NFL franchises are famously unsentimental, always willing to fire a productive employee if somebody else becomes available. Unless that employee is a head coach.
In the next few weeks, there will be a lot of talk about what coaches “need to do” to keep their jobs. The answer is usually straightforward. In the last 20 years, owners have retained 99% of head coaches who made the playoffs and wanted to stay. It is a simplistic standard that seems sensible but really isn’t.
You might think, “Well, duh—teams keep successful head coaches!” But 99% is an extraordinary figure, and an outlier in the world of pro sports. Look around.
