Coach Killers, Week 17: A look back at 2012

Coach Killers is your weekly look around the league at those performances, decisions and 'Wait, what did he just do?!' moments that put the guy in charge squarely on the ol' hot seat. This week, we take a look back at the 2012 season.

By Ryan Wilson

Jan 2, 2013 at 3:02 pm ET • 2 min read

Three quarterbacks who played non-trivial roles in the struggles of their teams. (US Presswire)

Coach Killers is your weekly look around the league at those performances, decisions and "Wait, what did he just do?!" moments that put the guy in charge squarely on the ol' hot seat. This week, we take a look back at the 2012 season.

With the regular season in the books and the playoffs looming, we're taking time to look back at all the Coach Killers from 2012. Here's to hoping 2013 treats them better.

Week 5

Michael Vick, QB, Eagles
Jared Gaither , LT, Chargers
Cardinals offensive line
Bills defense

Week 6

Ike Taylor , CB, Steelers
Philip Rivers, QB, Chargers
Rams special teams
Cowboys' two-minute offense

Week 7

Ravens defense
Pat Shurmur, head coach, Browns
Cam Newton, QB, Panthers
Bills defense

Week 8

Everybody but RG3, Redskins
Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Eagles
Jason Babin, DE, Eagles
Jets special teams
Philip Rivers, QB, Chargers

Week 9

Eagles offensive line
Eli Manning, QB, Giants
Christian Ponder, QB, Vikings
Redskins offense

Week 10

Eli Manning, QB, Giants
Philip Rivers, QB, Chargers
Joselio Hanson, DB, Raiders
Chiefs -- everybody

Week 11

Cowboys defense
Jeromey Clary, RT, Chargers
Bears offensive line
Raiders -- everybody

Week 12

Steelers running backs
Chargers (4th and 29) defense
Eagles defense

Week 13

Ravens running game
Lions defense
Christian Ponder, QB, Vikings
Cardinals offense

Week 14

Bills running game
Bengals offense
Steelers wide receivers

Week 15

Jake Locker, QB, Titans
Joe Flacco, QB, Ravens
Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers
Bryce Brown, RB, Eagles

Week 16

Jets pass-blockers
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Steelers
Titans -- everybody
Giants offense

Some observations…

* Philip Rivers takes home individual honors for the most weekly Coach Killers name-checks in 2012. By our count, he had three to go along with mentions for teammates Jared Gaither, Jeromey Clary, and the Chargers' fourth-and-29 defense. Well done. Norv Turner thanks you.

* Eli Manning got two name checks. We always qualified any remarks about Manning with "… but he's still a franchise quarterback and he's obviously not getting his coach fired," but the reality is that he played poorly for a good part of the season. And it's why the Giants are currently sitting at home.

* Other two-time honorees: Jake Locker, Michael Vick, Antonio Brown (specifically: the Steelers' wideouts), Bills defense, Redskins offense, and the Cardinals offense. Of these, only the Redskins are in the playoffs and that's thanks to a midseason turnaround and a subsequent seven-game winning streak.

* The true winners (losers) here were almost never mentioned in this space: Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum. But that's only because we devoted thousands of words to them in our weekly Sanchbow rundown. (You can read the final installment here.) Amazingly, only Tannebaum was canned. Ryan will return, and it looks like Sanchez will, too, while Tebow could take his game to Jacksonville a year after he should have.

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