How Interim NFL Coaches Have Fared in Their First Game As Giants Turn to Mike Kafka

The Giants fired Brian Daboll this week.

Mike Kafka is taking over as the Giants' interim head coach following the firing of Brian Daboll. / Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Giants became the latest team to make a coaching change this week, firing Brian Daboll after a disappointing 2–8 start to the 2025 season. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will take over in the interim, and is tasked with guiding rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart—among others—through what's seemingly a lost remainder of the campaign.

Being tabbed to take over an NFL franchise on an interim basis puts coaches in a tough position. For starters, most come in having worked for the person who was just fired by the team, and have to do their best to galvanize a group of players going through what is already a tumultuous season.

Moreover, they’re essentially working a dead-end job—as interim coaches are rarely retained when teams inevitably open up a wider search at season’s end.

Despite all of this, however, these coaches have actually fared pretty well to begin their interim tenures—especially in recent years. Here's a closer look at how teams have performed in their first games under a new head man in charge.

How interim NFL head coaches have fared in their first game since 2000

Since the beginning of the 2000 NFL season, 49 teams have either fired, moved on from or had their coach resign mid-campaign. Of those 49, 20 have won their first game with a new voice at the helm.

From 2000 to '09, just two of 14 interim coaches won their debut, while more recently—since '18, to be exact—those stop gaps have gone a respectable 9–10.

Here's a year-by-year look at each coach fired, the interim tabbed in his place, and the result of their first game:

2000

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Cincinnati Bengals	Bruce Coslet	Dick LeBeau	L 31–16
Arizona Cardinals	Vince Tobin	Dave McGinnis	L 21–20
Detroit Lions	Bobby Ross	Gary Moeller	W 13–10
Washington Redskins	Norv Turner	Terry Robiskie	L 32–13

2001

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Minnesota Vikings	Dennis Green	Mike Tice	L 19–3

2002

No coaches were fired mid-season

2003

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Atlanta Falcons	Dan Reeves	Wade Phillips	L 38–7

2004

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Miami Dolphins	Dave Wannstedt	Jim Bates	L 24–17
Cleveland Browns	Butch Davis	Terry Robiskie	L 42–15

2005

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Detroit Lions	Steve Mariucci	Dick Jauron	L 21–16

2006

No coaches were fired mid-season

2007

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Atlanta Falcons	Bobby Petrino	Emmitt Thomas	L 37–3

2008

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
St. Louis Rams	Scott Linehan	Jim Haslett	W 19–17
Oakland Raiders	Lane Kiffin	Tom Cable	L 34–3
San Francisco 49ers	Mike Nolan	Mike Singletary	L 34–13

2009

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Buffalo Bills	Dick Jauron	Perry Fewell	L 18–15

2010

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Dallas Cowboys	Wade Phillips	Jason Garrett	W 33–20
Minnesota Vikings	Brad Childress	Leslie Frazier	W 17–13
Denver Broncos	Josh McDaniels	Eric Studesville	L 43–13
San Francisco 49ers	Mike Singletary	Jim Tomsula	W 38–7

2011

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Jacksonville Jaguars	Jack Del Rio	Mel Tucker	L 38–14
Miami Dolphins	Tony Sparano	Todd Bowles	W 30–23
Kansas City Chiefs	Todd Haley	Romeo Crennel	W 19–14

2012

No coaches were fired mid-season

2013

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Houston Texans	Gary Kubiak	Wade Phillips	L 25–3

2014

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Oakland Raiders	Dennis Allen	Tony Sparano	L 31–28

2015

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Miami Dolphins	Joe Philbin	Dan Campbell	W 38–10
Tennessee Titans	Ken Whisenhunt	Mike Mularkey	W 34–28
Philadelphia Eagles	Chip Kelly	Pat Shurmur	W 35–30

2016

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Los Angeles Rams	Jeff Fisher	John Fassel	L 24–3
Jacksonville Jaguars	Gus Bradley	Doug Marrone	W 38–17
Buffalo Bills	Rex Ryan	Anthony Lynn	L 30–10

2017

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
New York Giants	Ben McAdoo	Steve Spagnuolo	L 30–10

2018

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Cleveland Browns	Hue Jackson	Gregg Williams	L 37–21
Green Bay Packers	Mike McCarthy	Joe Philbin	W 34–20

2019

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Washington Redskins	Jay Gruden	Bill Callahan	W 17–16
Carolina Panthers	Ron Rivera	Perry Fewell	L 40–20

2020

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Houston Texans	Bill O'Brien	Romeo Crennel	W 30–14
Atlanta Falcons	Dan Quinn	Raheem Morris	W 40–23
Detroit Lions	Matt Patricia	Darrell Bevell	W 34–30

2021

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Las Vegas Raiders	Jon Gruden	Rich Bisaccia	W 34–24
Jacksonville Jaguars	Urban Meyer	Darrell Bevell	L 30–16

2022

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Carolina Panthers	Matt Rhule	Steve Wilks	L 24–10
Indianapolis Colts	Frank Reich	Jeff Saturday	W 25–20
Denver Broncos	Nathaniel Hackett	Jerry Rosburg	L 27–24

2023

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Las Vegas Raiders	Josh McDaniels	Antonio Pierce	W 30–6
Carolina Panthers	Frank Reich	Chris Tabor	L 21–18
Los Angeles Chargers	Brandon Staley	Giff Smith	L 24–22

2024

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
New York Jets	Robert Saleh	Jeff Ulbrich	L 23–20
New Orleans Saints	Dennis Allen	Darren Rizzi	W 20–17
Chicago Bears	Matt Eberflus	Thomas Brown	L 38–13

2025

Team	Coach Fired	Interim Coach	First Game Result
Tennessee Titans	Brian Callahan	Mike McCoy	L 31–13

Notable interim head coach performances

As we mentioned before, these interim are typically a stop gap to what ends up being wider coaching search in the offseason. Other times however, they do a good enough job to land—or at least deserve to land—the full-time gig.

Here's a look at some notable coaches who took over in the interim:

Jason Garrett, 2010 Dallas Cowboys

Jason Garrett coached the Cowboys from 2010 to '19. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Jason Garrett took over for Wade Phillips midway through the 2010 season and after going 5–3 down the stretch, was hired as the Cowboys full-time head coach in January '11.

Garrett would end up spending the next nine years in Dallas, going 85–67 overall and leading the Cowboys to three playoff appearances. He was fired at the end of the 2019 season.

Doug Marrone, 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars

Doug Marrone parlayed an interim assignment with the Jaguars into a head coaching job. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After the Jaguars fired Gus Bradley amid a 2–12 start to the 2016 season, they tabbed Doug Marrone to guide the franchise on an interim basis. Jacksonville finished the year 1–1, and Marrone was hired as the full-time head coach heading into the next season.

Marrone saw instant success in Duval County, leading the Jaguars to a 10–6 record and a trip to the AFC Championship Game in 2017. Unfortunately, three consecutive seasons with win percentages of .375 or worse followed, and he was fired after a 1–16 campaign in 2020.

Gregg Williams, 2018 Cleveland Browns

Gregg Williams nearly led the Browns to the playoffs after taking over for Hue Jackson. / Scott R. Galvin-Imagn Images

Gregg Williams went 5–3 as the Browns' interim head coach in 2018 after they parted ways with Hue Jackson, and had them on the doorstep of the playoffs heading into January.

That offseason, however, Cleveland went with Freddie Kitchens—who had been working closely with rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield—as their full-time head coach.

Rich Bisaccia, 2021 Las Vegas Raiders

Rich Bisaccia led the Raiders to the playoffs after taking over for Jon Gruden. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Rich Bisaccia took the reins of a 3–2 Raiders team in 2021 after coach Jon Gruden resigned amid his leaked emails scandal. Las Vegas went 7–5 to finish out the year and even made it to the postseason, losing to the Bengals in the wild-card round.

Many clamored for Bisaccia to get the team's full-time head coaching job the following season, but they instead opened up a search and hired Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels—who we'll get to later.

Jeff Saturday, 2022 Indianapolis Colts

Former Colts center Jeff Saturday took over as the team's interim head coach in 2022. / IndyStar Staff-Imagn Images

The Colts fired Frank Reich after a 3-5-1 start to the 2022 season and instead of appointing someone on the current staff, team owner Jim Irsay turned for former center Jeff Saturday to lead the charge.

At the time, Saturday was working as an analyst with ESPN and his only coaching experience had been at the high school level. Needless to say, the hire got a lot of flak.

Amid the noise, Saturday led Indy to a 25–20 win over the Raiders in his first game, but finished the season 0–7 and was not retained in 2023.

Antonio Pierce, 2023 Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders hired Antonio Pierce as their full-time head coach after firing Josh McDaniels. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Known for firing coaches mid-season, the Raiders moved on from Josh McDaniels just eight games into his second year and turned to linebackers coach Antonio Pierce in the interim.

Pierce led Las Vegas to a 5–4 finish to the 2023 season, and this time, team owner Mark Davis listened to his players. He hired Pierce as the team's full-time coach in '24, but fired him this past January after a 4–13, fourth-place finish in the AFC West.

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