Best NFL Head Coach of All-Time

[Giants/Jets Legend]

Vote for who you think was the greatest head coach in the NFL.

[Giants/Jets Legend]

There are probably plenty on this list that I excluded but for some reason I can't do more than 10 choices.

[Snake]

Even though my vote went with Lombardi, to me Lombardi and Madden are tied as the 2 best. Both took over perrenial losers and almost overnight turned them into winners. Lombardi and Madden are the only 2 NFL coaches with over 100 wins that have never had a losing season. Lombardi's lifetime record: 105-35-6, 9-2 in Post Season. Madden's lifetime record: 103-32-7, 9-7 in Post Season. Both had relatively short careers, but very succesful ones. Lombardi's career was shortened due to cancer, Madden's due to stress induced ulcers.

There was 1 other coach that I considered, that is Bill Walsh. Though his record is not quite as good as Lombardi's and Madden's, it is very good. He also took over a perrenial losing squad, and turned it around seemingly overnight. He won 3 Superbowls in the 80's, and developped what is now known as the West Coast offense. He also set up his replacement, Seifort to win another 2 Superbowls with his team. The thing I really find impressive about Walsh though, is the success of his assistant coaches. These include George Seifort, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Ray Rhodes, and Dennis Green. All of whom have become successful Head Coaches in their own right. I don't believe any other Coach can claim such an accomplished list of assistants that they had trained. Each of these are also putting out accomplished assistant turned head coaches, most notably Jon Gruden, who started with the 49ers, went with Holmgren to Green Bay, then with Rhodes to Philly, before taking over the Raiders, then the Buccaneers.

[Giants/Jets Legend]

Vince Lombardi-Green Bay 1959-1967 Washington 1969
Season Record: 96-34-6 Playoff Record: 10-2 Chamionships: 6

Mike Ditka-Chicago 1982-1992 New Orleans 1997-1999
Season Record: 121-95 Playoff Record: 6-6 Chamionships: 1

Joe Gibbs-Washington 1981-1992 2004-Present
Season Record: 140-76 Playoff Record: 17-6 Chamionships: 3

Curly Lambeau-Green Bay 1921-1949 Chicago 1950-1951 Washington 1952-1953
Season Record: 226-132-22 Playoff Record: 3-2 Chamionships: 3

Tom Landry-Dallas 1960-1988
Season Record: 250-162-6 Playoff Record: 21-16 Chamionships: 2

Chuck Noll-Pittsburgh 1969-1991
Season Record: 193-148-1 Playoff Record: 16-8 Chamionships: 4

Steve Owen-New York G 1931-1953
Season Record: 152-99-17 Playoff Record: 2-8 Chamionships: 2

Don Shula-Baltimore 1963-1969 Miami 1970-1995
Season Record: 328-156-6 Playoff Record: 19-17 Chamionships: 2

Bill Walsh-San Francisco 1979-1988
Season Record: 92-59-1 Playoff Record: 10-4 Chamionships: 3

[Willie]

Paul Brown is my #2 pick.


John Madden did not take over a perennial loser. John Rauch preceded Madden as the Raiders head coach and went 35-10-1.

[gridiron]

Bill Belichick, 3 wins in four years in the free agent era. He should have been on the list at the very least!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Snake]

John Madden did not take over a perennial loser. John Rauch preceded Madden as the Raiders head coach and went 35-10-1.

LOL, dang, busted. :D Willie is of course correct, the 2 years before Madden started the Raiders came in 1st place in the AFL West, in 67, they even won the AFL Championship, and lost to the Pack in the Superbowl, in 68, they lost the AFL Championship game to ....of course, the Jets. Hehe, just trying to make my man sound a little better ;)

[starkeeper]

Its got to be Lombardi. Yes for the numbers but mainly for the legacy.

[tdk1984]

As much as I hate the Pack, I have to say Lombardi. I very much admire what he was able to do. Highest win percentage amongst all head coaches in NFL history and a master motivator.

[redbuck]

It is so hard to judge coaches. So much depends on the team/style. If I had to pick, I'd say Lombardi or Walsh.

[gridiron]

Lombardi, Belichick or Weeb Eubanks. Weeb coached the Colts to the 1958 championship and the Jets to their only SB win.

[Snake]

As much as I hate the Pack, I have to say Lombardi. I very much admire what he was able to do. Highest win percentage amongst all head coaches in NFL history and a master motivator.


ahem:

Lombardi's winning percentage - .728
Madden's winning percentage - .759

That was regular season, if you include playoff games, where Lombardi truly shined:

Lombardi - .740
Madden - .739

[football junkie]

My vote went to Bill Walsh for revolutionizing the way the game of football is played. It is almost impossible to think of the modern NFL without the "west-coast offense."

In addition his coaching tree is second to none.

[RedSoxVT92]

Went with the general consensus on Vince Lombardi. But there are some big coaches that are missing from the discussion.

A notable one is George Halas. A inovator of the game who devoted his whole life to football. A pioneer of the NFL and founder of the Decatur Staleys (Chicago Bears). He coached his team from 1920-1967, won 6 championships and has 318 wins and 148 losses. He might still have the all time record if he did not have to miss 1942-45 due to WWII. Halas consistantly was a winner. First to have daily practice sessions, utilize films of opponents games schedule a barnstorming tour and have games broadcast on radio. Also perfected the classic T-Formation with man-in-motion. Not too many coaches come around like Halas.

Hank Stram was also an inovator of the game. He managed to take two AFL teams to the superbowl, winning one of them. The only AFL coach to win 3 AFL championships. Stram was a very good diamond cutter and saw and formed talent very well. He also created the moving pocket, two tight-end offense and of course the famous stack defense. A genious play inovater.

If you want to talk about a coach who could turn a consitant loser into a winner, then talk about George Allen. He came to the Los Angeles Rams in 1966 who were awful in recent years, not having a winning season in the last 7 seasons. But he managed to turn that team around. He got them into the playoffs in 1967 and had some pretty good years. Allen moved on to the Washington Redskins in 1971. A team who had one winning season in the last 15 years. So what did he do? He turned them into a consitant winner. He even got them to the superbowl. The HoFer George Allen also won 3 coach of the year awards. Never had a losing season in his 12 years of coaching.

These are just a few, as there have been so many great coaches in the history of the NFL.

[football junkie]

The guy I really don't agree with in this poll is Mike Ditka. I don't think he belongs anywhere near that group. Sure the 1984-6 Bears' defenses were great. But was that because of Ditka or Buddy Ryan's defensive schemes and players like Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Wilbur Marshall, Dave Duerson and Otis Wilson?

Ditka didn't draw up the defense. He didn't acquire the players. And when he did get a chance to do both in New Orleans -- he made a complete mess of things. His record with the Saints: 15-33. Then there was that horrible draft when he gave up vitrually all the Saints picks to get Ricky Williams.

And the publicity they did afterwards with Ditka in a dreadlocks wig and Ricky in a wedding dress. Ditka made himself look like a chump and he wreaked the Saints -- who at least had some decent double digit win season under Ditka's predecessor, Jim Mora Sr.

[KHenry14]

At the risk of being labeled a Niner wank, Walsh gets my vote for a number of reasons. Obviously 3 SB titles in 8 years tops the list, but he has many other qualifications. The refining of the WC offense into the most copied system in the league (Bill wouldn't take credit for it, he got parts from P. Brown and S. Gilman) has to be right up there. He was probably the best judge of talent of any coach in the past 30 years, over and over again he took marginal players and made them into serviceable NFL players. Frankly, the 1981 Niners talent level is probably the worst of any SB champion, yet they won. That was entirely because of Walsh. Compare Lombardi's first championship team, and they had far more talent than the 1981 Niners. And finally, he knew how to teach his players and coaches.

This isn't to belittle any other coach, just wanted to make the case that Walsh's impact on the game was far more reaching than Lombardi's.

[football junkie]

At the risk of being labeled a Niner wank, Walsh gets my vote for a number of reasons. Obviously 3 SB titles in 8 years tops the list, but he has many other qualifications. The refining of the WC offense into the most copied system in the league (Bill wouldn't take credit for it, he got parts from P. Brown and S. Gilman) has to be right up there. He was probably the best judge of talent of any coach in the past 30 years, over and over again he took marginal players and made them into serviceable NFL players. Frankly, the 1981 Niners talent level is probably the worst of any SB champion, yet they won. That was entirely because of Walsh. Compare Lombardi's first championship team, and they had far more talent than the 1981 Niners. And finally, he knew how to teach his players and coaches.

This isn't to belittle any other coach, just wanted to make the case that Walsh's impact on the game was far more reaching than Lombardi's.

You're not alone in your assessment of Bill Walsh. I hate the 49ers. I grew up in NY and loved the Giants and Bills. And it seemed almost every year the 49ers knocked the Giants out of the playoffs. Walsh still got my vote.

Now Walsh might not be the greatest head coach in NFL history but he is without doubt the most influential person to hold that position in the last 30 years.

[gridiron]

So far, Walsh and Lombardi are the only 2 coaches with more than one vote. It certainly narrows the field.
I think if they went head to head with comparable teams (comparable because size counts) Lombardi would win 3 of five games.
Lombardi influenced the game with the run to daylight philosophy, which may have done more to open up the offense than even the West Coast style.

[Wolverine]

I think that a case can be made for Paul Brown. His overall record (166-100-6, regular season) suffers mostly because of his first four years with the expansion Bengals (19-36-1), but he had a tremendous impact on the league.

He hired a full-time staff on a year-round basis and he instituted a system for scouting college talent on a scale never before imagined by other pro teams. In his handling of his team, he became the first to (1) use intelligence tests as a hint to a player's learning potential, (2) use notebooks and classroom techniques extensively, (3) set up complete film clip statistical studies and (4) grade his own players based on film study. Brown, always a firm disciplinarian, was the first coach to keep his players together at a hotel the night before a home game as well as a road game.

From the strategic standpoint, he started the practice of calling plays from the sideline by utilizing alternating guards as messengers.

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=34

When the Browns came into the NFL many people felt that they would be just another team. They changed that perception immediately by defeating the defending champion Eagles 35-10 and then went on to win the division title and the championship. Between 1950 and 1955 they were 58-13-1, winning the division every year and going 3-3 in championship games.

By the late 50s other clubs (primarily the Giants and Colts) caught up to the Browns, but for years Paul Brown had set an unmatched standard of excellence.

His pre-NFL career was just as distinguished. In his four years in the AAFC the Browns won four titles, going 47-4-3, including an undefeated season in 1948. His Ohio State team won the 1942 national championship. His high school teams were 80-8-2, winning 58 of 60 games during one stretch.

[Wolverine]

In the regular season at Green Bay Lombardi was 89-29-4 over 9 seasons. In his first 10 years in the league Brown was an almost identical 88-30-2. Brown only lasted three more years in Cleveland, then was out of the game for 5 years before starting the Bengals.

Lombardi's playoff record is far superior to Brown's (10-2 vs 4-8), but he was fortunate to have had many of the games in Green Bay (5 home, 3 away, 4 neutral; one home game was played in Milwaukee). After 1954 Brown never coached a playoff game in either Cleveland or Cincinnati

In terms of building a legend, it was Brown's misfortune that his greatest years were just before the NFL took off. Very few games were televised nationally in the early 50s and most casual fans still preferred college football. Had his 1950-55 run been a decade later he'd probably be as well remembered as Lombardi.

We'll never know what Lombardi would have done if he'd coached in the NFL as long as Brown's 21 years, but it would have been difficult for him to sustain the pace he had set in Green Bay. He would still be a legend and deservedly so, but history shows that if you stay in the game for decades some slippage is inevitable. Shula slipped a little, Brown a little more, and Landry a lot. Lombardi might have won another Super Bowl with Washington, but the odds are he wouldn't have done any better than George Allen (which was very good).

[gridiron]

Despite rteaching the title game so often, Brown has the dubious distinction of losing 3 (three) consecutive title games, a feat unmatched until the Marv Levi Bills managed 4 consecutive.
Lombardi aslo lost a potential title or two because some players, including Hornung were suspended for gambling. Vince could easily have been 6 out of 7 or seven out of seven if that didn't happen.

[soberdennis]

I have to go wit St. Vincent. He said it all when he first met with his Packer players. "I have never been associated with a loser and I don't intend on starting now."
I wonder how good the Skins would have been had he lived.

[Calif_Eagle]

I voted for Paul Brown, and the only other NFL coach that comes close in terms of impact on how the game was played was George Halas. They brought the sport up from something closely resembling sandlot ball. When the league began, a coach was chosen because of the players he knew or could recruit for the team, there was very little actual "coaching" involved. Practices and prep for games was minimal to non-existant. Contrast that today's games and seasons that compare well to wartime military campaigns. There is actual coaching by huge staffs of all sorts of minutiae, physical conditioning, weight training, nutritional consideration (in training camps), opponents are scouted, films are studied, playbooks exist with codified terminology and signals. Players are scouted and acquired in the same manner, after endless physical, psychological and background tests and checks. Almost all of these elements of our modern game were introduced by either Halas or Brown. And I no doubt left many elements out. As far as pure success, Brown and Halas can both put their lifetime records out there with anyone. Vince Lombardi was a Great coach and motivator to be sure, but I think his style of coaching would not work in todays game. (A criticism you admittedly might also be able to level at Halas and Brown, especially Brown.) And not to be tasteless or crass, but re: Wolverine's point above about Lombardi not being able to sustain his success... well, we will never know for certain, but one has to think dying was a "good career move" (In the sense of how it has been said about Elvis Presley & James Dean), He had nowhere to go but down, & surely would have taken a much different tack with the Redskins in the 70's than George Allen did. Personnel was certain to have been a lot different. Who knows how that would have gone? (by the way, Wolverine made another good point about PB's first 10 years as coach. If that had happened in the National TV Contract era, all you would ever hear about was Paul Brown. Same could be said of George Halas' Chicago Bear years (with time out for WWII) from 1933-1946.

[C. Snake]

My slate for top five managers of all time

1. Vince Lombardi - Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins ('59-69) The first dominant coach to create a dominant team.

2. Bill Walsh - San Fransisco 49ers ('79-88) Dramaticly changed the 49ers from the awful 70s teams to the great 80s teams, made the perfect QB-Coach combo with Joe Montana.

3. Paul Brown - Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals ('50-88) The Connie Mack of football, the father of modern offense, created one of the most dominant dynasties in history.

4. John Madden - Oakland Raiders ('69-78) The greatest coach in Raider history, leading those great Oakland teams in the 70s.

5. Curly Lambeau - Green Bay Packers, Chicago Cardinals, Washington Redskins ('21-53) The second greatest coach in Packer history.

[redlegsfan21]

The guy that's in every Super Bowl (or at least on the trophy).

[Hut5]

Sure, there are a few guys who need to be in this discussion: Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, John Madden, Chuck Noll, Don Shula, etc.

But that discussion is really about who is the SECOND best coach of all time. Lombardi it is.