In the NFL, you can’t win without a great head coach or above-average quarterback. Those are the two main pillars you need to build a championship-caliber team.
Some coaches like Don Shula, Bill Walsh, Curly Lambeau and Andy Reid won with multiple quarterbacks — further adding to their statuses as NFL icons. On the other hand, some of the NFL’s other accomplished coaches were exposed as, well, human, without the luxury of a specific star signal-caller.
With that, here are 10 NFL coaches who would have been nothing without that one certain star quarterback at their disposal.
Bill Belichick: Tom Brady
During their 20 years together, there was a hot debate as to whether it was Brady or Belichick who mattered more to New England’s dynasty.
We got our answer pretty quickly.
Consider this: The Patriots never had a losing season with Brady after he took over as the starting QB in 2001. They had double-digit wins every year from 2003 to 2019, only losing the AFC East division title in 2008 — the year Brady tore his ACL minutes into the season opener.
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How has Belichick fared since Brady’s departure in 2020? 7-9 in 2020, 10-7 in 2021 – concluding with a blowout loss against the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round — and 8-9 in 2022. Gulp.
The 2023 Patriots may go down as the worst team of the Belichick era. He suffered his two worst losses as a head coach in back-to-back weeks — against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4 and then at home against the New Orleans Saints in Week 5.
Oh, and Brady went 32-18-0 as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting QB. He led them to a Super Bowl 55 championship in his first year there, following it up with back-to-back NFC South division titles.
We all know how much Belichick loves Lawrence Taylor and Ed Reed. But he can mostly thank Brady for his success in Foxborough. Belichick wouldn’t have come close to nine AFC titles and six Super Bowl championships if it weren’t for TB12. Pure and simple.
Mike McCarthy: Aaron Rodgers
When McCarthy took over as the Green Bay Packers’ head coach in 2020, he had the fortune of working with a future Hall of Famer and former three-time MVP in Brett Favre for two years.
Then after Favre moved on to the New York Jets in 2008, McCarthy got to transition towards the Aaron Rodgers era. What a luxury that was for McCarthy, because Rodgers made him the Super Bowl-winning head coach that we all know today.
Consider that Rodgers won four league MVP awards with three different offensive coordinators and two head coaches.
Consider that McCarthy was 0-1 without Rodgers in 2010, 2-4-1 without him in 2013 and 3-and-6 without him in 2017. When Rodgers wasn’t on the field, McCarthy couldn’t adapt and win without him.
And has McCarthy really been that great with the Dallas Cowboys? Meh. The offense was still a juggernaut when the highly-scrutinized Jason Garrett was their head coach, so yeah.
Oh, and remember how much the Cowboys sucked after Prescott’s season-ending injury in Week 5 of the 2020 season? Woof.
The moral of the story: Teams win in spite of Mike McCarthy, not because of him. He looks good when he has a Pro Bowl quarterback running his offense.
Sean Payton: Drew Brees
Sean Payton was a successful coach who needed Drew Brees. Drew Brees was a Hall of Fame quarterback who played his best football under Payton.
They both needed each other to take the New Orleans Saints to new heights for 15 years together. All of those can be true together. But you know what else is true?
Payton himself wouldn’t be a future Hall of Famer without Brees, either.
The two Saints legends led the team to nine playoff appearances, three NFC championship games and of course a Super Bowl 42 title. Brees was periodically the NFL’s all-time passing yards and passing TDs leader, too, before Tom Brady broke both records.
But in his lone season without Brees as the Saints’ head coach in 2021? Payton’s Saints went from four straight years of double-digit wins to a mere 9-win season.
Then after a year off of coaching, he took on the Denver Broncos’ head coaching gig and got himself stuck in mediocrity with Russell Wilson.
This isn’t to say that Payton has been a horrible coach without Brees as his QB — but it hasn’t been anything special, either. He’d be a mediocre coach with no shot at the Hall of Fame if he didn’t have Brees for 15 years. Pure and simple.
Just stating facts here, folks.
Marv Levy: Jim Kelly
You kids won’t know this, but long before Levy became head coach of the Buffalo Bills, he held the same position for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Levy coached KC from 1978 to ‘82, failing to make the postseason once as he compiled a 31-42-0 record. Levy took over as the Bills’ head coach in the midst of the 1986 season following the firing of Hank Bullough.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Future Hall of Famer and QB Jim Kelly had joined the Bills in 1986 as well, and these two quickly brought new fire to a long-struggling organization.
Levy, Kelly and three other Hall of Famers — running back Thurmon Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith — turned Buffalo into an AFC juggernaut. The team reached four straight Super Bowls from 1990 to ‘93 — though they sadly lost every single one of them.
Kelly retired after the 1996 season. Levy coached the Bills for one more year in 1997, garnering a disappointing 6-10 record. Clearly, Levy’s success as a coach fell on the shoulders of Kelly and the revolutionary “no-huddle” offense anchored by Thomas and Reed.
Without Kelly, Levy would have just been an average Joe at best. His tenure in KC and the final season in Buffalo are hard proof.
Ron Rivera: Cam Newton
During their nine seasons together, “Riverboat Ron” and Super Cam led the Carolina Panthers to their greatest run in franchise history.
The duo led Carolina to three NFC South division titles, one wild card berth and of course a magical 15-win season in 2015. That year, Newton won league MVP honors as the Panthers reached their second Super Bowl in franchise history, falling to the Denver Broncos in Peyton Manning’s final game.
But Rivera’s career record without Newton is miserable, to say the least. Carolina went 7-and-9 in 2018 with a clearly-injured-and-nothing-close-to-100-percent Newton.
Injuries unfortunately caused Newton to miss all but two games in 2019. Carolina was 5-and-9 in games without him, and Rivera was fired after 12 contests.
Rivera got another head coaching gig with the Washington Commanders in 2020. They went 7-and-9 in his first year — though that was somehow enough to win the NFC East division crown, then 7-10 in 2021 and 8-8-1 in 2022.
Hmm, it’s as if Newton made Rivera. I mean, how has Riverboat Ron done in Carolina without Cam again? What more can we say? It’s a darn shame that Newton’s body broke down before his 30th birthday and derailed something special the Panthers had with these two together
Matt LaFleur: Aaron Rodgers
Congrats to Mr. Rodgers on making not one, but two head coaches look better than they actually were.
The Packers mercilessly fired Mike McCarthy in the midst of a dismal 2018 season, and Matt LaFleur was hired as the Cheeseheads’ new boss in 2019.
Together, LaFleur and Rodgers led the Packers to three straight 13-win seasons from 2019 to 2022. The Packers played in two NFC Championship Games – albeit both losses — and A-Rod claimed back-to-back MVP awards in 2020 and 2021.
But the Packers failed to adapt their offense following Davante Adams’ departure in 2022, and the team paid the price with a finishing 8-and-9 finish. Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets in 2023, while LaFleur and the Packers’ brass got their wish of finally being able to move forward with Jordan Love.
But uh, the early returns of the Love era are not promising. LaFleur had how long to develop Love and get him ready for the big stage? The Packers have been nothing but a mess since Rodgers’ departure — and it’s clear that LaFleur isn’t the so-called offensive genius that many made him out to be..
Call him one if you want. We call him a product of looking good because he was able to coach Aaron Rodgers for four years.
Jeff Fisher: Steve McNair
Quite frankly, we still have no idea how Fisher lasted 17 seasons as the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans head coach… and five in charge of the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams.
The only reason Fisher finished with 22 years as an NFL head coach is because of quarterback Steve McNair.
The Titans thought Fisher would recreate the magic with another QB — but to no avail.The Rams thought he’d make it work with Sam Bradford and Jared Goff. Nope. Failure times two.
Fisher’s Titans went to Super Bowl 34 — a tight loss to the Rams — because of McNair’s elite dual-threat abilities. McNair, who shared MVP honors with Peyton Manning in 2003 — masked the offensive limitations under Fisher with Jeff George.
Without McNair, the Titans don’t make the playoffs in 1999, 2002 and 2003. Yes, Fisher got the Titans to the playoffs in 2007 and ‘08 — but they were one-and-done both times. And he somehow remained their coach until 2010.
And believe us. If not for McNair, the Rams would have never even looked at Fisher as a head coach. McNair made Jeff Fisher a veteran NFL head coach. A coach who couldn’t do anything unless McNair was his QB.
Zac Taylor: Joe Burrow
Taylor was the Los Angeles Rams’ quarterbacks coach under Sean McVay in the 2018 season.
That year, Jared Goff led the Rams to a Super Bowl 53 appearance — where they fell just short to Tom Brady’s dynastic Patriots.
The Cincinnati Bengals were pleased with Taylor’s work as the Rams’ QB coach and hired him as their new head coach. His task was to try and revive Andy Dalton’s career, but that went to no avail.
Dalton went 2-and-11 as the starter and had 16 touchdowns against a whopping 14 interceptions. Thanks to Dalton’s awful play, the Bengals won the first overall pick and used it on LSU QB Joe Burrow.
Burrow endured his fair share of rookie struggles before unfortunately suffering a season-ending knee injury. The Bengals went 2-and-4 without Burrow that year, but Cincinnati remained patient with Taylor and brought him back for a third year.
Sure enough, Burrow broke out following the arrival of old LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase in 2021 — leading Cincy to consecutive AFC North division crowns, back-to-back AFC Championship Games and a trip to Super Bowl 56 — a tight loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
But is Taylor really on the level of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay? A young, innovative offensive genius who can win with multiple QBs? Of course not. Taylor was a product of the McVay coaching tree — and he clearly can’t win without one of football’s elite QBs in Burrow.
As long as the Bengals win, Taylor’s job is safe. But let’s be real here. Burrow is the main reason why Taylor has been the Bengals’ head coach for this long.
Dan Reeves: John Elway
Together, Reeves and John Elway turned the Denver Broncos into an AFC juggernaut in the ‘80s. They led the team to three Super Bowl appearances, but the Broncos were soundly defeated in all of them.
Tension between Reeves and Elway finally boiled over, leading to Reeves getting fired in 1992. After two years with Wade Phillips, the Broncos hired Mike Shanahan for their head coaching position in 1995.
Shanahan and Elway led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1997 and ‘98 seasons. As for Reeves? Well, he didn’t have so much success after splitting from Elway and Denver.
Reeves then took over as the new head coach of the Giants. He went just 31-33 in his four years there before taking over as the new Atlanta Falcons’ head coach.
Though Reeves led Atlanta to a stunning 14-win season and Super Bowl 33 appearance — a loss to Elway’s Broncos, no less — the rest of his tenure in Atlanta was mostly uneventful. He went 49-59-1 in seven years as Atlanta’s head coach.
The numbers don’t lie, people. Elway was mostly responsible for Reeves’ success as an NFL head coach.
Tom Coughlin: Eli Manning
Our guess is that Coughlin will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day — and it’ll be thanks to the unimaginable clutch play of Eli Manning.
Though Coughlin deserves credit for turning a brand new Jaguars’ franchise into a juggernaut in the ‘90s, he also went just 4-and-4 in the postseason as their coach. His tenure in Jacksonville ended with three straight losing seasons, and he was let go after the 2002 season.
Toughlin became the Giants’ new head coach in 2004 — Eli’s rookie year no less. Coughlin lasted 12 years there and finished with 102 wins, an 8-and-3 playoff record and…of course…Super Bowl 42 and 46 championships.
Coughlin wouldn’t have won those two rings if Manning didn’t become Tom Brady and Joe Montana-esque during the Giants’ 2007 and 2011 championship runs. Take away the two championships, and Coughlin wouldn’t be the Giants icon that he’s admired as today.
Not one, but two hot runs from Eli’s underdog Giants that made Coughlin a two-time champ. Mr. Coughlin, you owe your legendary status to none other than El.
