Rank-'em: Top NFL Coaches not named Bill Belichick

InstaFace

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Over the past few months, I've seen seemingly 31 NFL head coaches get savaged for their roster-building, in-game tactics, and a wide range of other things. But it's both silly and a bit boring to sit around and say "Everybody sucks but Belichick!" So let's see your ranking of "top 5 NFL coaches", other than BB, since involving him doesn't really enhance the conversation.

My picks:

1. Andy Reid. Laugh at his clock management all you like, the man has an incredible track record of performance. Rex Ryan's loins ache for Reid's 4 straight CCGs. Alex Smith's career was considered dead and buried until Reid traded for him as basically his first act as KC HC, and cut his INT% in half. He hasn't had unbridled success or anything, but his teams have made the playoffs 11 of his 18 years, an incredible run. Who else could last 14 years in the Philly sports environment, even as maligned as he was?

2. Jim Harbaugh. As the only active coach to have a higher Win% than the sainted BB, the performance of SF before and after his tenure should strongly suggest his skills. Whether those skills wither with increasing time in CFB, I can't say, but right now I'd want him as my HC over nearly any other. The complaints about him ("players get tired of him!", etc) seem like small beer indeed.

3. Pete Carroll. 44 years in coaching, 24 in the NFL, 9 as HC of USC, 3 above-average years as HC of the Bledsoe-led Patriots, and now 7 highly successful years as HC of Seattle. Consistently aggressive and surprising, with few head-scratchers, and his teams are always ready to play. Tough to allocate credit for their recent strong drafts, but he surely deserves some.

4. Sean Payton. Loved by football stat-heads for his EV-maximizing gambles on things like 4th down and kicking, he has a very creative offensive style that has gotten the most out of Drew Brees's gunslinging. Probably deserves a lot of the credit for what success Parcells had in Dallas, too.

5. Mike McCarthy. 21-11 with Favre, 93-50 (65.0%) with Rodgers, and got rid of Favre at the right time too. Mocked for some questionable tactical decisions in particular playoff games, he has nevertheless made the playoffs every year but Rodgers' first, with a perennial top-10 offense. His 2000-04 Saints teams had a top-half offense basically every year too, even with the immortal Aaron Brooks at QB.

#5 was a tough choice between him, John Fox, Wade Philips and Bruce Arians. Decided Tom Coughlin was retired rather than merely unemployed, but you hear rumors every so often.
 

bowiac

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I assume the omission of Tomlin was an oversight here, right?
 

Oppo

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How is Jim Harbaugh considered an active coach, NFL wise?
 

Dollar

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Good list, but if Harbaugh is on it then I'd put Nick Saban right above him.

edit: misread it as "which coach would you most want to coach your team", rather than a ranking of NFL track records.
 
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tims4wins

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I think there are very few excellent head coaches in the NFL. I'd limit my list to three, aside from BB: Carroll, Harbaugh, and Reid. I think the rest of the head coaches range from horribad to decent.

Some general comments:
McCarthy: has a title to his name, but seems like a lot of people think the Pack could do better overall
Tomlin: also has a title, but seems more like a figurehead
Gase: strong rookie season, very curious to see how he evolves
O'Brien: has taken a team with no QB to consecutive division titles
Del Rio: much more impressive in his second stint than he was in Jacksonville
Rivera: decent head coach, you could do a lot worse
Garrett: ditto
Payton: if he is so good why do his teams always suck?
Quinn: hot start last year then faded; finished much better this year. Promising start to his career
McAdoo: good year his first year, need to see more
Zimmer: did the best he could given the situation, seems like a decent coach
Arians: getting older but a good football mind
Pederson: had some questionable game management decisions but not a bad first year
Bowles: on the hot seat in 2017
Chuckstrong: LOL
 

tims4wins

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If he is a cheerleader or figurehead, who is the actual puppet master?
Well on offense, it used to be Arians and is now Haley. On defense, it obviously used to be LeBeau, now Keith Butler is in charge. Tomlin is fine, I just don't think he makes a team any better. Like if he was the coach of Indy, would they have done any better than their 8-8 record?
 

Morning Woodhead

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Allow me to step up on my anti-Harbaugh soap box. You can do much worse, but I still think he's vastly overrated. Here are his season recrods since the improbable super bowl run.

2013 8-8
2014 - 10-6 (Edelman to Amendola playoff loss)
2015 - 5-11
2016 - 8-8

He is under .500 since the Super Bowl. If Ozzie is as good as his reputation says he is, you would think the talent is decent enough to pull together AT LEAST a .500 record. Harbaugh is similar to Tomlin to me, sounds like a football coach, walks like a football coach, but has very little impact on success.

My vote outside of BB:

Pete Carroll - Not much to say, has done a great job in Seattle.
Andy Reid - Quick turnaround in KC, will be curious if he fizzles out in the end like in his last 2 seasons in Philly
Zimmer - crushed by injuries this year, but definitely has Minnesota on the right path
Wildcard - Gase took an over-matched team to 10 wins (crappy schedule etc.), but could be on the path to a nice career.
 

InstaFace

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How is Jim Harbaugh considered an active coach, NFL wise?
Rumored to be sought-after by several franchises. He may not leave Michigan immediately, but I'd certainly take an even-odds bet that he coaches in the NFL again before he's done.

Nick Saban had a rough introduction to NFL head coaching, and doesn't seem to draw much interest there anymore. But he's not so out of that game that he wouldn't listen to a team if they called. If you think you'd have him in your top-5 wishlist if you were hiring a coach, by all means list him.
 

loshjott

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If Jim Harbaugh is on this list, why not Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden? Hell, or Parcells or Jimmy Johnson.

The real question is active HCs.

I vote Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh and Reid as the only ones in the same time zone as Belichick. And Tomlin's record over time is too good to ignore. Payton also.

A year ago Arians could have been on the list. Maybe in 2 years it'll include Gase or Bowles. Or Zimmer. But not yet.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Like if he was the coach of Indy, would they have done any better than their 8-8 record?
No, I don't think Mike Tomlin is capable of overcoming an owner and GM who are incompetent and undermining him. Even BB was incapable of overcoming Art Modell's divorce with Cleveland.

My issue with Terry Bradshaw's comment, besides being extremely insulting, is that similar things were once said of Bill Cowher. So if Cowher and Tomlin are just big personalities who bring nothing to the coaching table, then the Steelers success over the last 25 years has been in spite of their coach.

That doesn't pass the smell test for me.
 

pappymojo

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I have a lot of difficulty separating the head coach from the general manager in determining how good a particular coach is.
 

tims4wins

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No, I don't think Mike Tomlin is capable of overcoming an owner and GM who are incompetent and undermining him. Even BB was incapable of overcoming Art Modell's divorce with Cleveland.

My issue with Terry Bradshaw's comment, besides being extremely insulting, is that similar things were once said of Bill Cowher. So if Cowher and Tomlin are just big personalities who bring nothing to the coaching table, then the Steelers success over the last 25 years has been in spite of their coach.

That doesn't pass the smell test for me.
I think saying in spite of their coach is too far. I don't think Tomlin (or Cowher) is a bad head coach. He is probably top half of the league if I am ranking them. I just don't think he's all that great.

Indy might have been a bad example - my general point is find a middling NFL team, and do you think Tomlin would improve them? My impression is that he doesn't bring a ton to the table (but that he doesn't take anything away either, which is important). For instance I think he would have had a better record in Buffalo than Rex.
 

Spacemans Bong

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If Jim Harbaugh is on this list, why not Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden? Hell, or Parcells or Jimmy Johnson.
Because only one of those guys is still actively coaching, has coached in the NFL this decade, and except for Chucky, is under 60.

I guess having Harbaugh when he's not an active *NFL* coach is odd, but he's clearly different than those four guys.
 

Hoya81

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I think Tomlin has to be up there. He's never had a losing record and the AFC North has been competitive most of his tenure. I had forgotten that his SB win came the same year as the Roethlisberger suspension and that they went 3-1.
 

johnmd20

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I think Tomlin has to be up there. He's never had a losing record and the AFC North has been competitive most of his tenure. I had forgotten that his SB win came the same year as the Roethlisberger suspension and that they went 3-1.
The Steelers won the Super Bowl in the 2008 season, the game was played in 2009. They beat Arizona.

Rothlisberger was suspended for the beginning of the 2010 season. Suspension was handed down in April, I think. That year, the Steelers made the Super Bowl and lost to Green Bay in February of 2011.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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Well on offense, it used to be Arians and is now Haley. On defense, it obviously used to be LeBeau, now Keith Butler is in charge. Tomlin is fine, I just don't think he makes a team any better. Like if he was the coach of Indy, would they have done any better than their 8-8 record?
Probably the most important things a HC does is pick his coordinators and position coaches, and let them do their job. Tomlin does this very well, and that puts him in the top half (atleast) of NFL coaches IMO.

Andy Reid is an interesting one - because he's clearly good at everything leading up to game day, and that puts him in the top couple, but his gameday weaknesses are ridiculous, and its amazing to me that at this point he's not self aware enough to hire someone to keep him from making boneheaded mistakes.

He's a "What's your priority?" sort of question, because he'll pretty consistently field a good team, and pretty consistently get to the playoffs, but he'll also pretty consistently lose to other good teams because he gives up a couple points every game with his dumb decisions.

Sean Payton is kind of the opposite - he's not nearly as good as Reid at the big picture stuff, but he's a way better gameday guy. When his teams are good, they're dangerous. You won't make the playoffs as often, but you've got more of a chance of surprising someone and winning one.
 

Cellar-Door

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Reid
Carroll
Zimmer
Arians
Payton

As for Tomlin, I can't put him top 5 when he's not particularly involved in the schemes on either the offense or defense. He's a good motivator, but that doesn't get you top 5.

Edit- also guys to keep an eye on: Koetter and Quinn don't have enough time to break top 5, but both did a nice job so far.
 

Ale Xander

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1. Carroll
2. Payton
3. Zimmer
4. Quinn
5. Kubiak

Too early to tell but looking like a great one:Gase
 

Tony C

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top 5:

BB
Carroll
Reid
Harbaugh (John)
Payton

I think a lot of other guys are not awful -- Zimmer, Koetter, Quinn...don't have the track record yet. Are they Arians, who I wouild have had in the top tier last year, or...not.
 

Average Reds

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Probably the most important things a HC does is pick his coordinators and position coaches, and let them do their job. Tomlin does this very well, and that puts him in the top half (atleast) of NFL coaches IMO.

Andy Reid is an interesting one - because he's clearly good at everything leading up to game day, and that puts him in the top couple, but his gameday weaknesses are ridiculous, and its amazing to me that at this point he's not self aware enough to hire someone to keep him from making boneheaded mistakes.

He's a "What's your priority?" sort of question, because he'll pretty consistently field a good team, and pretty consistently get to the playoffs, but he'll also pretty consistently lose to other good teams because he gives up a couple points every game with his dumb decisions.

Sean Payton is kind of the opposite - he's not nearly as good as Reid at the big picture stuff, but he's a way better gameday guy. When his teams are good, they're dangerous. You won't make the playoffs as often, but you've got more of a chance of surprising someone and winning one.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.

As you note, Andy Reid is something of an enigma. He is a truly great coach, in the classic sense of hiring a great staff, creating a positive environment for teaching/motivating his players and his ability to plan ahead of the game. (My memory is a bit rusty, but I believe that Reid never lost a game coming off of a bye week in 14 years, which speaks to his ability to prepare his team based on known variables.) However, as I learned all too frequently as an Eagles fan, he is a very rigid, unimaginative in-game coach.
 

bradmahn

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Probably the most important things a HC does is pick his coordinators and position coaches, and let them do their job. Tomlin does this very well, and that puts him in the top half (atleast) of NFL coaches IMO.
When Mike Tomlin joined the Steelers in 2007 both the DC and OC were already with the team the year before (Arians took over for Todd Haley that season but was the WR coach the year prior). Mike Tomlin has had to replace his OC and DC since then and both coaches were on Cowher's staff before Mike Tomlin ever sniffed the Pittsburgh Steelers' job.

This is the heart of the problem I have ranking Mike Tomlin a top 5 coach. He came into a great situation with a franchise quarterback, an established and strong coaching staff, an excellent GM, and some of the best ownership in the NFL. He's done well to not fuck it up but the SB title was nearly 10 years ago with Cowher's team and he hasn't made it past the divisional round since 2010.
 

Vinho Tinto

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When Mike Tomlin joined the Steelers in 2007 both the DC and OC were already with the team the year before (Arians took over for Todd Haley that season but was the WR coach the year prior). Mike Tomlin has had to replace his OC and DC since then and both coaches were on Cowher's staff before Mike Tomlin ever sniffed the Pittsburgh Steelers' job.
Haley never worked for the Steelers prior to 2012. In Tomlin's first season, Arians took over for Ken Whisenhunt who left after being passed over for Tomlin (As did O-Line coach Russ Grimm).
 

loshjott

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Mike Smith's glory years with the Falcons caused some gushing around here about him being an elite coach. At least some longevity is key which is why I won't count Zimmer or Arians or certainly not Gase or Koetter yet.
 

Hoya81

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The Steelers won the Super Bowl in the 2008 season, the game was played in 2009. They beat Arizona.

Rothlisberger was suspended for the beginning of the 2010 season. Suspension was handed down in April, I think. That year, the Steelers made the Super Bowl and lost to Green Bay in February of 2011.
Ah, I mixed them up.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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He's done well to not fuck it up but the SB title was nearly 10 years ago with Cowher's team and he hasn't made it past the divisional round since 2010.
Tomlin won a superbowl in 2008, and lost one in 2010.

In the previous 15 years, Cowher won one superbowl, and lost one. Cowher had a .623 record, Tomlin is .644. Tomlin is .583 in the playoffs, Cowher was .571

Cowher's teams basically did nothing in the playoffs until he drafted Roethlisberger. Tomlin's performance has basically followed the trend of Roethlisberger's career - great when Roethlisberger was a 28 year old elite quarterback, not as good now that he's a bit older and no longer elite (but still very good).

10 years and .644 means he's absolutely a good coach.
 

bradmahn

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Haley never worked for the Steelers prior to 2012. In Tomlin's first season, Arians took over for Ken Whisenhunt who left after being passed over for Tomlin (As did O-Line coach Russ Grimm).
Shit. Mea culpa.

Tomlin gets credit for bringing Haley aboard but I still don't consider him top 5.
 

BaseballJones

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One question I have is just how big do you guys think the gap is between Belichick and the number two guy? Because it really does seem.....Grand Canyon-esque. Certainly when you look at what he's accomplished anyway.
 

Saints Rest

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I have a lot of difficulty separating the head coach from the general manager in determining how good a particular coach is.
I have a lot of difficulty separating the head coach from the quarterback in determining how good a particular coach is.

BB/TB12 is well-established, but this thread is about the other top coaches.

Arians was considered great when Carson Palmer was looking like an MVP candidate. Palmer turns into a pumpkin and Arians star shines less brightly.

Tomlin/Big Ben
Payton/Brees
McCarty/Rodgers
Carroll/Wilson
Harbaugh/Flacco

I think when you can see a coach have success with different teams/GMs/QBs, that is when you are seeing a guy whose abilities stand alone. Andy Reid fits this category the best, I think.
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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I have a lot of difficulty separating the head coach from the quarterback in determining how good a particular coach is.

BB/TB12 is well-established, but this thread is about the other top coaches.

Arians was considered great when Carson Palmer was looking like an MVP candidate. Palmer turns into a pumpkin and Arians star shines less brightly.

Tomlin/Big Ben
Payton/Brees
McCarty/Rodgers
Carroll/Wilson
Harbaugh/Flacco

I think when you can see a coach have success with different teams/GMs/QBs, that is when you are seeing a guy whose abilities stand alone. Andy Reid fits this category the best, I think.
I was just coming back to my desk to make pretty much this post, SR beat me to it.

I think the guy who is the perfect example of this is John Fox (who I think is a decent coach).

Fox did a good job of turning around both Carolina* (after Siefert) and Denver (cleaning up McDaniels' mess), and once he got better QBs (the "good" Jake Delhomme and still serviceable Manning) his teams were playoff regulars, with a Super Bowl run for each. His Chicago teams have been crushed by injuries and poor QB play, but my friends in Chicago say that the team still plays hard and was competitive in a lot of games this year. It will be interesting to see if Fox gets a 3rd year and a better QB to work with.


*Maybe the worst NFL team I've ever seen in person, and I've been going to Pats games since 1975.
 

Kliq

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Reid at times I think can be a brilliant offensive organizer. I think a big evaluation for me comes when a coach maximizes his talent. For instance, Bruce Arians did not do a good job this year maximizing his talent at all, while someone like Dan Quinn did. BB is still the gold standard for getting the most out of his players, but Reid, Carroll, Harbaugh and Zimmer are not behind. Reid is fun to make fun of but that takes away from the fact that his teams tend to win more football games than they lose; same for Jim Caldwell to a lesser extent. I heard people on the radio today talking about how they should fire Caldwell and I was thinking how many guys out there on the open market are better than Caldwell.
 

Rudy's Curve

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I think Carroll is pretty clearly #1. He's made the playoffs six of seven years (albeit the first year was solely due to the ineptitude of the NFC West) after inheriting a pretty bad situation - the Seahawks were 9-23 the previous two years and had practically no young talent. He's also had a lot of playoff success including winning a Super Bowl with a historically great team and coming within a hair of repeating. And USC hasn't remotely approached the heights he took them to in the 20 years before he got there or since he left. The guy can flat-out coach.
 

Zososoxfan

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Does the Saints' 3rd consecutive 7-9 season affect Payton's standing? A lot can probably be laid at the GM's feet, but that's not good. Andy Reid doesn't have as bad a 3-year stretch in a career going back to '99. Not saying Payton's a bad coach by any means, but I don't put him in the same category as Carroll, Reid, and Tomlin.
 

Ale Xander

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Does the Saints' 3rd consecutive 7-9 season affect Payton's standing? A lot can probably be laid at the GM's feet, but that's not good. Andy Reid doesn't have as bad a 3-year stretch in a career going back to '99. Not saying Payton's a bad coach by any means, but I don't put him in the same category as Carroll, Reid, and Tomlin.
Have you seen who the Saints were lining up in the secondary those 3 years? Especially after injuries in second half of this year?
 

tims4wins

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Have you seen who the Saints were lining up in the secondary those 3 years? Especially after injuries in second half of this year?
He still has a HOF QB. Shouldn't that be enough to avoid 3 straight losing seasons? I can forgive 1, maybe even 2 in a row. 3 is hard to fathom. Teams with elite QBs - NE, Pitt, GB - don't lose more games than they win 3 straight years.

Side tangent, this is why I have never agreed with ranking Brees in the top 2-3 QBs over the last 5-10 years. The truly great ones don't miss the playoffs like that - having Manning, Rodgers, or Brady under center was a near guarantee of a playoff spot. Hasn't been so for Brees lately
 

Curt S Loew

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He still has a HOF QB. Shouldn't that be enough to avoid 3 straight losing seasons? I can forgive 1, maybe even 2 in a row. 3 is hard to fathom. Teams with elite QBs - NE, Pitt, GB - don't lose more games than they win 3 straight years.

Side tangent, this is why I have never agreed with ranking Brees in the top 2-3 QBs over the last 5-10 years. The truly great ones don't miss the playoffs like that - having Manning, Rodgers, or Brady under center was a near guarantee of a playoff spot. Hasn't been so for Brees lately
Wait, first you said it was Payton's fault because he has an elite QB. Then, you blame Brees for missing the playoffs.
 

tims4wins

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Right. You hear about both as elite. Elite QB/coach combos don't miss the playoffs 3 years running. Kind of tough to separate them
 

Curt S Loew

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Right. You hear about both as elite. Elite QB/coach combos don't miss the playoffs 3 years running. Kind of tough to separate them
Right, but you called him elite which sort of contradicted your second point. If you are trying to say they share the blame, I get it.
 

Deathofthebambino

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I think the number of "great" NFL coaches is probably at an all time low, but I also think there are a few more above average coaches than people probably give credit for.

For me, it's Carroll and Reid and then a pretty big gap from there.

In the next tier, I'd probably have guys like Harbaugh, McCarthy, Tomlin and Payton (who i think is woefully overrated, and for some reason, people just seem to assume a head coach shouldn't be responsible for the putrid play of their defense).

Those guys, plus BB are guys that I would probably be ok with if I woke up one Sunday morning, and BB was no longer our coach, and was replaced overnight.

However, this is where it gets interesting. There are a group of "young" guys around the league like Zimmer, Quinn, Koetter, Gase who the jury is still out on, but could very easily find themselves moving up any "top NFL head coaches" list in short order.

I'd also like to point to a couple guys that get overlooked, but also get raw deals, IMO. Del Rio did a LOT, for a long time, for the Jacksonville franchise, and since he left, I think we're seeing that job may be too much for anyone. He's 19-13 in his 2 years in Oakland, and was on his way to the #2 seed when his MVP candidate QB snapped his leg in the 15th game of the year, and then his backup went down too. He was forced to have a rookie QB make his first start in the playoffs, something that's never happened before, and I think he did as much as he could in that situation. IMO, Oakland is poised to be the next true contender to the AFC Crown for many years.

People will laugh, but the other guy is Mularkey. I don't know that any coach has had more bad luck, got more raw deals, and just plain ended up in shitty situations than Mularkey has in his head coaching career. I think he may have actually found a good spot, with a good young QB, a young talented defense, and an ownership that seems to support him in Tennessee, and like Del Rio, was in a very good spot heading into the final weeks when his young QB snapped his leg in week 15.

Both of those guys have established resumes as coordinators, and middling success as head coaches elsewhere, but for various reasons, never had a team or the support from above to succeed, but could very well be where they are for many years to come.

Then there are the guys like Fox, Arians, Rivera, McAdoo, Bowles, etc. that I personally feel like will never coach a Super Bowl contender, and if they were ever given the reigns to a team that was a Super Bowl contender, would manage to find a way to screw it up pretty quickly.
 

Tony C

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...

I think the guy who is the perfect example of this is John Fox (who I think is a decent coach).

Fox did a good job of turning around both Carolina* (after Siefert) and Denver (cleaning up McDaniels' mess), and once he got better QBs (the "good" Jake Delhomme and still serviceable Manning) his teams were playoff regulars, with a Super Bowl run for each. His Chicago teams have been crushed by injuries and poor QB play, but my friends in Chicago say that the team still plays hard and was competitive in a lot of games this year. It will be interesting to see if Fox gets a 3rd year and a better QB to work with.
.
Del Rio and Fox are two guys with whom I whole-heartedly agree as being top tier (top 10, in the roughest sense?). Fox has been great with Chicago and when I hear they might fire him I have to laugh: shitty talent that was ripped apart by injuries and yet stayed competitive in way too many games. And what DoTB said on Del Rio (even as I disagree with him on Fox and have no idea on Mularkey).
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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The most overrated coach in the NFL is Mike McCarthy. He has a fantastic W/L record but basically anybody would have a very good W/L record with Aaron Rodgers as his QB, Ted Thompson putting the team together as GM, and a trio of relatively hapless franchises as divisional rivals. While Green Bay has been very, very consistent in making the playoffs under McCarthy, they have won 12 or more games only twice in the Rodgers era and made only two conference championship games (McCarthy made one with Favre too). McCarthy deserves some credit for keeping the ship on course year-after-year but his in-game decision making is awful and his offensive schemes have become really stale and depend on Aaron Rodgers basically just playing at an insane level.
 

Cellar-Door

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I think the number of "great" NFL coaches is probably at an all time low, but I also think there are a few more above average coaches than people probably give credit for.

For me, it's Carroll and Reid and then a pretty big gap from there.

In the next tier, I'd probably have guys like Harbaugh, McCarthy, Tomlin and Payton (who i think is woefully overrated, and for some reason, people just seem to assume a head coach shouldn't be responsible for the putrid play of their defense).

Those guys, plus BB are guys that I would probably be ok with if I woke up one Sunday morning, and BB was no longer our coach, and was replaced overnight.

However, this is where it gets interesting. There are a group of "young" guys around the league like Zimmer, Quinn, Koetter, Gase who the jury is still out on, but could very easily find themselves moving up any "top NFL head coaches" list in short order.

I'd also like to point to a couple guys that get overlooked, but also get raw deals, IMO. Del Rio did a LOT, for a long time, for the Jacksonville franchise, and since he left, I think we're seeing that job may be too much for anyone. He's 19-13 in his 2 years in Oakland, and was on his way to the #2 seed when his MVP candidate QB snapped his leg in the 15th game of the year, and then his backup went down too. He was forced to have a rookie QB make his first start in the playoffs, something that's never happened before, and I think he did as much as he could in that situation. IMO, Oakland is poised to be the next true contender to the AFC Crown for many years.

People will laugh, but the other guy is Mularkey. I don't know that any coach has had more bad luck, got more raw deals, and just plain ended up in shitty situations than Mularkey has in his head coaching career. I think he may have actually found a good spot, with a good young QB, a young talented defense, and an ownership that seems to support him in Tennessee, and like Del Rio, was in a very good spot heading into the final weeks when his young QB snapped his leg in week 15.

Both of those guys have established resumes as coordinators, and middling success as head coaches elsewhere, but for various reasons, never had a team or the support from above to succeed, but could very well be where they are for many years to come.

Then there are the guys like Fox, Arians, Rivera, McAdoo, Bowles, etc. that I personally feel like will never coach a Super Bowl contender, and if they were ever given the reigns to a team that was a Super Bowl contender, would manage to find a way to screw it up pretty quickly.
Kind of agree on Mularkey, he gets you a running game everywhere he's been, he has a clear skillset.
I disagree on Arians, I think he can be a very good head coach and a superbowl contender (I mean he already did the 2014 Cardinals were terrific at 9-1 when Palmer blew out his knee, then lost their backup QB and had to start Ryan fucking Lindley in the playoffs, 2015 went 13-3 beat GB in the playoffs, QB melted down in the NFC title game). He did very well for Arizona until this year, and his run as interim coach for IND was terrific.
 

Seels

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Jul 20, 2005
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I don't think a lot of these guys considered 'good' are all that great at all. Guys like McCarthy and and Payton seem average at best but have had elite all time QBs at their prime. Did anyone watch the Green Bay game yesterday (or ever) and think wow what a well coached team? I think the opposite is true as well -- lots of guys have a short stay in the league simply cause their QB situation sucks.

I suppose if we couldn't have BB, I'd go:

1. Reid: I think he's overall really good just has one quirk with time management. Hall of Famer for me. Arguably 2nd best of his generation in total.
2. Bruce Arians: I think he is good despite this last season. Arizona plays good, if not inconsistent football.
3. Pete Carrol: Dislike him but accomplishments at USC / Seattle speak for themself.
4. Jon Harbaugh: I'm not sure Baltimore has a lot of talent the last 2-3 years but they're at worst competitive. Rarely see him coaching a disaster.

If Jim Harbaugh was still in the league I'd have him at #2. I'm not sure where I'd put McCarthy or Payton but I don't think either of them are good coaches. I hold them in similar regard that I did Tony Dungy -- fortunate, and both good at certain things, but overall probably wasting the careers of HoF QBs. Even if you fault the Saints management as the reason for their defensive woes, they've missed the playoffs far too frequently in the NFLs worst division.