Halfway through the 2020 NFL sea­son, each strug­gling team’s Twit­ter mob has grown to full force, call­ing for their head coach’s job. 

Which fans are jus­ti­fied in demand­ing a change of lead­er­ship? Which ones have been poi­soned with myopia by the what-have-you-done-for-me-late­ly cul­ture of the league?

Here’s a mid­sea­son run­down of all the coach­es under the micro­scope, each of whom leads teams that are either in last, tied for last or  in third place in their four-team division.

Deserve more time

Coach­es: Bron­cos Vic Fan­gio (3–5, 3rd in AFC West), 49ers Kyle Shana­han (4–5, last in NFC West), Vikings Mike Zim­mer (3–5, tied-last in NFC North)

Syn­op­sis: Fangio’s Bron­cos cer­tain­ly haven’t lived up to the pre­sea­son hype in his sec­ond year on the job, and there are fair crit­i­cisms of his coach­ing, notably in clock man­age­ment and the team’s inabil­i­ty to win close games (three of five loss­es have come by one possession).

But Denver’s extreme injury issues, cou­pled with a young offense that needs time to grow, means Fan­gio shouldn’t be wor­ried about his job at season’s end … unless the wheels com­plete­ly fall off and the Bron­cos don’t show incre­men­tal improve­ment down the stretch.

Shana­han just took San Fran­cis­co to the Super Bowl nine months ago, and his team has been dev­as­tat­ed by injuries. Zim­mer, in his sev­enth sea­son in Min­neso­ta and com­ing off three con­sec­u­tive win­ning sea­sons and a con­tract exten­sion, is safe. 

Need more time 

Coach­es: Cow­boys Mike McCarthy (2–7, tied-last in NFC East), Giants Joe Judge (2–7, tied-last in NFC East), Ben­gals Zac Tay­lor (2–5, last in AFC North), Fal­cons inter­im Raheem Mor­ris (3–6, tied-last NFC South), Tex­ans inter­im Romeo Cren­nel (2–6, 3rd in AFC South),

Syn­op­sis: The case for first-year coach­es in McCarthy and Judge is both time and cir­cum­stance. McCarthy, a proven win­ner in Green Bay, war­rants more than one sea­son to get Dal­las back on track, espe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing quar­ter­back Dak Prescott’s sea­son-end­ing ankle injury in Week 5. With Judge, the Giants need sta­bil­i­ty and more offen­sive fire­pow­er, espe­cial­ly sans star tail­back Saquon Barkley, who suf­fered a sea­son-end­ing knee injury in Week 2.

Sec­ond-year Cincin­nati head coach Tay­lor also needs an extend­ed chance to rebuild the Ben­gals with No. 1 over­all pick Joe Bur­row after going 2–14 a year ago.

As for the inter­im guys, why not give Mor­ris and Cren­nel a shot? After start­ing 0–5 and fir­ing coach Dan Quinn, the Fal­cons are 3–1 under Mor­ris, Tam­pa Bay’s head coach from 2009-11. And the Tex­ans, who sacked Bill O’Brien fol­low­ing their 0–4 start, are 2–2 under Cren­nel, who’s coached the Browns and Chiefs. Both guys bring expe­ri­ence and have their teams play­ing better. 

Show them the door

Coach­es: Jets Adam Gase (0–9, last in AFC East), Jaguars Doug Mar­rone (1–7, last in AFC South), Charg­ers Antho­ny Lynn (2–6, last in AFC West), Lions Matt Patri­cia (3–5, last in NFC North)

Syn­op­sis: Yes, the Jets are well on their way to tank­ing for the No. 1 over­all pick and thus a future fran­chise quar­ter­back in Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. But their play is so unin­spired that the first 0–9 start in fran­chise his­to­ry — falling off a cliff from their 7–9 mark last year — is enough to dis­miss Gase and begin fresh in 2021, with Lawrence pre­sum­ably under center.

Mean­while, Mar­rone is cruis­ing to his third con­sec­u­tive los­ing sea­son in Jack­sonville and the 2017 team that was a few plays from the franchise’s first Super Bowl is a dis­tant mem­o­ry. The Charg­ers have no clue how to close out games under Lynn, who is wast­ing the tal­ent and poten­tial of rook­ie quar­ter­back Justin Herbert.

And in Detroit, Patri­cia is 12–27‑1 in his third sea­son, includ­ing nine con­sec­u­tive divi­sion­al loss­es. Under the for­mer New Eng­land defen­sive coor­di­na­tor, the Lions went from fringe con­tender to bot­tom-of-the-bar­rel. That calls for a pink slip.