Jim Caldwell has longest Coach of the Year odds in NFL

The Detroit Lions have a record of 18-14 over the two-year span under head coach Jim Caldwell. However, after the disaster start last season and the subsequent front office teardown, Caldwell enters the 2016 NFL season very much on the hot seat. The players all support him and he has quite the reputation as being one of the most well-liked coaches around the league, but niceness doesn’t always lead to wins.

The latest Coach of the Year odds don’t seem to like Caldwell’s chance to turn things around this season. The online gambling website Bovada.lv has Caldwell at 66-to-1 odds to win Coach of the Year honors, the longest odds of any coach in the NFL. Six other head coaches have the same odds: Jeff Fisher, Hue Jackson, Dirk Koetter, Mike McCoy, Mike Mularkey and Dan Quinn.

As a head coach, Caldwell is 44-36 in his NFL career. In his first year as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, the team went 14-2 and went all the way to the Super Bowl. Since then, Caldwell has just a 30-34 record. Many have criticized his coaching style as too conservative or risk-averse, but he was actually one of the most aggressive coaches on fourth down in 2014.

Caldwell doesn’t need to win Coach of the Year honors to keep his job, or even to keep the fans happy. However, the pressure is certainly on him to put last year’s failures behind the franchise and quickly. General manager Bob Quinn had no problem overturning nearly the entire front office this offseason. Another losing season could be all it takes for Quinn to start searching for Caldwell’s replacement in 2017.