NFL Coaches on the Hot Seat

THE SPORTING NEWS ranks the top 10 NFL coaches on the hot seat heading into the 2008 season.

1. Wade Phillips, Cowboys. Coaches from playoff teams aren’t usually on the hot seat. Then again, not many coaches preside over teams that haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, are expected to go to the Super Bowl in 2008 and have the next head coach, Jason Garrett, ready to step in at a moment’s notice.

Wade Phillips has the temperament to withstand the pressure. Besides, he’s no stranger to being fired. But it doesn’t make the pressure any less real.

So if the Cowboys don’t make the postseason, or if they don’t win a game or two once they get there, Wade won’t be back in 2009.

Phillips will lose his job because Jerry Jones wants Garrett to be his head coach, like, yesterday. It’ll have nothing to do with whether or not the Cowboys win a playoff game this year.