For most coaches, making it to the playoffs is reason enough to be safe. This year, that might not be good enough.
Already, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has hinged coach Mike McCarthy’s future to one playoff game at a time. On Monday night, when the Buccaneers host the Eagles, the winner could get a Water-Pik — and the loser could be fired.
It’s harder to envision the Eagles moving on from Nick Sirianni one year after a Super Bowl berth. But the highly-strategic Eagles might see, and decide to seize upon, an opportunity to upgrade. It’s not as hard to envision the Buccaneers moving on from Todd Bowles.
Our friends at JoeBucsFan.com have been talking about the possibility of Bowles needing a good showing — and perhaps a win — on Monday night to stick around, on Ira Kaufman’s podcast.
It all comes down to whether team ownership believes the organization can upgrade with one of the various available coaches. They likely would be interested in Bill Belichick, if Belichick becomes available and if he were interested in Tampa. Other big names are available to an ownership group with a history of chasing big names, like Mike Vrabel and, as of Wednesday, Pete Carroll and even Nick Saban.
Regardless, it starts with an opening. There could be one, even though Bowles had led the Bucs to a pair of division titles in two years on the job.
