With another NFL regular season in the books, head coaches of underperforming teams are starting to receive pink slips.

This year's Black Monday has been a bit slower than usual since a handful of teams already fired their coaches. However, the Jacksonville Jaguars did get the ball rolling by relieving Doug Pederson of his duties.

Pederson was far from the only coach on the hot seat following Week 18. Several other teams could have head coaching openings in the coming days, including the Dallas Cowboys after owner Jerry Jones recently declined to publicly commit to extending Mike McCarthy's expired contract. But as of now, there are five positions that are officially vacant or were filled by an interim option this season.

We'll focus on these openings as we pair up candidates with teams in need of their skills. While these may not be the top overall choices on the market, they make the most sense for a particular vacancy and represent the best chance for improvement both in the 2025 campaign and beyond.

Chicago Bears: Kliff Kingsbury

Ever since the Chicago Bears ended the Matt Eberflus era, it's felt rather inevitable that Kliff Kingsbury will become their next head coach.

Outside of putrid clock management, one of Eberflus' top failures in 2024 was his inability to maximize the talent of No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. The Bears hoped the selection of the USC quarterback—along with several notable veteran acquisitions, such as Keenan Allen and D'Andre Swift—would revitalize their middling offense, but the unit wound up taking a massive step back and finished dead last in yardage this season.

Chicago needs an offensive-minded head coach to jump-start a unit that oozes potential but has felt rudderless with coordinators Shane Waldron and Luke Getsy at the helm. There's no better choice than Kingsbury, who has a long history of getting the most out of his quarterbacks and is also already familiar with Williams.

Although Kingsbury spent only one season at USC, he helped the then-junior Williams rack up 3,633 passing yards and 30 touchdowns in 12 starts in 2023.

Williams appears amenable to joining forces with Kingsbury once again. While the quarterback didn't openly champion him for Chicago's vacancy, he did list traits he's hoping to see in his next head coach ("A coach that challenges us, a man of his word , a discipline coach, a guy that wants to win") and noted that Kingsbury "fits a bunch of those qualities."

Kingsbury should have several suitors on the heels of his successful stint as the Washington Commanders' offensive coordinator. He's spent the 2024 campaign maximizing the talents of Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite Jayden Daniels, his latest project in a line of stars that includes Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray.

After helping Washington leap from 24th to seventh in total offense with a rookie under center, Kingsbury is clearly ready to become a head coach again. Chicago should spare no expense bringing him to the Windy City to rehabilitate Williams' career and get him back on the right track after a rocky start.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Aaron Glenn

The Jacksonville Jaguars were the first team to strike on Black Monday, canning head coach Doug Pederson after a dismal 4-13 showing in 2024. They now must go through their third head coaching search since firing Doug Marrone after the 2020 season.

Aaron Glenn already looks like the right person for the job after his stellar stint as the Detroit Lions' defensive coordinator.

Glenn may not get as much buzz as Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but the former Pro Bowl cornerback has proven to be one of the league's best defensive minds. He's transformed a unit that was one of the league's worst prior to his arrival in 2021 to one that has played a key role in securing a franchise-best record and has become one of the Super Bowl favorites ahead of the 2025 NFL playoffs.

Even with a rash of injuries hindering Detroit's defense—including losing star edge-rusher Aiden Hutchinson back in Week 6—the team still finished a respectable seventh in points allowed while giving up the third-fewest passing touchdowns in the league and recording 24 takeaways.

Glenn most recently put together a defensive masterclass against the Minnesota Vikings, orchestrating a game plan that limited a bitter NFC North rival to just nine points—Minnesota's lowest scoring total of the season—with the conference's No. 1 seed on the line in Week 18.

That type of scheming, as well as his proven ability to get the most out of a limited roster, makes Glenn a perfect fit in Jacksonville. The Jags finished 2024 with the NFL's worst passing defense and second-worst total defense, which they'll need to improve to turn their fortunes around.

The Jags clearly need help on offense as well, but Glenn's presence—along with a shrewd offensive coordinator hire who can help quarterback Trevor Lawrence return to Pro Bowl form—should have this team contending again in short order.

New England Patriots: Mike Vrabel

The New England Patriots put a merciful end to the Jerod Mayo era after just one season. While Bill Belichick's successor started his tenure with an impressive victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, the team collapsed down the stretch and limped to an underwhelming 4-13 finish.

The 2024 campaigning wasn't a complete loss for the Patriots thanks to the development of promising players like rookie quarterback Drake Maye, second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez and special teamer Brenden Schooler, New England's lone Pro Bowl representative. But it became clear over the last few months that Mayo lacked leadership skills and respect in the locker room.

Those issues and plenty more can be remedied by hiring Mike Vrabel, one of the top candidates on the head coaching market following a year away from the sidelines. While Vrabel will be a popular interview during this upcoming hiring cycle, his Patriots connections and cultural fit make this an ideal match on both sides.

It was shocking that Vrabel didn't catch on with another team after his dismissal from the Tennessee Titans last year. While his six-year tenure in Nashville resulted in a middling 54-45 record and only one AFC Championship Game appearance across three playoff trips, he always had his squad motivated to give full effort throughout the long campaign.

Vrabel cut his teeth as a critical member of New England's defense in the early aughts, helping win three Super Bowls during his eight years in Foxborough. The Pats sorely need that championship experience and his old-school "Patriot Way" mentality.

If the Pats do bring Vrabel aboard, it likely won't be long before they reenter the league's upper echelon and end the current three-year postseason-less streak and six-year stretch without a playoff victory—the longest such droughts in New England since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994.

New Orleans Saints: Joe Brady

On paper, Joe Brady appears to be the ideal fit for a New Orleans Saints team reeling from a tough three-year stretch under former head coach Dennis Allen and interim replacement Darren Rizzi. After helping mold the Buffalo Bills into one of the NFL's best offenses, the 35-year-old could soon return to the team that gave him his first NFL opportunity

While Brady has only been with Buffalo for three seasons—starting as a quarterbacks coach in 2022 before being promoted to interim offensive coordinator last year and assuming the role on a permanent basis this past offseason—he's accomplished plenty in that span.

The decision to promote Brady last year gave Buffalo the shot in the arm it desperately needed following a tepid 5-5 start. The squad went on a 6-1 tear to finish out that season, averaging over 380 yards of offense and 27 points per game from Week 11 on.

As impressive as that performance was, Brady's best work has arguably come in 2024.

Even though Buffalo parted ways with both four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs and big-play threat Gabe Davis this offseason, Brady created a scheme that finished with the second-most points in the league and landed in the top 10 in most major offensive categories, including total, passing and rushing yardage.

Brady helped Josh Allen lock up a third Pro Bowl nod after missing out last season and become the odds-on favorite to win MVP for the first time in his seven-year career. With the Bills heading into the playoffs as the AFC's No. 2 seed and one of the few teams seemingly capable of dethroning the Chiefs—they already secured a 30-21 win over their nemesis in Week 11—Brady will be a highly desired interview request over the next few weeks.

The Saints may have an edge over the rest of the field due to Brady's familiarity with both the organization and area. He got his start in the NFL as an assistant on Sean Payton's staff, parlaying his two years learning from one of the all-time great offensive schemers into a gig with LSU in 2019.

With the Saints in dire need an offensive-oriented coach who can rejuvenate a unit that has largely struggled to move the ball and score following Drew Brees' retirement in 2021, bringing Brady back to Louisiana is the right call to kick off a new era.

New York Jets: Rex Ryan

The New York Jets have become the laughingstock of the NFL. Their decision to go all-in with Aaron Rodgers has been an unmitigated disaster, one that resulted in the dismissal of both head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas before their brutal 5-12 campaign in 2024 even concluded.

With the Jets' playoff drought now up to 14 seasons—the longest streak without a postseason appearance in major American professional sports—they should be desperate enough to turn back to the man who last led them to the playoffs: Rex Ryan.

Ryan hasn't paced an NFL sideline since December 2016, the conclusion of his relatively unsuccessful two-year stretch as the Buffalo Bills' head coach. His six-year stint with the Jets came to an acrimonious end after a 4-12 campaign in 2014. However, he at least displayed a rare ability to find success while working under team owner Woody Johnson.

The trio of Todd Bowles, Adam Gase and Saleh all tried and failed to bring New York back to the playoffs, which Ryan did in each of his first two seasons at the helm. Those three coaches posted a collective 34.0 winning percentage, well off the 48 percent win rate Ryan had during his tenure in the Big Apple.

While Ryan has been working in media for most of the last decade, he's still a battle-tested coach with two AFC Championship Game appearances under his belt. He could conceivably come in and change the Jets' culture overnight while getting the most out of a Jets defense that has the talent and potential to be the best in the league.

Ryan certainly has no shortage of confidence in his abilities to succeed should he return to the organization. During a recent interview on ESPN Radio's DiPietro and Rothenberg show, Ryan said he's the "best guy and it ain't close" when discussing his chances of being hired as New York's next head coach.

This may not be the best hire the Jets could make, but the team could at least leverage it for a return to a level of respectability that has been missing since Ryan's first term. Considering the low prestige of the Jets job and the public ownership issues that have come to light this past season, it's hard to envision this squad being able to court a better candidate.