Originally Posted by
MST3KBillsfan
I have to disagree. To be sure, he is the greatest coach in the league today, and he is one the best coaches in NFL History, but he is not the best. I have to place Halas, Shula, Landry, Lombardi, Noll, Gibbs, and Walsh ahead of him. Let me explain.
Halas and Shula have the most wins ever. The retort to their win totals and even for Landry who is third is that "they were around forever, anyone can win a lot of games if they stay around long enough." This is true, but as Hank Stram who I almost put in this list observed this is the NFL, which means not for long. As another coach once quipped, in the NFL there are two types of coaches, those who have been fired and those who will be fired. Halas and Shula got to stay around for 300+ wins because both had mostly sustained excellence. Shula and Halas have another thing in common, their teams have been nowhere near as good after them as they were when they roamed the sidelines. Halas retired in 1966 after winning 8 NFL championships, the Bears have won one title and only been to another superbowl in the past fifty years. I know there was the Ditka era, but generally speaking the Bears have not been the same since Halas retired in 1966. The same is true of the Dolphins. Shula kept them as a power every year. However, since 1996 they have been at best also rans.
I also have to put Tom Landry ahead of Belichick as he has the third most wins in league history and lets not forget that his Cowboys went to twenty straight playoff appearances and an ungodly amount of league championship games and Superbowls. Plus he won with three different QBs, Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, and Danny White, and two versions of the Doomsday Defense. His team, and not Jimmy Johnson's druggies, are why the Cowboys earned the title America's team.
Then there is Lombardi. The only coach to win three straight league titles, and the coach of the greatest team of the 1960s.
There is Chuck Noll as well. In the annals of the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers there are two eras, before Noll, and the Noll era. Prior to Noll the Steelers were a laughing stock for decades. Since 1972 the Steelers have been in contention for a title almost every year.
Then there is Joe Gibbs. Gibbs won several superbowls and he did it with mostly castoffs, over the hill players, and scrubs. Other than Theismann his QBs were mediocre and he won anyways.
Lastly, but not least there is Bill Walsh, who turned San Fran into a Dynasty that lasted two decades.
Now again, Bellichick is certainly undisputably the greatest coach today, and one of the best coaches ever, but I think its a bit pretentious to say he is the best coach ever.