The defensive-minded head coach of a stumbling franchise was reportedly fired on Monday morning after a brutal Week 9 loss.
Dennis Allen’s time with the New Orleans Saints is apparently over:
What … did you think I was going to say someone else?
Dennis Allen’s firing in New Orleans puts some things into perspective
Side note: Do you remember when Dennis Allen was supposed to interview with the Bears, but didn’t? Sheesh.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport also has news of the Dennis Allen firing, which comes less than 24 hours after the Las Vegas Raiders gave Luke Getsy the heave-ho as the team’s offensive coordinator. Early November firings should have our heads on a swivel as a collective football community.
The Saints have rattled off seven consecutive losses after opening the 2024 season with back-to-back wins. Injuries have played a key role in New Orleans’ demise, but poor play and struggles on both sides of the ball throughout Allen’s 2+ seasons with the team were a constant. A humbling loss to an awful Carolina Panthers team might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the Saints were 18-25 under Dennis Allen. So it’s not as if losing on Sunday in Week 9 was the singular moment that got him canned. Instead, that loss serves as a point of no return for New Orleans. Because sometimes, you have to reach that point before you pull the plug.
Naturally, news of Dennis Allen’s firing in New Orleans has us thinking about Matt Eberflus’ situation in Chicago. The Bears are 4-4, which is a better record than the Saints have at the moment. But the awful vibes surrounding the Bears right now are similar to what was surrounding the Saints in recent weeks. Like New Orleans, Chicago is reeling while watching a coach whose team had bigger expectations lose in new and (previously) unimaginable ways.
That these two tweets came across my timeline at almost the same time this morning felt telling:
Coaches whose teams find new ways to lose don’t tend to last long in the NFL.
After seeing news of the Raiders punting their offensive coordinator and the Saints dismissing their head coach, it is hard not to think about what it would take for the Bears to do the same thing. This franchise has never fired a head coach during the season, and I’m not sure this is the year it would happen. But if the Bears enter the gauntlet and continue stacking losses, the calls for Matt Eberflus’ dismissal will only grow louder. And once this fanbase starts getting a whiff of other teams doing the logical thing, they’ll start wondering why their favorite team isn’t doing the same.
This Bears thing is a mess. And seeing Dennis Allen get fired puts into perspective what it might take to see Chicago’s football team part ways with a head coach who looks to be losing his team.