Rotoworld’s Pat Daugherty has released a list of the best head coaches in the NFL for four straight years and for four straight years New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick takes the top spot.
“Five championships in, and Bill Belichick still has nothing to say,” Daugherty writes. “‘Thanks, Terry, but … look, it’s all about these players. We’ve got great players. They’re tough and they compete.’ This was Belichick’s ‘response’ to Terry Bradshaw’s post-Super Bowl 51 assertion that Belichick is the best coach of all time. So is the banality of Belichick’s greatness, a methodical march that’s produced seven straight 12-win seasons and six straight AFC Championship Game appearances.
“Belichick’s five Lombardis are as many as every other active coach combined. His record against those five coaches in the playoffs? 4-2 (.666). Belichick’s 26 postseason victories would be tied for 18th in regular season victories amongst his current peers.
“To say Belichick is the best coach in the NFL is to say the sky is blue. What he’s chasing now is a spot on America’s coaching Mt. Rushmore. Vince Lombardi. Red Auerbach. Scotty Bowman. Bear Bryant. That’s the company Belichick keeps, not Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh or whomever else the league throws at him.”
None of this is a surprise. Belichick is the greatest football coach of the modern era and in the running for greatest football coach of all time (Bill Belichick will always defer to Paul Brown).
But how about the fact that Belichick has as many Super Bowl victories as all the other head coaches combined?
Belichick has five championships under his belt (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, and 2016). The others: Pete Carroll (Seahawks, 2013); John Harbaugh (Ravens, 2012); Mike McCarthy (Packers, 2010); Sean Payton (Saints, 2009); and Mike Tomlin (Steelers, 2008). That’s it.
The coaches that fill in the blanks are all retired or no longer a head coach: Gary Kubiak (Broncos, 2015); Tom Coughlin (Giants, 2007, 2011); Tony Dungy (Colts, 2006); Bill Cowher (Steelers, 2005); and Jon Gruden (Buccaneers, 2002).
It’s Belichick and the rest of the league and Belichick is able to take on all comers.
Notable in the list is Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase ranking 10th after taking the Dolphins to the playoffs. While the Dolphins have a lot of potential, it is worth noting that New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles fell from 13th to 25th in the rankings, so an implosion by the Dolphins is not out of the question.