The Most Fickle NFL Teams: Flighty Cardinals & Company
In the NFL, some teams have built their legacy on continuity. Others seem to live in a constant state of motion — switching coaches, uprooting cities, renaming themselves, and rotating mascots.
For example, the Arizona Cardinals have had 43 head coaches and 8 name changes. The Los Angeles Rams and the Green Bay Packers have each played in 8 home fields, while the Baltimore Ravens have had 5 different mascots.
To quantify this restlessness, Rotogrinders created a Fickleness Index for all 32 NFL franchises. The analysis tracks how often each team has changed four key aspects of its identity:
- Head coaches
- Home stadiums
- Official team names
- Mascots
To ensure fairness across teams of different ages, both the total number of changes and the rate of change per year were measured. Each category was normalized and combined into a hybrid score, then scaled so that the highest-scoring team received 100 points, with all others adjusted proportionally.
This approach captures both the total amount of change and the intensity of change relative to a team’s age, offering a balanced look at which franchises are truly fickle.
Arizona Cardinals – The Most Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 100 points
- Head Coaches: 43 since 1898 – the highest total in the league.
- Home Fields: 7 – Normal Park, Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, Busch Stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium, Sun Devil Stadium, State Farm Stadium.
- Names: 8 official team names – Morgan Athletic Club, Racine Normals, Racine Street Cardinals, Chicago Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals, Phoenix Cardinals, and Arizona Cardinals.
- Mascots: 1 – Big Red.
The Cardinals’ top ranking reflects their exceptionally high totals in coaches and name changes over a century, combined with moderate home-field turnover and a single mascot.
Las Vegas Raiders – #2 Most Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 89 points
- Head Coaches: 24 since 1960.
- Home Fields: 6 – Kezar Stadium, Candlestick Park, Frank Youell Field, Oakland Coliseum, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Allegiant Stadium.
- Names: 3 – Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Raiders, and Las Vegas Raiders.
- Mascots: 1 – Raider Rusher.
The Raiders’ ranking reflects high rates of change in coaches and moderate change in home fields and names relative to their 65 years of existence.
Los Angeles Rams – #3 Most Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 83 points
- Head Coaches: 28 since 1936.
- Home Fields: 8 – Cleveland Stadium, League Park, Shaw Stadium, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Anaheim Stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium, Edward Jones Dome, SoFi Stadium.
- Names: 3 – Cleveland Rams, St. Louis Rams, and Los Angeles Rams.
- Mascots: 1 – Rampage.
The Rams’ score is driven by both home-field changes and geographic/name shifts over nearly nine decades.
Tennessee Titans – #4 Most Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 81 points
- Head Coaches: 20 since 1959.
- Home Fields: 6 – Jeppesen Stadium, Rice Stadium, Houston Astrodome, Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Vanderbilt Stadium, and Nissan Stadium.
- Names: 3 – Houston Oilers, Tennessee Oilers, and Tennessee Titans.
- Mascots: 1 – T-Rac.
The Titans’ score is influenced by their coaching and name changes, scaled relative to their 66-year history.
Washington Commanders – #5 Most Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 80 points
- Head Coaches: 31 since 1932.
- Home Fields: 5 – Braves Field, Fenway Park, Griffith Stadium, RFK Stadium, Northwest Stadium.
- Names: 5 – Boston Braves, Boston Redskins, Washington Redskins, Washington Football Team, and Washington Commanders.
- Mascots: 1 – Major Tuddy.
Washington ranks high due to frequent name changes and consistent coaching turnover, despite staying in the same metro area.
Dallas Cowboys – The Least Fickle NFL Team
Total Score: 26 points
- Head Coaches: 10 since 1960 – relatively low turnover over six decades.
- Home Fields: 3 – Cotton Bowl, Texas Stadium, AT&T Stadium.
- Names: 1 – Dallas Cowboys.
- Mascots: 1 – Rowdy.
The Cowboys’ low score reflects remarkable continuity in leadership, stadiums, and branding. With a single team name, limited coaching turnover, and long-term stadium stability, Dallas exemplifies organizational consistency in the NFL.
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Methodology
Each of the 32 NFL teams was evaluated across four key categories: head coaches, home fields, official team names, and mascots.
For each category, both the total number of changes and the rate of change per year of existence were considered. To compare teams of different ages fairly, results were age-adjusted — a newer team that changed coaches five times in 25 years, for instance, would score higher than a century-old team with the same number of changes.
All category values were normalized to a 0–1 scale so that large differences (like coaching vs. home fields) could be compared evenly. A hybrid score was calculated for each category by averaging two factors:
- 50% from the total number of changes
- 50% from the age-adjusted rate of change
The four hybrid category scores (coaches, fields, names, mascots) were averaged and scaled from 0–100, where 100 represents the most change-prone (or “fickle”) team in the league. Higher scores indicate greater organizational turnover and identity changes, while lower scores reflect long-term continuity and stability.