Pete Carroll is 74 years old. He won a Super Bowl with Seattle in 2014. Two national championships at USC before that. The man has a legacy. And tomorrow, he's probably getting fired after one season in Las Vegas.
Let that sink in for a second.
The Raiders went 2-14. Ten straight losses to close the season. The worst scoring offense in football at 14.2 points per game. Geno Smith—Carroll's hand-picked quarterback from their Seattle days—threw 17 interceptions, the most by a Raiders QB since Kerry Collins chucked 20 back in 2004.
Black Monday is coming, and it's going to be ugly.
The bodies are already piling up
Here's the thing about this year's coaching carousel: it started early. Brian Callahan got axed in Tennessee on October 13th, just six games into his second season. Brian Daboll followed him out the door in New York on November 10th. Both franchises are now running auditions for their next hire while the rest of the league finishes the regular season.
Callahan's tenure was brutal. A 4-19 record. A .174 winning percentage—only Ken Whisenhunt was worse in Titans/Oilers history. The low point? A 26-0 shutout loss to Houston in Week 4 that prompted rookie quarterback Cam Ward to tell reporters, "If we keeping it a buck right now, we're ass."
That quote will live forever. So will the stat that follows Callahan out of Nashville: the last four quarterbacks drafted first overall have all watched their head coaches get fired during their rookie seasons. Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, now Cam Ward. Being the top pick apparently comes with a curse these days.
Daboll's fall from grace
The Giants situation stings differently. Brian Daboll won Coach of the Year in 2022. He took a team that everyone had written off and got them to the playoffs, even won a wild-card game against Minnesota. That first season felt like the start of something real.
Then came the 11-33 stretch that ended his tenure.
New York blew four double-digit leads on the road this season alone. The worst? An 18-point collapse at Denver in Week 7—the first time since 2003 that any team had lost after leading by that much with six minutes left. When the Giants coughed up another 10-point lead against Chicago in Week 10, ownership had seen enough.
"It better not take too long because I've just about run out of patience," co-owner John Mara had said after last season's 3-14 disaster. "That'll be a good sound bite for you tonight, huh?"
It was. And it foreshadowed exactly what happened.
The kicker? Daniel Jones—the quarterback Daboll benched and eventually cut last year—is now 8-2 as a starter with the Indianapolis Colts. That's the kind of detail that makes a firing feel inevitable in hindsight.
Carroll's mess is somehow worse
At least Daboll had injuries to blame. At least Callahan was trying to develop a rookie quarterback. Carroll came to Vegas with a Super Bowl ring, a clear vision, and... his sons on the payroll.
Brennan Carroll coaches the offensive line. The Raiders' offensive line is one of the worst in recent memory. The nepotism criticism writes itself.
Multiple insiders have confirmed what everyone already suspected. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones reported that Carroll and the Raiders are headed for a split. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport echoed the sentiment: "We'll see if Pete Carroll is there for it. I doubt it, but we'll see." The Athletic's Dianna Russini added that the bigger question isn't whether Carroll gets dismissed, but who ultimately makes that decision in an organization with too many power centers.
The Maxx Crosby situation captured everything broken about this season. When the Raiders decided to shut down their best player for the final two games—protecting the No. 1 pick more than protecting his health, if we're being honest—Crosby reportedly stormed out of the building.
Carroll, to his credit, didn't throw his star under the bus.
"Maxx has been amazing, and I was right there with him fighting the decisions that came about," Carroll told reporters. "I agree with him 1,000 percent on how he responded. I responded the same way."
Read between the lines: the 74-year-old coach was overruled by ownership on a football decision. That's not a tenable working relationship. That's a resignation letter waiting to happen.
What comes next
The Giants and Titans have head starts on their coaching searches. Mike Kafka is auditioning in New York with Jaxson Dart, who's shown real flashes despite the chaos around him. Mike McCoy, the former Chargers head coach, has steadied the ship in Tennessee.
Both franchises have something valuable to sell: promising young quarterbacks on rookie deals. Dart has 17 total touchdowns in seven starts. Ward has the arm talent that made him the first overall pick. Whoever lands these jobs will inherit genuine building blocks, not just expensive rubble.
The Raiders job is trickier. They'll have the No. 1 pick and over $105 million in cap space. They also have Tom Brady as a minority owner, Mark Davis making final calls, and a franchise that's burned through 12 head coaches in 25 years.
Klint Kubiak, Seattle's offensive coordinator, has been floated as a candidate. Philip Rivers—yes, that Philip Rivers—is reportedly getting looks as a potential head coach. The coaching carousel is going to get weird before it gets normal.
The bigger picture
Three head coaches. Combined record: 26-73. One Coach of the Year award. Zero job security.
The NFL moves fast. Patience is a myth. Even a Super Bowl-winning resume can't buy you more than 16 games if the losses pile up. Carroll learned that in Seattle when they mutually parted ways after 2023. He's learning it again in Vegas, except there's nothing mutual about this one.
Tomorrow morning, phones will ring. Statements will be drafted. Lawyers will review severance terms. And somewhere, a 74-year-old coach with a Hall of Fame resume will either announce his retirement or watch Mark Davis announce it for him.
That's Black Monday. No grace. No patience. Just the cold math of wins and losses—and the understanding that in this league, your legacy only protects you until the next 2-14 season.