Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

The NFL’s Worst Day, Statistically Speaking

If only losing teams trusted the data, they’d be less eager to fire the coach today.

December 31, 2018 at 1:50 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

All NFL coaches are good, but one is better.
Photographer: Elsa/Getty Images North America

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Advanced data analytics have transformed the world of big business. But one multibillion-dollar industry continues to resist the attraction of drilling down into the numbers to find surprising results that yield market advantage. I refer to professional football.

Consider the events of this week. In the National Football League, the day after the last games are played is called Black Monday, because it’s typically when frustrated owners fire losing coaches.1 This year, two head coaches were dismissed during the season, and since Sunday’s contests, two more (as of this writing) have joined their ranks. More are expected to follow.