The conclusion of the NFL regular season is always a bloodbath for the coaching staff. “Black Monday” typically claims the scalps of a few of the most underperforming head coaches. There are already eight head coaching vacancies — that’s a fourth of the league. Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders and Arthur Smith of the Atlanta Falcons were expected to be fired, but there are always a few surprise departures. Take the 2022 coach of the year, Mike Vrabel, formerly of the Tennessee Titans, and two future first-ballot Hall of Famers, Pete Carroll of Seattle and the Patriots’ Bill Belichick, perhaps the greatest football coach of all time.
Fans and players alike often quip that the NFL should stand for “not for long.”
If six-time Super Bowl champ Belichick isn’t safe, who is? The top line is that there is simply too much money involved in America’s most popular league for any team to tolerate losing for very long. Fans typically call for the firing of their home team’s coaches even before the billionaires in charge get wise. Pittsburgh fans spent a couple of months this season calling for Mike Tomlin’s job despite the fact the Super Bowl champion finished the season with a 10-7 record with a carousel of quarterbacks who would all likely clear waivers. You win or you’re out in the NFL. Wins and championships don’t really matter unless you’re one of the few athletes or coaches blessed with enough talent to make it to the big leagues.
In politics, where the stakes are infinitely higher, the public seems content with failure.
Consider that the same Pennsylvanians who broke bad on Tomlin also elected to the Senate a man who had just suffered a massive stroke. The same fans who agree that the game has passed by legends like Belichick and Carroll, aged 71 and 72, respectively, will likely line up in the freezing cold this November to vote for a 78-year-old Donald Trump, who has forgotten how magnets work, or an 81-year-old President Joe Biden who has forgotten just about everything else. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) can win reelection in one of the most conservative states in the union by throwing on a Carhartt and grinding up some deer meat despite having a voting record virtually identical to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has led the Senate GOP for 17 years despite actively thwarting conservative causes and enjoying a not-so-great 39.6% favorability rating.
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Congress has an approval rating of around 15%, yet over 90% of the House of Representatives will be reelected this November. We’ve seen Trump and Biden in action in the Oval Office, with mixed-to-catastrophic results. Still, primary voters have passed over much younger, smarter, and more skilled candidates in favor of continuing the cycle of failure.
When one of the teams with a coaching vacancy inevitably hires the wrong man, fans will be up in arms. But they continue to take the failures of their elected officials on the chin. It’s fine to hold the leadership of your favorite team accountable, just bring that same energy to the voting booth!
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.