The 2026 NFL Fan Survey: 5,000 NFL Fans Give Coaches A Vote Of Confidence Before Pre-season

When you ask over 5,000 NFL fans to grade their confidence in their head coaches and front offices, you don't just get a temperature check on the league. You get a live map of job security, market sentiment, and institutional trust.

Heading into the 2026 season, the data reveals a stark disconnect. Fans are sharply separating their faith in the people picking the players from the people calling the plays. And in some cities, the patience has entirely evaporated.

Key Takeaways

• Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is the most trusted head coach in the NFL after delivering a Super Bowl title.
• Andy Reid remains the NFL’s most coveted coach by other team's fans, despite Chiefs fans cooling slightly.
• Browns, Bengals, and Jets fans show the league’s clearest coaching dissatisfaction.
• Fans value leadership and culture more than tactics, results, or player development.

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2026 Head Coach Confidence Rankings

	Team	Head Coach	Avg Coach Confidence (out of 10)	Keep Current Coach %
1		Mike Macdonald	8.95	85.3%
2		Mike Vrabel	8.44	78.6%
3		Andy Reid	8.33	80.9%
4		Dan Campbell	8.32	76.3%
5		Ben Johnson	8.10	65.5%
6		Sean McVay	8.07	65.2%
7		Sean Payton	7.92	63.1%
8		DeMeco Ryans	7.67	61.2%
9		Jim Harbaugh	7.45	42.1%
10		Nick Sirianni	7.40	61.0%
11		Liam Coen	7.36	50.0%
12		Kyle Shanahan	7.28	65.2%
13		John Harbaugh	7.00	48.4%
14		Kevin O'Connell	6.66	34.2%
15		Dave Canales	6.63	26.5%
16		Matt LaFleur	6.56	44.8%
17		Shane Steichen	6.34	18.0%
18		Dan Quinn	6.33	27.1%
19		Mike LaFleur	6.21	31.0%
20		Jesse Minter	6.21	30.6%
21		Kellen Moore	6.05	27.9%
22		Joe Brady	6.04	26.7%
23		Brian Schottenheimer	5.84	23.9%
24		Klint Kubiak	5.80	31.1%
25		Robert Saleh	5.68	25.0%
26		Kevin Stefanski	5.55	18.5%
27		Jeff Hafley	5.31	18.0%
28		Mike McCarthy	5.10	27.1%
29		Todd Bowles	4.74	20.5%
30		Zac Taylor	4.58	15.5%
31		Todd Monken	4.47	12.7%
32		Aaron Glenn	4.33	16.3%

As part of our 5,000+ NFL fan survey, we asked each participant to name the NFL head coach they wanted in charge of their chosen team.

Shown above are the percentages of each teams’ fanbases that selected to have their current head coach keep the role for the 2026-27 season when given the choice of hiring any head coach in the NFL.

Later on we’ll find out which NFL head coach most fans want to lead their team….

The Untouchables: Top 10 Most Trusted Head Coaches As Voted By Fans

1. Seattle Seahawks | Mike Macdonald

• Coach Confidence: 8.95 (out of 10)
• Do Seahawks Fans Want To Keep Mike Macdonald? 85.3% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 14-3 record, leading to a Super Bowl win

The defensive guru actually delivered.

When Macdonald arrived in Seattle, he brought a scheme that relied on perfectly disguised pre-snap alignments, forcing opposing quarterbacks into split-second processing errors. After a suffocating 2025 campaign that saw the Seattle Seahawks bully their way to an 14-3 record and a Super Bowl ring, the fanbase is entirely bought in.

Macdonald commands a league-leading 8.95 confidence rating - Seattle fans trust the sideline to win games far more than they trust the war room to pick talent.

2. New England Patriots | Mike Vrabel

• Coach Confidence: 8.44 (out of 10)
• Do Patriots Fans Want To Keep Mike Vrabel? 78.6% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 14-3 record, and a Super Bowl loss

It turns out you can go home again, as Mike Vrabel returned to the New England Patriots as head coach 17 years after he left.

Hired to stabilize a chaotic post-Belichick rebuild, Vrabel immediately injected Foxborough with the one thing it desperately lacked: leverage.

...Only to bring his own form of chaos to their 2026 offseason which led to many questioning if he should be replaced before Week 1. 

On the field: he took a middling 2025 roster, ground out 14 wins through situational math and brute force, and dragged them all the way to the last game of the year, only to lose to the Seattle Seahawks.

3. Kansas City Chiefs | Andy Reid

• Coach Confidence: 8.33 (out of 10)
• Do Chiefs Fans Want To Keep Andy Reid? 80.9% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 6-11 record, entering his 14th season in-post

“What have you done for me lately?”

Across the league, over 14.5% of fans explicitly stated they would abandon their current coach for Kansas City's regime.

But in Missouri? Reid only ranks third in overall confidence. When you expect to play in late January every year, a 6-11 season lost to a Patrick Mahomes injury is like a shot to the heart of Chiefs Kingdom.

Reid remains the premier offensive architect of his generation, exploiting defensive spacing better than anyone. He offers unparalleled institutional stability, even if his own fanbase has grown slightly numb to the magic.

4. Detroit Lions | Dan Campbell

• Coach Confidence: 8.32 (out of 10)
• Do Lions Fans Want To Keep Dan Campbell? 76.3% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 9-8 record, last in NFC North

In a league obsessed with analytical game management, Campbell proves that pure CEO-style leadership still moves the needle.

After 9-8 run and a down year in 2025, Campbell’s cultural grip on Detroit is still absolute. He treats fourth-down decisions not just as math problems, but as leverage plays to break an opponent's spirit.

The Detroit Lions play with a ferocity that directly mirrors their head coach. The result? They are one of the most reliable public betting favorites in the NFC.

5. Chicago Bears | Ben Johnson

• Coach Confidence: 8.10 (out of 10)
• Do Bears Fans Want To Keep Ben Johnson? 65.5% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 11-6 record, NFC North Champions

The hottest offensive coordinator in football finally took a top job, and the gamble paid off.

Johnson arrived in Chicago with one mandate: unlock the passing game. By utilizing heavy pre-snap motion and simplifying quarterback reads, Johnson steered the Bears to a highly competent 11-6 debut season in 2025.

The sheer relief of functional play-calling has bought the staff massive leeway. Fans loves an "offensive guru," and Chicago is thrilled to finally be on the right side of the schematic arms race.

6. Los Angeles Rams | Sean McVay

• Coach Confidence: 8.07 (out of 10)
• Do Rams Fans Want To Keep Sean McVay? 65.2% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 12-5 and a wild-card round loss

The boy genius is growing up, and the fanbase is feeling the growing pains.

McVay, recently voted the NFL's most attractive head coach, still commands a deeply respectable 8.07 confidence rating, proving that Rams fans know they have one of the best schematic minds in the sport. He can still manufacture offense out of thin air through pre-snap motion and condensed formations. But the shiny veneer of his early years may have worn down.

Only 65.2% of the Los Angeles Rams faithful explicitly want him to stick around. That’s not a mutiny, but it is a noticeable cooling of the temperature.

When a franchise operates on a hyper-aggressive, draft-capital-burning philosophy for half a decade, a standard rebuilding year feels like a broken promise. McVay is safe, but the market is pricing in a touch of franchise fatigue.

7. Denver Broncos | Sean Payton

• Coach Confidence: 7.92 (out of 10)
• Do Broncos Fans Want To Keep Sean Payton? 63.1% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 14-3 record, an AFC Championship Game loss at home

Payton was brought to Denver to impose structure on a franchise that had drifted into absolute chaos. He did that. He lands at seventh with a solid 7.92 confidence rating, suggesting fans appreciate having an actual adult in the room. Especially when the adult in the room gets you to one of the last games of the year.

With a 63.1% retention rate, Broncos Country is clearly hedging its bets. They like the discipline, and they see the mechanical improvements in the trenches, but they want to get back to the promised land and secure a Super Bowl ring.

8. Houston Texans | DeMeco Ryans

• Coach Confidence: 7.67 (out of 10)
• Do Texans Fans Want To Keep DeMeco Ryans? 61.2% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 12-5 record, a Divisional Round loss to the NE Patriots

After a miraculous rookie coaching campaign that made DeMeco Ryans look like the undisputed future of the franchise, 2025 delivered a harsh dose of defensive regression. Opposing offensive coordinators found the soft spots in his zone-heavy scheme, and the Houston Texans stalled out.

Did the 2025-26 Texans prove the Sophomore slump was an aberration? Or is the pendulum of success going to keep swinging in Houston?

His 7.67 confidence score shows that the goodwill hasn't vanished entirely, but the 61.2% keep rate tells the real story. Narrative inflation is a dangerous thing. Ryans is a good coach who needs to show who he and the Houston Texans are in year four.

9. Los Angeles Chargers | Jim Harbaugh

• Coach Confidence: 7.45 (out of 10)
• Do Chargers Fans Want To Keep Jim Harbaugh? 42.1% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 11-6 and a Wildcard Round exit

This is where the numbers get legitimately fascinating.

Jim Harbaugh’s 7.45 confidence rating implies that LA Chargers fans still respect his pedigree and his undeniable ability to build physical football teams. Yet, an abysmal 42.1% of the fanbase wants him to remain as head coach.

How do you reconcile that gap? It’s a textbook culture clash. Harbaugh arrived promising to build a bruising, run-first bully. But when you have a generational talent at quarterback, pounding the rock for three yards on early downs feels like a criminal misuse of assets.

The fans trust that Harbaugh knows how to win; they just hate the way he’s trying to do it in Los Angeles.

10. Philadelphia Eagles | Nick Sirianni

• Coach Confidence: 7.40 (out of 10)
• Do Eagles Fans Want To Keep Nick Sirianni? 61.0% Yes
• The Context: 2025 - 11-6 record, the NFC East title and a Wildcard loss to the 49ers

Welcome to Philadelphia, where a double-digit win season still feels like a hostage situation.

Nick Sirianni lands at tenth in confidence with a 7.40 rating. The 61.0% keep percentage is a perfect reflection of a fanbase trapped between results and aesthetics.

The Eagles won games, but they did it looking disjointed, with accusations of QB scapegoating and the constant drone of a dissatisfied WR1 in the ears of fans and staff.

Sirianni survives because Howie Roseman has ensured talent bails out the scheme. Fans respects the standings, but it doesn't trust the process. He is the ultimate high-wire act: a coach who is simultaneously successful and permanently on the hot seat.

Dead Men Walkin’: The 5 Least Trusted Head Coaches As Voted By Fans

28. Pittsburgh Steelers | Mike McCarthy

• Coach Confidence: 5.10 (out of 10)
• Do Steelers Fans Want To Keep Mike McCarthy? 72.9% No
• The Context: 2025 - 10-7 record, AFC North Champions, 2026-27 is McCarthy’s first year in-post

You cannot sell nostalgia to a fanbase that expects championships.

Replacing Mike Tomlin’s historic tenure was always going to be brutal, and the Steelers may have shot themselves in the foot by hiring a coach seen as outdated by many football fans.

McCarthy’s time management is sloppy, offensive structures are rigid, and his Cowboys team looked two steps behind the rest of the NFC East in his last head coaching role.

Only 27.1% of Steelers fans chose him over any other coach in the NFL, meaning confidence in his ability to lead the Pittsburgh is already in the basement.

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Todd Bowles

• Coach Confidence: 4.74 (out of 10)
• Do Buccaneers Fans Want To Keep Todd Bowles? 79.5% No
• The Context: 2025 - 8-9 record, 2nd place in NFC South.

Bowles is a brilliant defensive tactician trapped in a CEO role that requires holistic game management.

Coming off an eight-win season in 2025 where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers routinely suffered from conservative late-game decisions, the fanbase is checking out.

In an era where offenses are designed to score 30 points, relying on a bend-but-don't-break defensive philosophy feels like a slow march to the bottom of the NFC South.

The seat is heating up.

30. Cincinnati Bengals | Zac Taylor

• Coach Confidence: 4.58 (out of 10)
• Do Bengals Fans Want To Keep Zac Taylor? 84.5% No
• The Context: 2025 - 6-11 record, 8th year in-post and only two playoff appearances including a Super Bowl loss.

The quarterback dependency has finally caught up to the scheme. For years, the public narrative credited Taylor for the offensive fireworks.

Now? The fans realize they were just watching elite talent mask a stagnant playbook.

After a disappointing 6-11 season defined by isolation routes and a lack of easy, schemed-up completions, 84.5% of Bengals fans are ready to move on. Taylor struggles to find structural answers when the roster advantage is neutralized, and the patience is gone.

31. Cleveland Browns | Todd Monken

• Coach Confidence: 4.47 (out of 10)
• Do Browns Fans Want To Keep Todd Monken? 87.3% No
• The Context: 2025 - 5-12 record, last place in AFC North. 2026-27 is Monken’s first year in-post

Monken inherits a stale offense and salvage a franchise locked in salary-cap hell with more questions than quarterbacks on their depth chart.

The Browns’ traditional strength - a punishing, wide-zone rushing attack, clashes with Todd Monken’s spread concepts history. With 87.3% of Cleveland Browns fans already looking at other coaching staffs with envy: Coach Monken could be one-and-done as the scapegoat for one of the worst run franchises in sports.

32. New York Jets | Aaron Glenn

• Coach Confidence: 4.33 (out of 10)
• Do Jets Fans Want To Keep Aaron Glenn? 83.7% No
• The Context: 2025 - 3-14 record, tied for the worst record in the NFL. Entering his second year in post.

Things are uniquely broken in the green half of East Rutherford.

Glenn inherited a chaotic locker room, but his rah-rah, leader-of-men energy failed to translate into macro-level organizational discipline. His 2025 debut was a 3-14 season defined by self-inflicted wounds, missed assignments, and a complete lack of offensive identity.

The NY Jets suffers the league's worst difference between fan confidence in their 2026 draft process and the coaching staff (6.02 vs 4.33). This shows fans still have a sliver of hope for the organization as a whole, but they view the coaching staff as an active detriment to player development.

Aaron Glenn faces an almighty uphill battle if he wants to extend his tenure beyond his sophomore season.

The NFL Head Coach Fans Want Most

Every fan thinks they know better than their coach, but who do they actually wish was wearing the headset? The data points to a severe gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots."

	Team	Head Coach	% of League-Wide Vote
1		Andy Reid	14.58%
2		Mike Macdonald	9.12%
3		Sean McVay	8.76%
4		Mike Vrabel	8.52%
5		Nick Sirianni	7.33%
6		Dan Campbell	6.77%
7		Ben Johnson	5.73%
8		Kyle Shanahan	4.98%
9		John Harbaugh	3.58%
10		Sean Payton	3.42%
11		Matt LaFleur	3.03%
12		Joe Brady	2.59%
13		Mike McCarthy	2.47%
14		Brian Schottenheimer	2.43%
15		Jesse Minter	2.03%
16		Jim Harbaugh	1.75%
17		DeMeco Ryans	1.75%
18		Kevin O'Connell	1.35%
19		Kellen Moore	1.04%
20		Klint Kubiak	1.00%
21		Kevin Stefanski	0.96%
22		Shane Steichen	0.80%
23		Liam Coen	0.80%
24		Jeff Hafley	0.76%
25		Dan Quinn	0.72%
26		Dave Canales	0.68%
27		Zac Taylor	0.68%
28		Todd Monken	0.64%
29		Mike LaFleur	0.56%
30		Todd Bowles	0.44%
31		Aaron Glenn	0.40%
32		Robert Saleh	0.36%

The Gold Standard

Kansas City remains the undisputed king of sideline envy. Their coaching staff pulled in 732 votes across all fanbases as the regime fans would most like to parachute into their own facilities.

But there is a sharp anomaly here. Despite this league-wide lust, Chiefs fans only rank third in their own coach confidence (8.33), trailing the Seahawks (8.95) and Patriots (8.44). It turns out that when you win constantly, you may start taking greatness for granted.

The Hot Seat Watch

On the other end of the spectrum, the betting markets for the "first coach fired" will likely mirror our basement dwellers. The numbers in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and New York are ugly.

Only 12.7% of Cleveland Browns fans, 15.5% of Cincinnati Bengals fans, and 16.3% of New York Jets fans want to keep their current leadership. When 85% of your own stadium wants you gone one week into training camp, the end is usually near.

What Actually Drives Fan Sentiment?

If you listen to sports talk radio, you’d think fanbases only care about fourth-down analytics and aggressive play-calling. The numbers say otherwise.

Culture Trumps Tactics

When asked the main reason for their confidence (or lack thereof) in their head coach, fans overwhelmingly cited "Good leadership and culture" (29.9%). This outperformed "Strong track record of success" (23.9%) and completely dwarfed "Player development ability" (6.8%).

Fans are grading their coaches as CEOs, not just glorified offensive coordinators.

Methodology: How We Measured Fan Sentiment

The data underpinning this analysis comes from a nationwide survey of 5,022 self-identified NFL fans conducted during the 2026 NFL offseason. Respondents across all 32 franchise fanbases were polled on two foundational pillars of organizational health: confidence in their head coach’s leadership and confidence regarding their front office’s strategy in the 2026 NFL Draft.

To quantify this sentiment, respondents evaluated their head coach and draft outlook on a standardized 1-to-10 confidence scale while identifying the primary qualitative drivers behind their ratings, ranging from team culture and leadership to tactical play-calling and front-office track records. Additionally, the survey measured sideline loyalty through a league-wide "Coaching Envy" metric: fans selected which head coach in the NFL they would most like to have leading their franchise. From this, we derived each fanbase’s "Keep Current Coach" percentage, tracking the exact proportion of a fanbase willing to back their incumbent leader over an outside hire.

Finally, to diagnose whether fans blame the sideline or the owner’s box for their team's trajectory, we calculated the "Confidence Delta" by subtracting a fanbase's Draft Confidence score from its Coach Confidence score (Coach Confidence - Draft Confidence).

A strong positive delta highlights a head coach perceived as an overachieving miracle worker constrained by a weak roster, whereas a deep negative delta isolates a staff viewed as a bottleneck holding back talented draft picks. Together, these metrics convert raw fan emotion into clear, market-relevant indicators of seat temperature and institutional trust.

2026 NFL Fan Survey: The Full Results

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