Every NFL team has a greatest coach in their history. Once determined who they all are, where will each of them fall in an all-time rankings?
A number of parameters will be factored into this. How long he coached, what era he coached in, number of wins, winning percentage, championships won and sustained success. In other words did he win a lot early and then suffer a significant dip or was it constant? Another thing that will be included is whether those coaches had success with other teams. This is because while the representative team is part of it, the primary focus is the career the man had. His run with that team gets him on the list, but his entire body work determines the final ranking.
With all that in mind, before the real list gets started here are a few names who deserved consideration but just missed the cut.
Honorable Mentions:
Tom Flores
Though he wasn’t the most boisterous personality, Flores knew what to do with the players he had. Under his guidance the Oakland Raiders won two of their three Super Bowls.
George Seifert
The only coach who had a direct hand in all five San Francisco 49ers championship. Seifert was defensive coordinator for three and then took over as head coach to win two more in 1989 and 1994.
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Jimmy Johnson
The architect of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the 1990s. He engineered two of the most dominant Super Bowl runs in league history, but his abrupt departure in 1994 leave some wondering about what might’ve been.
Dan Reeves
Led the Denver Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances between 1986 and 1989 and also helped the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons make quick turnarounds to become contenders.
Marty Schottenheimer
One of just six head coaches in NFL history with 200 regular season wins. Took three different franchises to the playoffs and two of them to the conference championship game.
Next: #32
#32: Jimmy Conzelman (Arizona Cardinals)
Rest assured there isn’t a Cardinals fans alive today who will remember the name Jimmy Conzelman off the top of their heads. That’s understandable. For one, he coached the franchise back when it was still located in Chicago and it was also during the 1940s. He even did it in two separate stints because of his service during World War II. Turns out the Cardinals were the sixth pro team he was in charge of during that time. So why is he #1 after all this time rather than recent contenders like Ken Whisenhunt (led team to first Super Bowl) or Bruce Arians (zero losing seasons)?
He is the only coach in team history to win a championship. Things didn’t start well for him during his first three seasons, going 8-22. However, it seemed the war changed him in many aspects. When he resumed command in 1946, he reeled off a 26-9 record and led them to a victory in the title game at old Comiskey Park over the Philadelphia Eagles in 1947. He retired after the next season having just entered his 50s. One has to wonder how history might be different had he kept coaching.
Next: #31
#31: John Robinson (Los Angeles Rams)
This is quite the upset. Many will ask right away how in the world that Dick Vermeil isn’t the choice here, or Mike Martz or George Allen, or Chuck Knox? While Vermeil does have the claim of being the only one to win a championship, he only coached the Rams for three seasons. Martz was good for his first few years but lost the Super Bowl in 2001 with what was a superior team. One he didn’t build. Allen had a great winning percentage but his teams managed to reach just two playoff games. As for Knox, he would’ve been the choice given his outstanding success in the 1970s but he ruined that when he returned for three years from 1992 to 1994 and went 15-33.
John Robinson is not a name that comes to mind right away but it’s hard to argue with his results. He coached the team for nine seasons and finished with a 75-68 record. His teams made the playoffs six times and reached two NFC championship games. He just had the greatest bad luck of running into two of the best teams in NFL history, the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1989 San Francisco 49ers. Had he ever figured out his quarterback situation his legacy today might be better appreciated.
Next: #30
#30: Marv Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals)
This might not make a lot of fans happy. With other options like Paul Brown, Forest Gregg and Sam Wyche available how in the world can one justify putting a guy on this list who has never won a playoff game? It’s understandable why people would be upset about that. Success in the postseason is the ultimate measuring stick for any coach. Still, despite that black mark on his record there are reasons Lewis is at the top. Keep in mind that Brown will probably be on this list for a different team, and he did not win any playoff games either. Gregg had one good year in 1981. Wyche?
He went to a Super Bowl and made the postseason a few times but he also had a career 61-66 record when he left in 1991. Meanwhile Lewis has won 112 games in charge of this franchise and reached the playoffs seven times. He’s the only won to win Coach of the Year and has the greatest run of sustained regular season success than any of the other contenders. If he can just find a way to win a game in January, the doubters make finally be put to rest.
Next: #29
#29: Mike Smith (Atlanta Falcons)
Leeman Bennett introduced the franchise to winning in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dan Reeves got it to its first-ever Super Bowl in 1998. Both are accomplishments worthy of mention here, but weren’t enough to get them chosen for best in Atlanta Falcons history. That honor belongs to Mike Smith. Granted, the way his tenure ended was unfortunate but it’s hard to argue with what he was able to accomplish. Despite inheriting an absolute mess of a team in 2008, a team that went 4-12 and would be starting a rookie quarterback, Smith got results immediately.
The Falcons did not have a losing season for the first five years he was in charge and made the playoffs four times. They went 13-3 twice in a three-year span and reached the NFC championship game in 2012, coming just yards away from going to the Super Bowl. Sadly, back-to-back losing seasons that followed got him fired but it should not diminish the fact that he has more wins than any Falcons coach in history. Hopefully over time people will come to appreciate that more.
Next: #28
#28: Jeff Fisher (Tennessee Titans)
His stint in Los Angeles has not been nearly as fruitful as it was for the Tennessee Titans, but Jeff Fisher remains one of the most respected coaches in the game. Now that he actually has a quarterback the feeling is his impact will really start to show as it did when the same thing happened years ago. Back then in the mid-1990s, the Houston Oilers were a rebuilding franchise and needed young blood to help get things off the ground. Fisher took on the challenge. The team became competitive almost right away.
From 1995 to 2003, the Oilers, who later became the Titans, never finished with a record worse than 7-9. They made the playoffs four times in that span and reached Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999, driven by the iconic Music City Miracle. It’s sad his legacy there came down to one yard, which was how far the Titans came from tying that game and forcing overtime with seconds left. Fisher never got that close again, but the Titans have not been to the playoffs since he left in 2011. That should say something about what he really meant to them.
Next: #27
#27: Gary Kubiak (Houston Texans)
It must be killing the Houston Texans at this point that Gary Kubiak won a Super Bowl in Denver. There is no doubt if he’d been able to do that for them, he might be higher on this list. As it stands though Kubiak deserves credit for making the second football franchise in Houston history credible for the first time. He got them their first winning season in 2009, turned Matt Schaub into a Pro Bowler, made the playoffs twice and had a hand in drafting what might become their first ever Hall of Famer in J.J. Watt.
Perhaps he was wrongly run out of town after a difficult year in 2013. Of the 11 losses he suffered before getting fired, eight of them were by seven points or fewer. It was the same year he had a mild stroke on the sidelines. One could say there wasn’t enough appreciation from fans for what he was able to accomplish despite never having a legitimate quarterback to build around. As it stands he landed softly in Denver and his spot as the best in Texans history will be challenged by Bill O’Brien over the next few seasons.
Next: #26
#26: Andy Reid (Philadelphia Eagles)
No fan base is so quick to judge in a negative light than the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s written in their DNA and is something they take pride in. That’s the only way one can explain how some of them view the era of Andy Reid as a failure. Yes, okay so he didn’t win a Super Bowl. First of all, no head coach in Eagles history has and second he has gotten closer than anybody. The man went to five NFC championship games between 2001 and 2008 and came four points away from upsetting one of the best teams ever in the Super Bowl.
All told he made the playoffs nine times and won at least one game in the postseason seven of those times. Just three of his seasons had losing records and he finished with 140 wins. It’s hard not to say that the Eagles made a big mistake letting him walk. The Eagles have made the playoffs once since he left. Since he took over in Kansas City, the Chiefs have made it twice. Gripe and complain about his clock management all day, it doesn’t change the fact that Philadelphia never was better at football than they were under Reid.
Next: #25
#25: John Fox (Carolina Panthers)
Ron Rivera is the main man of the moment for the Carolina Panthers and in time may rise to hold this top spot but for the time being it rightfully belongs to John Fox. He has the most wins in franchise history at 73, made the playoffs three times, reached two NFC championships and a berth in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Keep in mind he didn’t have the luxury of a Cam Newton at quarterback that Rivera has so enjoyed. For the most part it was Jake Delhomme and a bunch of other scrubs. Not exactly the same caliber as the reigning MVP.
Then there is the matter of Super Bowl performance. There is no doubt Rivera loses points for how his team performed in the big game this past year, despite having a more complete team and better record than the one Fox got there with in 2003. These Panthers were humbled 24-10. Fox’s bunch lost a 32-29 thriller that saw them largely undone but an unforgivable gaffe by the kicker, booting the ball out of bounds on the kickoff and giving Tom Brady and the Patriots a short field in the final minutes.
Since then Fox has enhanced his winning reputation in Denver and hopes to continue in Chicago. In time he may be able to rise up this list.
Next: #24
#24: John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens)
He’s not nearly as boisterous as his younger brother, and maybe that’s what makes it so easy to forget about John Harbaugh. People still remember Brian Billick, his contentious relationship with the media and maniacle actions on the sideline while leading the Baltimore Ravens to a championship in 2000. There is no doubt he deserved consideration but at the end of the day Harbaugh matched him in rings and has him beat in consistency by a wide margin. Billick had three losing seasons in nine years. John has missed the playoffs just twice in eight.
If that weren’t enough to validate his spot on this list, he also has the distinction of winning at least one postseason game each of the times his team made it. At the age of 54 he already has a career record of 87-56. Considering some of the powerhouses he’s had to get by in the AFC from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New England Patriots, what he has accomplished should be celebrated by Ravens fans. Often the best coaches are the ones who can push their teams through the toughest adversity to ultimate success.
Next: #23
#23: Marv Levy (Buffalo Bills)
For almost their entire existence as a football franchise, the Buffalo Bills were a joke. They won a title in the old AFL, had one or two good years with O.J. Simpson in the 1970s but were never considered a legitimate player on the top of the NFL stage. Not until Marv Levy arrived. What’s crazy about it is most people didn’t know what to expect from him. He had an unsuccessful run in Kansas City before taking a brief hiatus up in Canada. It didn’t take long though to see that he was the right man in the right place for the Bills.
By his third season the team had gone from 2-14 to 12-4 and made the playoffs for the first time in years. They would miss them just once from that point on between 1988 and 1995. It was during this run that Levy accomplished what no other head coach in NFL history has by getting the Bills to four-straight Super Bowls. Not winning any of them has hurt his stance on the list, but as time goes on his accomplishment becomes more and more impressive. The fact that he’s in the Hall of Fame should add to that assertion.
Next: #22
#22: Bud Grant (Minnesota Vikings)
Four losses should not define the career of an NFL head coach. Sadly that is the case when all those losses were in the Super Bowl. Bud Grant did so many great things for the game of football and the Minnesota Vikings. He made the playoffs twice as many years as he missed them (12 to 6), built one of the great defenses of all-time in the famed “Purple People Eaters” and turned one of the most undisciplined and listless franchises into one of respect, dignity and doing things the right way every time. That is why he was one of the most consistently successful coaches ever.
It’s amazing to think how different his legacy might be had he won just one Super Bowl ring. He’s already in the Hall of Fame but it stands to reason he’d be a top 10 lock. His teams were dominant in every sense of the word. They just never seemed to bring their A-game when it mattered most. Maybe his conservative nature had something to do with that or maybe it was just bad luck that he had to play the AFC when it was at the height of its powers in the 1970s. Either way, Grant won 168 football games and 11 division titles. There are coaches who won a Super Bowl that never came anywhere close to his legacy of success.
Sad, but a stark reality of the sport.
Next: #21
#21: Hank Stram (Kansas City Chiefs)
The mark of a great head coach is one who is willing to do things differently in the name of helping his team win. Hank Stram was a breath of fresh air right when football needed it. Entertaining personality aside, the man had innovation in his blood. He crafted new styles of offense and defense that had never been seen before or widely utilized before and also was at the forefront of roster integration. No coach had more black players on his roster in the 1960s than Stram. It’s not a coincidence that this open-mindedness led to success.
The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the great powers of the American Football League. Ten times they fielded an offense and defense that ranked in the top five. As the Dallas Texans they were champions in just their third year of existence, then reached the first ever Super Bowl in 1966. Everything came to a head three years later when the Chiefs rolled into Super Bowl IV where they became the last AFL team to win a championship before the two leagues merged in 1970. It took a while for Stram to be recognized for his accomplishments but soon landed in the Hall of Fame where he belonged.
Next: #20
#20: Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints)
One can only imagine the herculean effort it took by Sean Payton to raise the New Orleans Saints from the depth they were at when he took over in 2006. This was a franchise built on a tradition of losing. They didn’t make the playoffs the first two decades of their existence and hadn’t reached even a conference title game by the time he arrived. Worse still, the beloved city they represented had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina, leaving some to wonder if the Saints might have to leave rather than face the prospect of playing for a defeated town.
Payton came in like a whirlwind, helped to sign quarterback Drew Brees and completely changed the culture almost overnight. His first year the Saints reached the NFC championship and from there began their rise to one of the best teams in football, culminating in the franchises’ first Super Bowl title in 2009. That would’ve placed Payton higher on the list, but his luster was dulled somewhat by the unfortunate Bountygate scandal that got him suspended for a year. He’s only made the playoffs once since then. He has work to do in order to resume he ascent up the rankings.
Next: #19
#19: Jon Gruden (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
This was a guy who broke into the head coaching ring at 35-years old. That’s unheard of. The fact he didn’t have a losing season the first five years he ran an NFL team is something too. However, what puts him over the top is what he was able to accomplish in 2002. Here was a man wrongly done at his first job. The Oakland Raiders were coming off a playoff lost in the 2001 season, victims of the infamous “Tuck Rule” game. For some reason then-owner Al Davis decided it might be time to make a coaching change despite Gruden leading the team to back-to-back division titles.
As a result the Raiders traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two 1st and two 2nd round draft choices. So already the young head coach was coming in with a degree of expectations with his new team. Then there was the extra nugget that the Buccaneers had never even been to a Super Bowl, let alone won it. He not only had to win right away, but he had to do it with a team that had never done it before. So what happened?
He did it. His very first year Gruden went 12-4 and turned the Buccaneers into champions, delivering some poetic justice by crushing the Raiders in the Super Bowl. Such things don’t happen that often, and Gruden deserves credit for overcoming all those roadblocks.
Next: #18
#18: Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks)
There was no reason to expect that the Seattle Seahawks would get much more out of Pete Carroll than previous NFL teams had. Though this was a man who built one of the greatest dynasties in college football history, he also had failed to stick with both the New York Jets and New England Patriots over a decade before he came back to the NFL in 2010. The Seahawks were taking a huge gamble on the 59-year old. It became clear almost right away though that the man had learned a lot from previous failures.
Under his direction, Seattle transformed into a contender. By his third year they had one of the most talented young rosters in the game and in 2013, riding one of the best defenses of all-time, won their first Super Bowl in franchise history by crushing the Denver Broncos 43-8. The Seahawks have missed the playoffs just once in his six seasons running the show with at least one victory in each of those appearances. The team is still very much a threat in the NFC and Carroll has a chance to really cement his legacy if he can get another ring.
Next: #17
#17: Mike Shanahan (Denver Broncos)
Nowadays people remember him for his ugly exit in Washington. Others might not even know that his first job as a head coach was in Los Angeles with the Raiders. However, Mike Shanahan will forever be known for being the man that got the Denver Broncos over the hump of their appalling championship struggles. When he arrived in 1995, the team was going nowhere, aging and absent of any significant draft picks to help him build a winner.
Undaunted, Shanahan instilled a new culture that embraced giving low round picks and undrafted free agents greater opportunities. In that environment men like Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, and Terrell Davis thrived. Together with a series of other key moves, the Broncos marched their way back to the Super Bowl in 1997 and did what many thought was the impossible: beat the NFC with John Elway at quarterback. It was the first of back-to-back titles and 146 victories Shanahan would have during his time in Denver.
Next: #16
#16: Tony Dungy (Indianapolis Colts)
How can somebody rank a man with just has one Super Bowl ring ahead of a man with two? It wasn’t easy but Tony Dungy makes the case. Even before he arrived with the Indianapolis Colts in 2002, he was a success in Tampa Bay as well, building that team into the champion it would become that same year. The Colts were a franchise sorely in need of leadership that could get everything point in the right direction. His impact was immediate and swift. Over the next seven seasons Indy would never have a record lower than 10-6 and made the playoffs every year.
At one point during his run, it’s important to remember that Dungy lost three-straight playoff games to the eventual Super Bowl champions (Patriots in 2003-2004 and Steelers in 2005). Yet it was through his steady leadership and calm mind, despite losing a son that enabled the Colts to finally go all the way in 2006 to get Peyton Manning that elusive first championship and get the monkey off his back. To think Dungy won 92 games in just seven years is astounding to think about and makes one wonder how much higher he’d be in these ranking had he not retired at 54.
Next: #15
#15: John Madden (Oakland Raiders)
Speaking of great coaches who went out young. John Madden is another one championship coach that beats out not one but two multiple Super Bowl winners to crack this list. He tops Shanahan and also another terrific coach from his own organization in Tom Flores, who won a pair of Lombardi trophies in 1980 and 1983. What makes Madden such a special coach is the fact that in the 10 years he coached before retired at age 43, he never had a losing season while in charge of the Oakland Raiders. His .759 winning percentage is still the best in the modern era.
All people can talk about though is he only has one ring. Some context is needed for this. Madden is a man who had to wade through perhaps the toughest competition ever for a single conference. In fact five of the first six seasons that his Raiders made the playoffs under his watch, they wound up losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion. The other was on the now iconic (and controversial) “Immaculate Reception” game. These teams included the perfect season era Miami Dolphins and the dynasty Pittsburgh Steelers.
This did not stop Madden. He overcame it all in 1976 to win Super Bowl XI. He left coaching just three years later.
Next: #14
#14: Tom Coughlin (Jacksonville Jaguars)
The name spawns mostly memories centered around the New York Giants these days. What fans don’t remember is that Tom Coughlin was actually a successful coach before his arrival in the Big Apple. He was the one who helped get the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars off the ground in 1995. Through his tireless work and ability, the team became an almost instant contender. They reached the AFC championship in just their second year of existence and made the playoffs four-straight seasons. Soon the pressures of the job, and a bad relationship with the media, saw him fired after three down years.
These lessons he would carry with him to New York where he proceeded to engineer two of the most unlikely championship runs ever. First came the epic upset of the undefeated New England Patriots in 2007, and then there was taking a 6-6 team at the start of December in 2011 all the way to the title. With 182 career wins (72 in Jacksonville) his spot in the Hall of Fame seems locked up. It’s just a matter of him deciding whenever he’s ready to retire.
Next: #13
#13: Buddy Parker (Detroit Lions)
Seriously? No Wayne Fontes? In honest a lot of people pile on that guy to this day but one should remember he remains the only coach of the Super Bowl era to lead the Detroit Lions to a playoff win. So have a little respect. In truth though the title of best coach in franchise history must be reserved for Buddy Parker. Drawing a blank? Understandable since his final season with the team was in 1956. There is no doubt though that he remains the gold standard by which others must be measured.
After all, he did lead the team to its first championship game in 17 years back in 1952 and won back-to-back titles. He also had a direct hand in their winning a third in 1957 with the acquisition of quarterback Tobin Rote, who would take over for the injured Bobby Layne. Unfortunately a contract dispute and lack of locker room stability saw him resign before the season began. The Lions have not been to a title game since that season. Perhaps such an abrupt end is why Parker isn’t as widely remembered as other coaches.
Next: #12
#12: Sid Gillman (San Diego Chargers)
Often called the “Father of the Modern Passing Game.” Sid Gillman revolutionized offensive football in the 1950s and 1960s, embracing the forward pass more than any other coach prior to him. His schemes were considered years ahead of their time and it had untold success. In 16 of the 18 years he was a head coach in the AFL and NFL, his offense ranked no lower than sixth. His 1963 San Diego Chargers team, which won his only championship scored 399 points in a 12-game season. That’s an average of 33.25 per game. Three times they scored 50 or more, including the title game against the Boston Patriots.
This was a man who also had an uncanny talent for identifying and developing future great coaches. Al Davis, Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox, Dick Vermeil, George Allen and Don Coryell were all hold a direct connection to him at one point or another. It may very well be the most enriched and successful coaching tree in NFL history. Gillman never gets enough credit from the mainstream because his greatest successes came in the early days of the AFL, but he is in the Hall of Fame for a reason and the game would not be what it is today without him.
Next: #11
#11: Bill Parcells (New York Giants)
The Big Tuna himself. Perhaps the greatest mastermind of team turnarounds ever, Bill Parcells made his name and fame with the New York Giants. Things didn’t start out well, going 3-12-1 his first year and almost getting fired after one season. Given new life in 1984, Parcells did something a lot of head coaches can’t. He changed. Scrapping old methods, he started to do things his way and the Giants transformed into one of the powerhouses of the NFC.
They had a winning season in six of the next seven seasons and made the playoffs five times. A staple of the Parcells era were the defenses. Led by Lawrence Taylor, the Giants units of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s were some of the most dominant ever. They led the way to both of his Super Bowl triumphs including a beat down of the Denver Broncos in 1986 and a masterful upset of the Buffalo Bills in 1990. His willingness to take chances, both on players and play calls were the hallmark of his greatness.
Next: #10
#10: Weeb Ewbank (New York Jets)
Hard as it may be to believe, the best head coach to ever come through New York was not Parcells. That honor belongs to Weeb Ewbank. This was a man who already had two championships under his belt by the time he arrived in 1963 to take over the newly minted New York Jets. It was a team that had not learned out to win yet and needed somebody to show them the way. Ewbank needed time to build the roster he wanted but soon began to assemble the pieces needed to make a run.
Chief among them was a brash young quarterback named Joe Namath, who to this day soaks up all the attention for the teams’ success back in the late 1960s. People don’t realize how good the head coach was. It was Ewbank who engineered the greatest upset in modern history when his Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts, a team that had lost just one game all year, in Super Bowl III. The first AFL team to beat an NFL team in the big game. Namath may have gotten the MVP, but it was the running game and defense Ewbank built that really won the day.
His first ballot entry into the Hall of Fame was well-deserved.
Next: #10
#9: Chuck Noll (Pittsburgh Steelers)
The cool, calculating mastermind who constructed arguably the greatest roster ever devised. Chuck Noll was a virtual unknown when he took over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969. All people knew was that he worked under Sid Gillman and Don Shula and that he was taking over the worst team in football. No doubt he’d be unemployed again before too long. Based on the 1-13 record he had his first year, they might’ve been right.
As it turns out though, the steady hand and uncompromising will to make as many changes as it took until he got the players he wanted were cornerstones of what sparked the meteoric rise of the Steelers from laughing stock to NFL kings. Each year the team improved and by 1972 they won their first playoff game. Noll continued to assemble a formidable roster and in 1974 it all came together when Pittsburgh added four future Hall of Famers. The team went on to win four of the next six Super Bowls, led by a legendary defense that never finished lower than 4th during that run.
Noll finally retired after the 1991 season, having stockpiled 209 career victories. To this day no coach has more Super Bowl rings than him.
Next: #8
#8: Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys)
Tom Landry was almost just another blip on the radar screen. A World War II veteran who first earned notoriety in New York designing the 4-3 defense, still in use today, he accepted the daunting challenge of trying to break in a brand new franchise called the Dallas Cowboys in 1960. As one might expect things didn’t start well. His teams struggled through the first few years, failing to post a winning season for a half decade. It looked like his time was up in 1964 until team ownership gave him new life with a 10-year contract extension.
That patience bore great fruit. Landry transformed the expansion franchise into the gold standard of the NFL that would come to be known as “America’s Team.” Across an astounding 29 years on the sideline, Landry made the playoffs 18 times, reached five Super Bowls and won two championships. He also brought a host of innovations to the game on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Had he been able to get just one more ring in the 1980s he would be in the conversation for best ever.
Next: #7
#7: Bill Walsh (San Francisco 49ers)
One of the most beautiful football minds to ever grace the sport. Bill Walsh almost didn’t happen as a head coach. He was passed over in Cincinnati because his boss thought he wasn’t mentally tough enough, and was blackballed around the league due to this stigma. Only after a successful stint at Stanford did he finally get his shot with the lowly San Francisco 49ers in 1979. For a time it looked like the predictions about his inability to handle the pressure were right, but soon the other side of the coin which was his brilliance for assembling a talented roster and coaching a new kind of revolutionary offense began to manifest as well.
After a 6-10 season in 1980, everything came together in 1981. The 49ers went 13-3 in the regular season, led by a confident young quarterback in Joe Montana and passionate defensive back in Ronnie Lott. The team won a thrilling NFC championship over the longtime powerhouse Dallas Cowboys and claimed their first Super Bowl title. Walsh would soon craft the team into perhaps the greatest dynasty ever assembled. He would win three championships as a head coach, going out in a blaze of glory with an epic finish in 1988. His West Coast offense would transform the game in so many ways and is still a primary component of offensive football to this day.
Next: #6
#6: Joe Gibbs (Washington Redskins)
The man was a winner from the very beginning. He had a hand in turning the lowly Buccaneers, who started 0-26 in their franchise history, into division champions. That success got him a job as head coach for the Washington Redskins, a team mired in mediocrity and infested with a host of colorful characters that didn’t seem all that invested in winning. Gibbs soon learned that was not the case. After a slow start, he began to get a handle on the talent he had. They went 8-8 their first year and lost just one game the next in a strike-shortened season to win the Super Bowl.
Gibbs’ offensive prowess was the stuff of legends. Spearheaded by a dominant offensive line, his teams were top 10 in points scored 11 times. The 1983 unit was his finest, scoring 541 points. However, the greatest achievement Gibbs would pull off, something no other coach ever has was winning three Super Bowl titles with three different quarterback. In ’82 it was the brash Joe Theismann, it 1987 it was the resilient Doug Williams and then in 1991 it was the unheralded Mark Rypien. He did what he did without ever having a Joe Montana, John Elway, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.
Next: #5
#5: Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns)
Perhaps the greatest teacher among coaches. Players may not have liked Paul Brown for his strict ways and frugal negotiating tactics, but it was impossible to argue against his ability to get the most out of men and to win championships. He was the first man to accept African-American players on his roster, employ full-time staffs, conducted precise practices to increase player physical preparation and also improved a system of college scouting to draft better each year.
The results speak for themselves. Brown did not miss the playoffs for the first 10 years of his pro coaching career. During that span he went to 10-straight championship games, winning seven of them. Four came in the old All-American Football Conference but the three he won in the NFL afterwards help to validate his place on this list. Some will argue he should be higher given that success but it can’t be ignored that he failed to win another over the final 15 years of his time as head coach, both in Cleveland and later Cincinnati. That should not take away too much from the legacy though as an all-time great.
Next: #4
#4: George Halas (Chicago Bears)
The NFL might not even be in existence today were it not for George Halas. He was one of the founding fathers of the game who built one of its most storied franchises. Not just a great head coach, he also was a player and an owner who did everything he could to help the game grow. He signed college superstar Red Grange. Got football games on the radio and established personal team newspapers. He even offered television revenue out of his own pocket to smaller teams in the league in order to keep it afloat and help them grow.
Interrupted by a couple brief hiatuses, first due to a short retirement and then service in World War II, he spent 40 years as head coach in Chicago. Between 1920 and 1951, the man had exactly one losing season and won five NFL championships. The beloved “Papa Bear” went out as the oldest coach in history to win a title (68 in 1963, his 6th) and also owning the most career victories at 324. That record would not be topped until 1993, a span of 26 years. What else is there to say? Halas was the great patriarch of professional football.
Next: #3
#3: Don Shula (Miami Dolphins)
His place on this list can be summed up in just a few short sentences. He was the coach of the only undefeated team in NFL history, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. He holds the record for the most career wins with 347. In 33 years of coaching he had two losing seasons, reached six Super Bowls and won two championships. Yet Don Shula continues to be criminally overlooked for his incredible accomplishments, especially given how fast coaches are kicked to the curb this day and age.
This was a man who found a formula so rare in that he was remarkably consistent in his approach but also more willing than most to change how he did things if it meant continuing to win. In the 1970s he did it with a dominant rushing game. Then in the 1980s he choreographed a record-breaking passing game led by Dan Marino. Whatever it took, he would do. If any man embodied the idea of hard work to become great at what he does, that was Shula.
Next: #2
#2: Bill Belichick (New England Patriots)
It’s sad that his reputation is stained to a degree these days by two separate scandals that involved cheating because Bill Belichick is such an incredibly good coach. He’s one of the best defensive minds in NFL history, crafting some of the most amazing game plans that shut down historically great offenses and has made a dynasty out of a franchise in the salary cap era. He became just the second coach to ever reach six Super Bowls and the second coach to win four. To think he did it all with perhaps the fewest Hall of Fame players is further proof of his greatness.
At age 64, Belichick has had one losing season since taking over the Patriots in 2000, and it was his first. Since 2003 he has never posted fewer than 10 wins and won a staggering 13 division titles. This isn’t even counting the two rings he won as a coordinator with the Giants. There is no argument that he is the best head coach of the modern and knocking on the door for being the best ever. That will depend on whether he can get one more ring before he finally starts to slow down.
Love him or hate him, the man deserves respect.
Next: #1
#1: Vince Lombardi (Green Bay Packers)
His name is on the trophy. Shouldn’t that be enough? In truth the reason that Vince Lombardi is the greatest head coach in NFL history is for the simple fact that no other name on this list carries quite the same amount of mystique as his did, before and after he and later died. The man wasn’t any sort of braniac wizard, but he was practical and without question the single greatest mover of men maybe all of professional sports has ever seen. The grand master of motivation.
He could anger players or raise them up. It just depended on what it took to get them to play at their best. That is what the Green Bay Packers did from start to finish during his reign in the 1960s. In nine years they went 89-29-4 under his watch, winning five championships including the first two Super Bowls and were the only team in NFL history to win three titles in a row. His .754 winning percentage would’ve been the highest ever as well had he not returned for a year in Washington. Regardless, the man never had a losing record during his head coaching days.
His style was simple, direct, and would’ve succeeded in any era.