To Fix Its Ratings Decline, NFL Needs to Start Saying ‘You’re Fired’ to Mediocre Owners

December 31st will mark the final day of the National Football League’s (NFL) 2017 regular season. And while January 1st will be all about college football’s most prominent bowl games, readers can rest assured that news of head coaches being fired will soon re-enter the sports discussion. It always does.

That so many NFL head coaches will be dismissed at season’s close doesn’t speak ill of them. Most reach the top of the coaching profession thanks to past success as offensive and defensive coordinators. That they know football extraordinarily well is a given. Some will suffer impatient owners (think Pete Carroll’s firing after one year by Jets owner Leon Hess in 1994), others will be victimized by bad organizations (lest readers forget, Bill Belichick’s record during his five years as head coach of the Cleveland Browns was 36-44), but arguably most lack the CEO skills necessary to make it as a head coach.