The NFL Favors Offensive-Minded Head Coaches Too Much
By Erik Lambert
It’s true that the rule book of the NFL is slanted towards giving offenses an edge. The league wants more scoring because it generates excitement for the fans. While there is no debating that given the success its had, at the same time it hasn’t done any favors for creating fair opportunities in the coaching business.
More than ever teams are gearing their head coach searches every off-season towards one objective: finding an offensive-minded man who has shown some or any idea to mold a quarterback. While the structure of such an idea is sound and has had plenty of success in the past with guys like Bill Walsh, Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy among others. It also has led to a number of whopping failures while at the same time causing teams to overlook vastly more qualified candidates who happen to have defensive or even special teams backgrounds.
With Mularkey deal done all 7 @NFL head coaching positions were filled by a coach from the offensive side of the ball.
— Dan Hellie (@DanHellie) January 16, 2016
This is in direct contrast to what history says. In the Super Bowl era, 30 head coaches have won a championship. As it stands, 16 of them came from an offensive background as assistants. That’s barely over 50%. Meanwhile, 13 came from defensive upbringings and another was primarily a special teams coach.
Not buying it yet? How about this? Since 2005, there have been 10 Super Bowl champions. No fewer than six of those teams featured a head coach who came up on the defensive side of the ball.
- Bill Cowher (2005)
- Tony Dungy (2006)
- Mike Tomlin (2008)
- John Harbaugh (2012)
- Pete Carroll (2013)
- Bill Belichick (2014)
It’s also worth noting that three of the five Super Bowl era dynasties were established by defensive head coaches in Chuck Knoll with the 1970s Steelers, Jimmy Johnson with the 1990s Cowboys and Belichick with his 2000s Patriots.
If that weren’t enough. The team with the best record in the 2015 NFL season belongs to the Carolina Panthers who went 15-1. Their head coach, Ron Rivera, is a former linebacker and defensive coordinator. So, again, what exactly makes offensive coaches more qualified to run entire football teams than defensive coaches?