The National Football League has seen great coaches in its more than 90-year history. The league was formed in 1920, and the coach of one of its original franchises, George Halas of the Decatur Staleys, purchased the team in 1921, moved it to Chicago, and renamed it the Chicago Bears in 1922. The team won the league championship . in 1921, and were easily the dominant team during the early years of the league. Over the next 40 years, Halas was the team’s guiding force, leading them to six championships, the last in 1963. His all-time record, 324-151-31, ranks second for most wins.
The winningest coach of all time is Don Shula (347-173-6), who won two championships with the Miami Dolphins, and his 1972 team remains the only NFL team to complete a full season with a record unbeaten. Shula also holds the record for the most Super Bowl appearances by a coach with six. The league’s all-time winningest coach by percentage (.740) is the legendary Vince Lombardi, after whom the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl-winning team is named. Lombardi led the Green Bay Packers to their first two Super Bowl titles and is considered one of the greatest motivators in NFL history. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Chuck Noll won four Super Bowl titles, the most of any coach. Noll’s prowess was on the defensive side of the ball, and he is credited with developing the famous “Steel Curtain” defense of the late 1970s. Three coaches, Bill Belichick, Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh, have three titles of Super Bowl each. Belichick is still active (New England) and is generally considered the best coach currently in the league. Gibbs led the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl titles with three different quarterbacks. Walsh, the genius behind the potent West Coast offense, was considered perhaps the most innovative offensive coach of all time.
There are currently 22 coaches who have been elected to the NFL Hall of Fame, including legendary figures such as George Allen, Paul Brown, Al Davis, Bud Grant, Tom Landry, John Madden and Hank Stram. These coaches have a combined eight Super Bowl appearances between them, with four championships.
Retired coaches likely soon to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame include such illustrious names as Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher and Dick Vermeil, each of whom led his teams to at least one Super Bowl championship.
Among the current crop of NFL coaches, several have shown enormous potential to one day be included in the conversation of the “greatest” coaches of all time. In addition to Belichick, they include Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Chicago’s Lovie Smith, Philadelphia’s Andy Reid and the New York Giants’ Tom Coughlin. Tomlin became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl in 2009.