The curtain has closed on the regular season, and as the league and qualifying teams shift focus to the NFL postseason, other teams look ahead to the future. In Kansas City, an unceremonious 2025 campaign firmly places the Chiefs in the latter category. Finishing the year five games under .500 demands a reset. One of the most important aspects of that transition is the need to reshuffle the team’s coaching staff.
Certainly, with Black Monday upon us, conversations among the fan base and across NFL circles will open up, and the hottest coaching candidates on the market will become a focal point. Before the team looks at staff additions, it’s important to assess which coaches should be moving on. A major down year demands change, and some coaches are vulnerable at One Arrowhead Drive. There are five coaches I believe should be on the first train to a new NFL city.
Matt Nagy (Offensive Coordinator)
No coach on Andy Reid’s staff is more maligned than offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. It’s almost unfair that he draws the ire of Chiefs Kingdom to the extent that he does. We all know Reid is ultimately responsible for the fate of this offense, but the criticism isn’t without warrant.
Let me be clear: this is Andy Reid’s show, but Nagy is responsible for designing and installing the offense’s weekly game plan. Reid has final authority and handles the play-calling; Nagy is tasked with teaching and implementing the concepts. The numbers are clear. Over the past three seasons with Nagy as offensive coordinator, the Chiefs finished 15th (2023), 15th (2024), and 21st (2025) in scoring. That span has also coincided with the lowest statistical output of Patrick Mahomes’ career. That’s partly due to a lack of detail that impacts in-game play-calling and game scripts on Sundays.
Nagy will reportedly interview for the Tennessee Titans’ head-coaching vacancy this week, but other reports suggest he’s moving on regardless of how that process unfolds. The good news for his longtime mentor, Andy Reid, is that he won’t have to fire him. Nagy’s contract is set to expire anyway.
Dave Toub (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator)
At one time, Toub’s special teams units were a plus in Kansas City. Those days have come and gone. His group rarely elevates the team in meaningful ways anymore and, more often than not, hurts offensive field position with penalties. Harrison Butker has battled inconsistency over the past year or so, and returners repeatedly make questionable decisions that also contribute to poor starting position for the offense. What was once dependable is now a volatile, unpredictable mess. Toub has served this team well in the past, but it’s time for a new chapter.
Connor Embree (Wide Receivers Coach)
Embree is arguably the biggest lightning rod on the coaching staff behind Nagy. His lack of positional background, coupled with poor outcomes, makes his continued tenure impossible to justify. He essentially jumped from a high school coaching role to a spot on the Chiefs’ staff as a defensive assistant, later moving into offensive quality control before landing the receivers coach position. Despite the talent of young receivers like Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy, neither took a meaningful step forward in 2025, and the technical issues were difficult to ignore.
Joe Bleymaier (Pass Game Coordinator)
Joe Bleymaier’s role as the team’s pass game coordinator places him squarely at the center of the offense’s most glaring weakness. He was responsible for designing, planning, and executing the passing attack, and that unit was a consistent liability throughout the 2025 season. Spacing was routinely problematic, concepts grew stale, and receivers struggled to reliably separate. In a year where the team had its top receiving options available for most of the season, it’s unacceptable that the passing game was so unproductive.
Todd Pinkston (Running Backs Coach)*
Todd Pinkston is the only coach on this list with a special case. While I would relieve him of duty in his present role, I believe he could be reassigned to the position previously held by Embree. He spent five seasons as a wide receiver, all of them under Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before joining the Chiefs’ coaching staff in 2023, Pinkston served as a receivers coach in the collegiate ranks at Austin Peay. His NFL background and prior experience coaching receivers give him credibility and the positional knowledge desperately needed in a room that demands technical refinement.
Even after a down year, the Chiefs aren’t in crisis. They are, however, at a crossroads. Going 6–11 and missing the postseason doesn’t happen by accident; it’s the result of systemic failures partly attributable to the coaching staff. The road to the next era of Chiefs football demands new voices. Change is always difficult, but that’s the cost of doing business in the NFL. It’s time for the Chiefs to find new architects to help build a brighter future.