NFL Head Coaching Hires and 2027 Super Bowl Odds

• Already, very, very, very early 2026-2027 Super Bowl odds are out
• Now that Super Bowl LX is in the books, the final NFL head coaching hire was completed with the Raiders hiring Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak
• Some teams that hired new HCs are rebuilding, but others are retooling
• What should we expect from these teams next season?

Opening Super Bowl LXI Odds for Teams With New Head Coaches

Baltimore Ravens – Jesse Minter

The Ravens somewhat surprisingly fired John Harbaugh, reportedly because he refused to fire offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Both landed on their feet with more money and significantly more power elsewhere.

Baltimore stuck to the Harbaugh tree by hiring highly touted defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. He was an assistant in Baltimore from 2017 to 2020, so he understands the chain of command.

This seemed to be a change for its own sake. Owner Steve Bisciotti needed to decide whether to keep quarterback Lamar Jackson happy or stick to what hasn’t worked since their Super Bowl XLVII win. That was 13 years ago.

The core with Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Kyle Hamilton is unlikely to change. They’ll need to radically improve the defense and hope new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle can get on the same page with Jackson. Doyle has one year as a coordinator, but that was with the Bears and Ben Johnson.

Their Super Bowl chances hinge on boosting a sieve-like defense and improving the pass rush. Minter, whose specialty is defense, needs to show his bona fides in that area.

They are probably not a Super Bowl team in 2026-27.

Buffalo Bills – Joe Brady

Firing Sean McDermott was a reactive move after another failed season in which the Bills were supposed to take the next step to the Super Bowl. That the Chiefs and Ravens — Buffalo’s two main obstacles to emerging from the AFC — were gone before the playoffs even started and they still lost was likely the final straw for owner Terry Pegula and GM Brandon Beane.

Were they wrong?

Maybe it was time for a change.

Still, they didn’t appear ready for a coaching search and it was subsequently haphazard, interviewing the likes of Philip Rivers, Davis Webb, Brian Daboll, Klint Kubiak, and Grant Udinski, in addition to Brady.

The bouncing from one candidate to another before ultimately settling on Brady was chaotic. But Brady might be the right choice after all. He’s familiar to the team and particularly QB Josh Allen.

The key for the Bills is if they find a game-breaking wide receiver and fix their defense, especially addressing its inability to stop the run.

If everything breaks right, they could be the AFC representative in Super Bowl LXI. The league would love that after the Super Bowl LX snoozefest. It wants Allen in the Big Game already.

New York Giants – John Harbaugh

The Giants being +4500 for Super Bowl LXI is based on nothing more than hiring Harbaugh as their head coach.

The organization understood that its chain of command, in place since George Young was named GM in 1979, had become a detriment. They gave Harbaugh unprecedented power, something they refused to do for Hall of Famer Bill Parcells and should-be Hall of Famers Dan Reeves and Tom Coughlin.

He’s already remaking the staff and the front office to his liking.

The Giants do have a sound foundation with QB Jaxson Dart, running backs Tyrone Tracy and Cam Skattebo, wide receiver Malik Nabers, and edge Abdul Carter. Free agents will be attracted despite their horrendous recent results because Harbaugh is there.

Still, they are not going to the Super Bowl next year.

Pittsburgh Steelers – Mike McCarthy

McCarthy is a good and successful coach. There’s a lot to like about him. The Cowboys should not have fired him after 2024.

Still, this was a hire based on areas the Steelers have never before factored in when hiring a new head coach. McCarthy is older. He’s a retread. And it’s a quick-fix attempt to avoid radically altering the roster.

McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, makes it a reasonable expectation that Aaron Rodgers will return since Rodgers played for McCarthy and won a Super Bowl with him for the Packers. He was desperate for the job, making it probable that he didn’t say anything Art Rooney II didn’t want to hear.

The younger coaches they interviewed like Nate Scheelhaase would have been derelict in their duty to say anything to the Steelers other than, “We need to find a quarterback, whether it’s Will Howard or someone from the outside, and we need to clear out some of the older guys like T.J. Watt.”

McCarthy is a win-now coach for a team that expects to win now, but does not have the personnel to win now any more than they did when they won 9-10 games over the past few years under Mike Tomlin.

Forget the Super Bowl.

Atlanta Falcons – Kevin Stefanski

It’s highly possible that Stefanski’s failure with the Browns was because it was the Browns. But to absolve him of all blame when he ran Baker Mayfield out of town and had a revolving door of mediocre/reputation-tattered/over-the-hill QBs in Mayfield’s stead is too big a mulligan to give even proven winning NFL coaches, let alone someone with a losing record like Stefanski.

And Stefanski, as smart as he is (just ask him!), still needs to show that he can win consistently despite two Coach of the Year awards.

Atlanta has talent from top to bottom, but they’re expected to cut veteran QB Kirk Cousins and push all their chips into the middle of the table on Michael Penix Jr., who’s coming off a major knee injury. So the QB issue might follow Stefanski to Atlanta.

He’s also got an immediate crisis after the arrest of 2025 1st round pick, edge James Pearce Jr.

They’re actually talented enough to be a darkhorse Super Bowl contender if every single thing works out right. It’s unlikely, but possible.

Cleveland Browns – Todd Monken

Monken is well-regarded, but he deviates greatly from every other coach hired during this cycle. He’s not proven as a head coach like McCarthy and Harbaugh. He’s not a younger “guru” type like the others.

At 60, this is presumably the only head coaching chance in the NFL he’ll get. He’s going to need to counterbalance his natural personality of being old-school tough on his players with acquiescing to reality to keep the job.

Does this mean they’re going to give Shedeur Sanders a legitimate chance to win the starting job with Deshaun Watson set to return?

They’re already losing tight end David Njoku, who said he’s not coming back as a free agent. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz resigned after he didn’t get the HC job.

Yeah. They’re not going to the Super Bowl.

Maybe the Dawg Pound Bowl, if they have one.

Las Vegas Raiders – Klint Kubiak

Kubiak now has a Super Bowl ring as the OC for the Seahawks. He’s a princeling in the NFL from his dad, Gary Kubiak, a Super Bowl-winning coach with the Broncos. It’s an “obvious” hire, but they don’t always work out as planned.

The Raiders have had five head coaches since 2021 and are an organization that epitomizes disarray.

But they have the 1st overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and are expected to take Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza.

Kubiak will get at least three years to show what he can do.

And no. They’re not going to the Super Bowl next year.

Tennessee Titans – Robert Saleh

This is the second chance for Saleh and we’ll know relatively quickly whether his failure with the Jets was because it’s the Jets or if it was him.

He’s walking into Tennessee with a QB in place, Cam Ward. The Titans’ defense has a foundational piece on defense in Jeffery Simmons and a solid secondary. They’re willing to spend money and have the 4th overall pick in the coming draft.

For the record, Saleh’s former team, the Jets, have the worst 2026-2027 Super Bowl odds in the NFL at 15000-1.

No. The Titans are not going to the Super Bowl. Nor are the Jets.

Arizona Cardinals – Mike LaFleur

Mike LaFleur is the brother of Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. He’s in the “network” with Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, his brother Matt, Raheem Morris, and Saleh. He was Saleh’s OC with the Jets.

He certainly has the assistant coaching credentials to succeed.

But the Cardinals are a mess. They’re expected to move on from QB Kyler Murray, so they need to decide who’s going to be their signal-caller.

The draft is notoriously weak when it comes to QBs, so they’ll need to look around the league to find someone. And they’re not alone in that regard. But the brotherly connection could help them get Malik Willis, if they want to go in that direction.

Forget a Super Bowl run as they rebuild.

Miami Dolphins – Jeff Hafley

Hafley looks like an NYPD cop you don’t want to see walking toward your car after you’ve run a stop sign.

That’s a complete 180 from Mike McDaniel.

He’s a former defensive coordinator for the Packers and was a head coach at Boston College. Though he’ll be 47 and is not as young as many coaches who are hired today, he’s not older like Monken.

Miami needs a new QB as it’s set to move on from Tua Tagovailoa. They have some talent with running back De’Von Achane, and linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Bradley Chubb.

It’s a new, tougher regime and they’re not going to the Super Bowl anytime soon, let alone next year.

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