NFL Coaches Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

This coach won 200 regular-season games with four franchises but went just 5-13 in the playoffs and never reached a Super Bowl, a pattern that earned his conservative style a mocking nickname. He was fired after a 14-2 season and a home playoff loss following the 2006 campaign. Which coach is this?

Question 2

This coach's Cleveland Browns staff in the early 1990s was a remarkable incubator, featuring future head coaches Nick Saban, Kirk Ferentz and Jim Schwartz along with future executives Scott Pioli and Thomas Dimitroff. He went on to win six Super Bowls elsewhere. Which coach is this?

Question 3

This coach holds the record for most losses in NFL history and won more games than several Hall of Famers, yet reached only one Super Bowl in 22 seasons with two franchises. His team lost that title game when a receiver was tackled a single yard short of the tying score on the final play. Which coach is this?

Question 4

A Hall of Fame offensive tackle for the Raiders, this man was promoted to head coach by Al Davis during the 1989 season, in the middle of a losing start, becoming the first Black head coach of the NFL's modern era. He coached the club in two separate stints. Which coach is this?

Question 5

This coach's motto was 'the future is now.' He traded away draft picks for aging veterans, nicknamed the 'Over the Hill Gang,' never had a losing season with two franchises, and took one to a Super Bowl loss to an unbeaten team. Which coach is this?

Question 6

Fired by two NFL teams in the 1990s, once to make way for Bill Belichick, this coach rebuilt his reputation with college titles, returned to the NFL, and won a Super Bowl before losing the next one on a goal-line interception. Which coach is this?

Question 7

This coach came from the New York Giants' staff to a struggling small-city club and won five NFL titles in seven years, including the first two Super Bowls. He coached one more season, with Washington, before dying of cancer in 1970. Which coach is this?

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About NFL Coaches

The head coach is the face of an NFL franchise, and a handful of them have defined whole eras. George Halas and Curly Lambeau were founder-owner-coaches who built the league itself. Paul Brown professionalized the job with playbooks, film study and messenger plays, then did it twice, in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Vince Lombardi turned Green Bay into a dynasty and won the first two Super Bowls, and the trophy now carries his name.

The record book belongs to a small group. Don Shula won 347 games and coached the only perfect season. Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls and reached nine, both records, and has the most playoff wins. Chuck Noll won four titles in the 1970s and never a Coach of the Year award. George Seifert and John Madden posted the best winning percentages, and Andy Reid became the winningest active coach while building a coaching tree that now spans the league.

Not every great coach got the ring. Marv Levy lost four straight Super Bowls with Buffalo, Bud Grant four with Minnesota, and Dan Reeves four with two franchises. Marty Schottenheimer won 200 games but went 5-13 in January, and Jeff Fisher lost more games than anyone while reaching just one Super Bowl, by a single yard.

The firsts matter too. Fritz Pollard was a Black head coach in 1921, more than 60 years before Art Shell broke through in the modern era. Tom Flores was the first Hispanic head coach to win a Super Bowl, Tony Dungy the first Black one, and the Rooney Rule, named for a Pittsburgh owner, reshaped how the jobs are filled. This quiz runs through 60 clues on the coaches, their records and their milestones: name the man on the headset, and get the full story after each answer.