As November arrives and the NFL coaching carousel starts to hum louder, the conversation around the league is turning to who can steady a team now - and who already belongs in the top tier of modern head coaches.
That’s the lens here: not every great coach in league history, but the best since the salary cap arrived in 1994. After speaking with several people around the league, here’s a look at the four head coaches who sit on that modern-era Mount Rushmore, plus four active coaches who still have a real shot to climb onto it.
At the very top is Bill Belichick. Modern era or otherwise, he stands alone.
His six Super Bowl wins are the most any NFL head coach has ever collected, topping Chuck Noll’s four with the Steelers. Belichick finished with a .647 regular-season winning percentage and a .705 mark in the postseason, and he reached a total of nine Super Bowls as a head coach.
Right behind him is Andy Reid, whose résumé spans two franchises and three rings with the Chiefs. He got to the Super Bowl with both the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, and his reputation as an offensive architect is cemented. Reid’s Chiefs are 5-1 through the first seven weeks, and Kansas City is once again in the Super Bowl mix.
Mike Shanahan also makes the cut, thanks to a run that included back-to-back Super Bowl titles with the Denver Broncos over the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons. Across his time with the Los Angeles Raiders, Broncos, and Washington Redskins, he put together a 170-138 record, with a .616 winning percentage in the regular season and .615 in the postseason with Denver.
Tom Coughlin rounds out the group, and his place is secured by the fact that he beat Belichick twice in the Super Bowl. That includes the 17-14 upset in Super Bowl XLII, the game that stopped the Patriots from finishing a perfect season. Coughlin finished with a .531 regular-season winning percentage and a .632 postseason winning percentage.
Among the active coaches with a path toward that conversation, John Harbaugh has the strongest case. In 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, he reached the postseason 12 times and won Super Bowl XLVII over his brother Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers.
He also built contenders around Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson. Now in his first season with the Giants, Harbaugh has New York in first place in the NFC East at 4-2-1 after seven games, even after quarterback Jaxson Dart suffered a season-ending injury on the first drive of Week 2.
Kyle Shanahan is still chasing the one thing missing from his résumé: a Super Bowl win. He has reached two Super Bowls with the 49ers and added two NFC Championship Game appearances, but the title has eluded him so far. Even with injuries piling up during training camp, San Francisco has the league’s second-best record entering its Week 8 bye, and this season could be the one where he finally gets over the hump.
Sean McVay remains on that trajectory too. Hired by the Rams at 30, he didn’t flinch from the job.
He led Los Angeles to the playoffs in four of his first five seasons and delivered a Super Bowl LVI win over the Cincinnati Bengals. In nine seasons with the Rams, he has missed the playoffs only twice.
Los Angeles is 3-4 right now, but with the Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders, and Arizona Cardinals coming up, the Rams still have a path back into the postseason picture.
Sean Payton has already checked the biggest box by leading the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl title in the 2009 season. He also came agonizingly close to another trip in 2018, when a questionable call in the NFC Championship Game stood in the way.
Payton made the playoffs nine times in 15 seasons with New Orleans, and he has kept winning in Denver. The Broncos reached the AFC Championship Game last season before falling to the New England Patriots after quarterback Bo Nix suffered an ankle injury in the Division Round.
This year, Denver is 5-2 through seven weeks and positioned for another possible deep run.
In Other News...
Davis Allen Just Gave The Rams An Unexpected Offensive Option
When the Rams needed help filling in around an injury-hit pass-catching group, Davis Allen gave them a useful reminder of why tight end depth matters. In Week 7 against the Raiders, he scored the teams first two touchdowns and emerged as a bigger part of the passing game than he had been in the early part of the season, a notable shift for a player who has largely been viewed as a blocking tight end.
For Los Angeles, the encouraging part is not just the production on one afternoon but the possibility that Allen can be more than a spot-duty answer if the injuries keep piling up. The Rams have been navigating issues across both their receiving corps and tight end room, and Allens expanded role gives the offense another option to lean on while the group waits for healthier days. [Read more 🡒]
Blake Corum Just Made The Rams Backfield A Real Debate
With injuries forcing Los Angeles to shuffle its offense against the Raiders, Blake Corum got a bigger look in the Rams backfield and made the most of the extra snaps. The Rams also leaned on Konata Mumpfield and Tutu Atwell at wide receiver, while using 13 personnel often and rotating bodies on defense to patch over the absences.
Corums expanded role adds another layer to a backfield that already had a clear pecking order, and now the Rams have something to sort through as they try to keep the offense steady. The wider concern, though, is whether the ripple effects at receiver push the team toward outside help before the trade deadline, especially if the current mix keeps getting stretched thin. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Are Still Waiting On A Huge Pass Rush Boost
Myles Garrett is getting closer to a potential return to practice after missing six games following knee surgery, and the Rams are finally nearing a point where they can start thinking about what that means for the defense. Sean McVay has not put a firm timetable on it, but the next step will come after he talks with medical staff and Garrett, which at least keeps the door open for a quicker ramp-up than the layoff might suggest.
Reports indicate Garrett could get back on the field in practice this week, with a possible Week 8 return also on the table. For a Rams pass rush that could use a boost, even the possibility of adding him back into the mix is significant, though the team still has to wait for the medical checkoff before anything becomes real. [Read more 🡒]