ESPN's Top 20 NFL Coaches Ever

Aw, I was just yankin' your chain.

Actually, I thought you were going to come after me with Montana and Elway.

 

Maybe when fans and columnists were calling for him to be fired?

 

These are the coaches who have won Super Bowls since 1980...

Rank em...

Gibbs
Johnson
Switzer
Walsh
Seifert
Dungy
Holmgren
Cowher
Shanahan
Coughlin
Parcells
Belichick
Payton
Tomlin
Gruden
Noll
Flores
Ditka
Vermeil
Billick
John Harbaugh

 

Drunk Joe Namath begs to differ. Then he wants to kiss you.

 

Not really.
The Jets were 17 point undersdogs in SB III.
The Giants were two touchdown underdogs ...

But I agree Coughlin is vastly underrated as a head coach. So is George Seifert, who in addition to winning with Niners (as he was supposed to), did pretty well in expansion land with Carolina.

 

I see Bud Grant -- Grey Cup titles, in addition to four Super Bowl appearances -- made the list at No. 15.

Hard to ignore that the Vikings totally lost their identity once they moved indoors.

 

These are the coaches who have won Super Bowls since 1980...

Here are my rankings... I have Noll high up because I'm not going to penalize him for winning titles before 1980.

1. Bill Walsh - Three titles, went out on top.
2. Joe Gibbs - Three titles, three different QBs. Points deducted for second stint with Skins.
3. Bill Belichick - Three titles, but also has two losses in the Super Bowl.
4. Bill Parcells - Won twice, took two different teams to the Super Bowl. Completely rebuilt Pats from bottom up.
5. Tom Coughlin - Two titles, two wins where his team was a huge underdog.
6. Chuck Noll - Built one of the biggest dynasties of the Super Bowl Era.
7. Jimmy Johnson - Built the team that won three titles, won two on his own.
8. Mike Shanahan - Did what Dan Reeves couldn't do. Won with aging, but still effective QB
9. Mike Holmgren - Rebuilt two teams, took both to the Super Bowl.
10. Sean Payton - Completely rebuilt Saints, won title.
11. Tony Dungy - Rebuilt Bucs, won title in Indy.
12. Bill Cowher - Won consistently despite losing top players on a regular basis.
13. Dick Vermeil - Took two franchises to the Super Bowl.
14. John Harbaugh - Has done nothing but win consistently since taking over.
15. Mike Ditka - Coached arguably the best team of the Super Bowl Era.
16. Tom Flores - Won two titles, gets virtually no credit for it.
17. George Seifert - Won two titles, gets virtually no credit for it.
18. Jon Gruden - Came in a took a team that was on the verge to a title. Hasn't done much since.
18. Mike McCarthy - Developed QB into one of the best in the game, but GM gets most of the credit.
19. Mike Tomlin - Inherited a great team, has done well since.
20. Brian Billick - GM got most of the credit for team's success.
21. Barry Switzer - Perception is that anyone could have won with the players he inherited.

 

This list is....1980 on? Or just a random list of guys we have talked about in the past two days?

 

Yeah, Super Bowl winning coaches since 1980.

 

no complaints from me then...solid ranking. Maybe Johnson ahead of noll since it is 1980 on...

 

It seems as if Bill Cowher is underrated which surprises me. Eight division titles, 10 playoff seasons, two Super bowls, one win. He did this while having 'meh' at quarterback for a majority of the time.

 

Some of it is the same stuff critics throw at Dungy. He had too many playoff disappointments. Quite few losses at home in the AFC Championship game. Tom Brady and Coach Hoodie built a good part of their reputations beating Cowher's teams when it counted.

Funny thing was his two Super Bowl appearances were also probably the two best seasons he ever got out of a quarterback, Neil O'Donnell in 1995 and Ben Roethlisberger in 2005. Of course, O'Donnell threw away any chance the Steelers had to upset the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX and Roethlisberger turned in what might have been the worst performance ever by the quarterback of the winning team in the Super Bowl in XL, but both were big reasons their teams made it that far.