Kiffin’s firing tops crazy week for the NFL
Posted: September 30th, 2008 | Adam Schefter | Tags: Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams
The NFL never has experienced a week like this one before. This marks the first time since at least 1970 — and quite possibly a whole lot longer — that two head coaches have been fired before the fifth game of the season.
It is so rare that the last time a head coach was fired before the fifth game was back in 1989, when Al Davis got rid of Mike Shanahn.
But now we’ve had two coaches fired 24 hours apart — first Scott Linehan in St. Louis, then Lane Kiffin in Oakland.
This is a list that we trotted out last weekend that is worth revisiting again:
Coaches Released Before 5th Game since 1970:
| Year and coach | Team | Games and record |
| 2008 Lane Kiffin | Raiders | Four games (1-3) |
| 2008 Scott Linehan | Rams | Four games (0-4) |
| 1989 Mike Shanahan | Raiders | Four games (1-3) |
| 1985 Kay Stephenson | Bills | Four games (0-4) |
| 1982 Jack Petera | Seahawks | Two games (0-2_ |
| 1974 Howard Schnellenberger | Colts | Three games (0-3) |
| 1971 Jerry Williams | Eagles | Three games (0-3) |
Noteable:
In 2000, Bruce Coslet resigned as Bengals coach after 3 games — was not fired/released
In 1978, George Allen was fired by the Redskins two weeks into preseason
