Each NFL season has its surprises: Good teams turn out to be bad, bad teams turn out to be good, and strong head coaches are fired. As the current NFL season wraps up for the postseason, more fans than usual find themselves wondering, “Who will be our next head coach?”

As of Jan. 9, a record-tying 10 head coaches have been fired or departed at the end of or soon after the season. Many different teams have fired their head coaches in the past and turned out fine, but in other cases, such as the firing of Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh, it shows that these teams can be set back.

Harbaugh had a .500 record and has been a coach for 18 years with 12 playoff appearances, so his firing caught many by surprise, as did the resignation of Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin, who wasn’t fired but had stepped down before he even had the chance to be. It caught many by surprise as Tomlin had a record of 193-114-2, alongside 13 playoff appearances and one Super Bowl victory in 2009.

“I love the firing of Kevin Stefanski because it increases our chances of winning,” said FCHS student Aedyn Cheney, who praised the firing of the Cleveland Browns head coach.

Now the season is all about anticipation. Days are counted down until teams can sign a new coach or there are those anticipating their postseason match.

With the top two teams in the NFL, which is the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, coming off a bye week, it will stir things up. The two teams got the bye week for being the best in their respective conference, with the New England Patriots winning the AFC (American Football Conference), and the Seattle Seahawks winning the NFC (National Football Conference). With the Super Bowl being on Feb. 8, fans are ready for a showdown.

With a lot of teams’ futures and jobs on the horizon, everybody has to be at peak performance. This goes for coaches, players, and team owners. As for the postseason teams, they still have games to play, which means those coaches’ jobs are still on the line.

With the NFL Draft coming up on April 23-25, a lot of coaches can be criticized for how they perform in the draft. With a lot of coaches being fired so far, don’t be shocked if more firings happen. The NFL Draft is cause for drama, perseverance, and patience. That’s the part where a lot of fans would say coaches need to work on.

“Coming from a Steelers fan, I’m ready for the NFL Draft. I feel our team needs new faces and a big change,” said FCHS student Brady McCauley.

With this year’s firings, it’s hard to say which coaches will find a new home, let alone if they take other existing coaches’ jobs, so expect to see the NFL musical chairs act to continue for weeks to come.