losing their jobs based on what happens over the final 13 weeks of the NFL season.
No coach is in imminent danger of losing his job during the season, but the pressure is building for Detroit's Rod Marinelli, Houston's Gary Kubiak, Cleveland's Romeo Crennel, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis, Kansas City's Herm Edwards and, yes, the Vikings' Brad Childress.
Each has a losing record this season and a sub-.500 career mark after more than two seasons with his current team. That's not a good combination when the honeymoon for an NFL coach lasts only two years.
Four other coaches at 2-2 or 3-1 are still sitting on toasty seats.
San Francisco's Mike Nolan is at the top of that list. He's 2-2 this year, but his 18-34 mark since 2005 makes him a prime candidate to be fired.
Eric Mangini is 2-2 with the Jets, but he has Brett Favre and an offseason shopping spree to live up to. If he does, he could be coach of the year. If he doesn't, he could be fired.
Then there's John Fox in Carolina and Wade Phillips in Dallas. Both are 3-1, but Fox can't afford a third consecutive non-playoff season, and Phillips can't afford another first-round playoff exit with the league's most talented roster.
That's 10 possible head coaching changes right there. And that doesn't include situations in Seattle, where Mike Holmgren will retire and be replaced by Jim Mora Jr.; and Indianapolis, where Tony Dungy could retire and be replaced by Jim Caldwell as early as the end of this season.
Speaking of coach killers The Bills are 4-0. The last two teams they beat were the Raiders and Rams. They play Arizona today.
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt isn't on the hot seat yet, but noticed a disturbing trend among teams that lose to Buffalo.
"What I'm very concerned about is the last two coaches that this team has played, they've fired those guys," Whisenhunt said. "So we're making sure we're working hard this week in practice."
Run, Saints, run Saints coach Sean Payton made his entire offensive unit run a lap following a pre-snap penalty during Wednesday's practice. Payton was an assistant in Dallas when Bill Parcells used to do that, but this was the first time Payton had done it during his three years in New Orleans.
"We had 13 penalties last weekend [against the 49ers]," Payton said. "I don't think I have ever been in a game where a team has had 13 penalties, so it's just a matter of losing some patience with the simple illegal procedures. ... Coming off last week's game we had some of these pre-snap false starts and that just drives me nuts."
Saints tailback Reggie Bush, who didn't run because he wasn't on the field when the penalty occurred, said it's been awhile since he's seen a team have to run a penalty lap in practice.
"The last time I had to run a lap, I think, I was probably about 12 years old," Bush said. "But I don't think it's wrong. If anything, if we continue to make false starts, we should run more laps."
Stat of the week 11: The combined arrests by former West Virginia teammates Adam (Pacman) Jones and Chris Henry. Jones, a cornerback for the Cowboys, has been arrested six times. Henry, a receiver who could be added to the Bengals' active roster for today's game in Dallas, has been pinched five times. Henry was suspended for the first four games for, well, acting like Chris Henry.
Stat of the week II 2-0: Remember when Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium used to be the toughest place to play in the NFL? Well, during his 20-game NFL head coaching career, Kiffin went 2-0 at Arrowhead and 3-13 everywhere else.
Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com
