In Volume I of my NFL Head Coach Power Rankings, I was forced to answer an impossible question:
Who is worse...Todd Bowles or Hue Jackson?
After banging my head against the wall for a couple days, the right answer finally popped out: Jackson is the worst head coach in the league because he has a 2-33 record with the Browns.
Wait...wait...I can't believe I almost forgot!...he also has one tie. Guy is a football genius.
In actuality, when ranking two coaches who are so incredibly inept, there is no right answer. They're both wrong. Neither one should have a head coaching job in the NFL. Let's move on to some better football coaches...
20. Sean McDermott, Bills: I HATE putting this guy in my top 20. He benched Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman right smack in the middle of a playoff race! Not that Taylor is a world-beater, but Peterman simply isn't talented enough to be a competent NFL quarterback. That was apparent all the way back in the 2017 preseason. The kid's never been good. He's shown nothing positive.
And yet, in spite of Peterman's five-interception performance -- in one half! -- McDermott was eventually rewarded with an AFC playoff berth. In a vacuum, that type of inexplicable decision-making should NOT be rewarded. Call it the luck of the Irish, in this case.
However, on the flip side, McDermott has done a nice job with a limited overall talent pool. Yes, he cost the Bills a critical game in the middle of a playoff race, but he also coached a weak all-around team to the postseason. Going forward, I honestly expect him to fall in my rankings.
19. Bill O'Brien, Texans: Yeah, Bill's definitely on the hot seat, but overall he's done a nice job with the Texans. He's had to deal with some low-end QBs -- Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer, T.J. Yates, you get the idea -- and yet he has some playoff appearances and has (mostly) acquitted himself well. I mean, all organizations can't realistically expect to win the Super Bowl, can they? Based on talent, I've never expected any of O'Brien's teams to go very far. Can't expect miracles with average personnel.
18. Marvin Lewis, Bengals: I laughed at the Bengals organization for retaining Lewis for another go-around, but they've proven me wrong thus far. The Bengals actually look like one of the best teams in the NFL in 2018. Lewis isn't a "genius" or "guru" in any way, but he's an experienced leader and calming influence. Like I wrote about Dusty Baker and Joe Girardi in the MLB -- some guys just know how to do the job. That's a qualification in itself.
17. Jay Gruden, Redskins: He's a good football coach from a family of football coaches, but his 'Skins never go very far. This season looks a bit more promising with Alex Smith's valuable ball control, but let me see it before I believe it. I'm sure, at some point, we might be able to make an argument for Jay in the top 15.
16. Kyle Shanahan, 49ers: This kid is pretty cursed. He opened his head coaching career with Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard as his quarterbacks, so the odds were immediately stacked against him. That didn't go well, and it eventually opened the door to the trade for franchise "savior" Jimmy Garoppolo. That move started off quite well in '17, but took a devastating nosedive this year. Garoppolo is done, along with RB1 Jerick McKinnon, who never even took the field. One soul-crushing injury on top of another.
Now, Shanahan is back to Beathard. Can we really expect victories? The only thing we know for sure is that he was a superb OC for the Falcons.
15. Matt Nagy, Bears: How 'bout them 3-1 Bears?
Give this rookie head coach all the credit, as he has found ways to protect Mitchell Trubisky's confidence, while spreading touches around to Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Trey Burton.
Obviously the Khalil Mack addition was a godsend on the defensive side of the ball, not to mention the productive work of Akiem Hicks (3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles), Danny Trevathan (16 tackles, 2 sacks) and Eddie Jackson (10 tackles, 2 interceptions). Nagy and Mack have these youngsters believing. After Sean McVay, Nagy would have my vote for Coach of the Year. This is definitely a feel-good story.
14. Dan Quinn, Falcons: Perhaps the trickiest of all to evaluate. Obviously, things started out well with a trip to the Super Bowl. The Falcons were the best or second-best team in the NFL throughout the 2016 campaign, and they dominated a big portion of the Big Game. You could argue that Shanahan was more responsible for the Falcons' loss than Quinn.
Then came '17. Another trip to the postseason, but it wasn't nearly as convincing. The Falcons' offense sputtered without Shanahan, and the Eagles bounced them early in a tight one.
Now, speaking of tight ones, Atlanta seems to lose them all this season. Matt Ryan and Calvin Ridley have been rolling offensively, but Quinn's boys are closing like Armando Benitez, as opposed to Mariano Rivera. Quinn is supposedly a defensive guru, but the performance of his personnel suggests otherwise. I still (kind of) think the Falcons are one of the best teams in the league, while Quinn is a middle-of-the-pack head coach.
13. Mike Tomlin, Steelers: Pittsburgh's been mired in controversy this season -- between Le'Veon Bell's dramatic holdout and Antonio Brown's babyish comments -- but on the whole, Tomlin's tenure has been steeped in stability. He's a Super Bowl champion head coach, and his coach/QB combo with Ben Roethlisberger is in superstar company with Brady/Belichick, Rodgers/McCarthy, Brees/Payton and Wilson/Carroll.
The old saying in the NFL goes "it starts with coach and quarterback." And these Steelers have been lucky to boast such a dynamic duo for a long time. But all good things come to an end. If this season stays messy, is this it for Tomlin?
12. Mike McCarthy, Packers: Speaking of Mr. McCarthy, well, here he is. Overall, he did a nice job transitioning from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, giving the latter plenty of time to get acclimated with the offense and marinate with the proper seasoning. Rodgers has taken it from there. Gotta give McCarthy credit for nurturing and cultivating (arguably) the best quarterback in the history of football, but Rodgers' extended plays are one-man shows. How much credit does a coach deserve for a player with individual greatness?
11. Adam Gase, Dolphins: The Dolphins aren't much of anything. They haven't been throughout Gase's relatively short tenure in Miami. And yet, they made the playoffs a couple seasons ago, and they are inexplicably off to a 3-1 start this year.
That's Gase. He maximizes the production of the little talent he has. Guys like Jakeem Grant and Albert Wilson have thrived in tricky gadget plays. That's coaching. When you have a shitty quarterback (Ryan Tannehill), underachieving running back (Kenyan Drake), overrated flop (DeVante Parker) and a mediocre defense (if I'm being kind), as a head coach, you need to find creative ways to manufacture tight victories.
And that's exactly what Adam Gase does. That's the mark of an elite football coach.
(If you missed coaches 32 down to 21, here they are. Top 10 coming soon!)
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