After today's Bears game, I thought it might be prudent to provide this content sooner rather than later. Anytime one of the 5 Major Chicago sports teams hires a new (non-interim) head coach or manager I do a process in my head. In this process, I rank the 5 coaches/ managers including the most recently hire one from 1 to 5 based on which one I feel will lose their job next, I call this the Soon to be Fired Index or STBFI for short. When The White Sox hired Will Venable to be their manager on Halloween this year I started putting together the next iteration of the index. It proved difficult after Mister Obvious at one, but I did my best.
1. Matt Eberflus Chicago Bears - six straight losses says it all. I don't think he's going to make it to the Team Holiday party.
2. Luke Richardson Chicago Blackhawks—Richardson has fluctuated between 2nd and 5th on the list in my head since Venable's hiring. My understanding is that the front office is fine with him finishing his contract. However, I don't think anyone in the organization is thrilled that expansion Utah is 3 points ahead of the underperforming Blackhawks as of this writing.
3. Billy Donovan Chicago Bulls - Many feel that Donovan's days are numbered as the Bulls head coach but their current winning percentage of .400 is 5-7 games ahead of full-season win projections. If the Bulls' almost total lack of defense continues that percentage will go down and cries for Donovan's dismissal will continue at an increasing rate.
4. Will Venable Chicago White Sox - Generally, the last person hired is usually the last person on this list. That is good conventional wisdom. I have reason to hope that given time Venable may be able to help the White Sox navigate past the historically bad season they just experienced. It seems to me that White Sox management will give him a long leash especially if the team shows any signs of continual (even if it's slow) improvement. However, if Venable looks like Pedro Grifol reincarnated the aforementioned leash could get mighty short mighty quick.
5. Craig Counsell Chicago Cubs - 83-79 was not good enough for the Cubs in 2023 so David Ross was fired and Counsell was pilfered from Milwaukee. In 2024 m the first season with Counsell at the helm, the Cubs achieved the very same 83-79. Not good enough? Yes. Bad enough to get Counsell on the hot seat? No, I don't think so. Counsell should be around for a while.
The next time one of these 5 men is fired, retires or stops leading their team for any reason, I will post a quick update as to where on the STBFI the former skipper was situated. I won't post the next STBFI until a full-time replacement is hired.
