As the NFL season enters November, coaches are becoming a hot topic in league circles. Some coaches, like Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets and Dan Quinn of the Washington Commanders, are facing pressure to turn things around quickly before potentially losing their jobs by the end of the season.
NFL coaches make a big difference for teams when it comes to scheme, culture building, and game management. Veteran coaches like Mike McCarthy (Pittsburgh Steelers) and John Harbaugh (New York Giants) are enjoying quick successes with their new teams.
There are plenty of greatest head coaches of all time lists. This one is a little different. We'll be looking at the best head coaches in the modern era (since the salary cap was instituted in 1994). This is the first Mount Rushmore feature on the greatest in the league. We'll look at agents, general managers, and others in future weeks.
After talking to several sources around the league, here are the top four head coaches of all time in the modern era and four coaches who could eventually get on that list.
Best of all time
Andy Reid
Reid has made the Super Bowl with two different franchises, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. He's won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs. Reid is an offensive innovator and will go down as one of the best play designers in league history.
Reid has the Chiefs 5-1 through the first seven weeks, and Kansas City looks to be a factor in the Super Bowl conversation again this year.
Bill Belichick
...
Modern era or not, Belichick will go down as the greatest head coach of all time in the NFL. Belichick's six Super Bowls are the most by any head coach ever in the league and two more than Chuck Noll's four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Belichick posted a .647 winning percentage in the regular season and a .705 winning percentage in the postseason. He made a total of nine Super Bowls as head coach.
Mike Shanahan
Shanahan won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos over the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons. He recorded an impressive .616 winning percentage with Denver in the regular season and .615 in the postseason. He compiled a 170-138 record as head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, Broncos, and Washington Redskins.
Tom Coughlin
Coughlin has the prestigious distinction of being the head coach that beat Belichick twice in the Super Bowl, including the 17-14 upset in Super Bowl XLII that kept the Patriots from completing an undefeated season. Coughlin posted a .531 winning percentage in the regular season and a .632 winning percentage in the postseason.
Current coaches who have a chance to make the list
John Harbaugh
In 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Harbaugh made the postseason 12 times and won Super Bowl XLVII over his brother Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers. Harbaugh built strong teams around two franchise quarterbacks in Baltimore, Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson.
In his first season with the Giants, Harbaugh has New York in first place in the NFC East after seven games with a 4-2-1 record despite quarterback Jaxson Dart suffering a season-ending injury on the first drive of Week 2. Harbaugh has made the Giants an immediate contender, and the team could be set up for big-time success in the near future.
Kyle Shanahan
Shanahan is the only head coach on this list not to have led his team to a Super Bowl victory. Still, the offensive innovator has made two Super Bowl appearances with the 49ers and two more NFC Championship Game appearances.
Shanahan always seems to get the best of his teams. Despite numerous injuries that started to hit San Francisco in training camp, the 49ers have the league's second-best record entering their bye in Week 8. It feels like only a matter of time before he wins his first Super Bowl, and this could be the season he breaks through.
Sean McVay
...
McVay was hired by the Los Angeles Rams when he was just 30 years old. The job wasn't too big for him, as he led the Rams to the playoffs in four of his first five seasons, including a win in Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals. In his first nine years with the Rams, he's failed to make the playoffs just twice.
The Rams are 3-4 this season, which is not where many expected Los Angeles to be at this point in the regular season after making aggressive moves in the offseason. However, the Rams have several winnable games coming up (Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders, Arizona Cardinals) and should be in the mix for the postseason.
Sean Payton
Payton led the New Orleans Saints to their first-ever Super Bowl win during the 2009 season. He was a questionable call in the 2018 NFC Championship Game away from returning to the Super Bowl with the Saints. He made the postseason nine times in 15 seasons with New Orleans.
Payton has continued his winning ways with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos made the AFC Championship Game last season but were beaten by the New England Patriots after Denver quarterback Bo Nix suffered an ankle injury that knocked him out of the postseason in the Division Round. The Broncos are 5-2 through seven weeks and could make a deep playoff run this season.
For more on the NFL, head to Newsweek Sports.