The San Francisco 49ers are officially rumored to be looking at firing Jim Tomsula, with any news expected no later than Monday. Jason Cole said he confirmed Pro Football Talk's report, but also said nothing was final. Ian Rapoport said he is hearing no decision has been made on Tomsula's future. Whatever the case, it appears tenuous at best right now.
The Monday immediately after Week 17 is referred to as Black Monday. It is the day coach firings generally become official. Teams generally will not wait any longer to fire a coach, and plenty have already gotten in on the action. Nobody wants to be behind the curve in looking at new coaches, and that means we already know of some definite openings, and other likely openings.
If the 49ers do in fact fire Jim Tomsula, we'll have plenty of coverage on the 49ers coaching search. Before we get to that, I thought we'd run down the potential competition for jobs. Three teams already fired their head coach, and at least three others, excluding the 49ers, are possibly firing their head coach. For now, here is what we know. We'll update this as more news arrives.
Fired
Tennessee Titans - Ken Whisenhunt on November 3
Miami Dolphins - Joe Philbin on October 5
Philadelphia Eagles - Chip Kelly on December 29
Rumored
Cleveland Browns - Mike Pettine
Indianapolis Colts - Chuck Pagano
San Diego Chargers - Mike McCoy
Likely returning
Detroit Lions - Jim Caldwell
Buffalo Bills - Rex Ryan
Uncertain
New York Giants - Tom Coughlin