NFL head coaches Mount Rushmore of the Super Bowl era
By Erik Lambert
![FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 16: Head Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on before a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on October 16, 2014 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 16: Head Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on before a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on October 16, 2014 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/4684cb357e4f88d49115a1c51d0f7e614fdcdf102e368d39e9a69a7233ccde68.jpg)
Bill Walsh (San Francisco 49ers)
One must be careful when throwing around the word “genius” in regards to coaching. With Bill Walsh though, it’s true. He was a legitimate genius. Few men truly “saw” the game of football at its deepest depths like the late Hall of Famer did. His innovative techniques in terms of offense and team building remain in practice to this day, a testament to how ahead of his time he was.
Walsh almost never became a head coach in the NFL. For years he was blackballed by his former mentor Paul Brown, who felt he couldn’t handle the highs and lows of the job. San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo ignored the warnings and gave him a shot in 1979. The rest is history. Walsh ushered in a groundbreaking new scheme called the West Coast offense.
Led by future icon Joe Montana at quarterback, the 49ers won three Super Bowls from 1981 to 1988 before he chose to retire. Even so, Walsh’s superb drafting and trade maneuvers in the previous years set the team up for sustained success. They went on to win two more championships in 1989 and 1994. His offense and his draft techniques are still widely used by teams even today.