Where Does Chiefs Coach Todd Haley Rank?

Before the 2011 NFL season started there was a line of thinking that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley needed to prove himself in order to stick around for another year. Haley is reportedly in the third year of a four-year contract and most teams don't let their coach head into a lame duck year so this was kind of a prove-it year for him.

After Sunday's blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills, the idea that Haley has to prove himself this year is being talked about a little more. We don't know how GM Scott Pioli is feeling about the situation so this is a lot of guess work on our part right now but I wanted to see how Haley stacks up against other coaches who were hired in 2009 and entering their third year.

The Chiefs game release each week includes this chart of all the coaches hired in 2009 and their respective records:

Where does Haley rank among those guys?

Rex Ryan is clearly the cream of the crop in that class while Tom Cable, Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini have already been fired. I think Jim Schwartz and Steve Spagnuolo are doing a good job because their teams are clearly trending upward.

That leaves Jim Caldwell, Raheem Morris and Haley. Caldwell is dealing with an incredibly difficult situation without QB Peyton Manning and Morris has a team that is sort of like the Chiefs, but trending upward. 

After looking at that list, I think Haley is sitting basically right in the middle. He's not one of the clear-cut top guys (Jets) or one of the guys who has a team that we think is without question heading in the right direction (Bucs, Lions and Rams). But he's also not at the bottom either as three of those guys have already been fired. 

I'm not sure I have much of a point with this. Haley won't be compared to these guys necessarily -- he'll be compared to the rest of the league -- but it is interesting to see how he's fared versus guys hired at the same time. He's not the best and he's not the worst.