Check out our study which ranks the most legendary coaching tenures in NFL history.
Every season of football sees franchises make the decision to make changes in coaching staff, and the 2025 NFL season was no different. In fact, a record-tying 10 teams have made head coaching changes this offseason. This has only happened previously in 2022, 2006, 1997 and 1978.
Aside from the number of coaches turned over, what made this year’s cycle shocking was that legendary, Super Bowl-winning names such as Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh saw an end to their long-term reigns. Some team swho have been perennial favourites in the NFL betting are now heading into next season with new coaches. This got us thinking, which NFL head coaching tenures in the Super Bowl era have been the best?
To rank the best coaching tenures, we looked at seasons coached, regular season win percentage, regular season wins, postseason wins and Super Bowl wins. Each coach in the study was given a normalised score out of 100 based on how they performed in these metrics.
According to the data, Bill Belichick’s 24-season tenure in New England as head coach of the Patriots is the best coaching stint of all time. When looking at coaching spells, Belichick’s time in New England ranked first when it came to regular season wins (266), playoff wins (30) and Super Bowl wins (6).
In addition to this, Belichick ranked in the top four for win percentage (0.687) and top three in seasons coached. All this meant the tenure scored a near-perfect 99.40. Most would say this tenure alone would guarantee first-ballot Hall of Fame status. However, most does not include a portion of Hall of Fame voters.
The legendary Don Shula’s time at the Miami Dolphins ranked as the NFL’s second-best tenure with a score of 96.72. The 26-season stint was the second longest out of tenures analysed in this study and it yielded two Super Bowl rings.
Shula is officially the NFL’s “winningest” coach when looking at total career wins, and the 257 regular season wins he picked up in Miami was only bettered by Belichick’s Patriots team. Shula’s 17 postseason wins whilst in “The Magic City” also ranked in the top four.
Rounding off the top three NFL coaching tenures was Tom Landry’s time as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, which scored 95.98. No coaching spell in the study was longer than Landry’s 29 seasons in charge of “America’s team.” The tenure, which saw two Super Bowl victories, also ranked third in regular season wins (250) and second in playoff wins (20).
The only ongoing tenure in the study was Andy Reid’s time at the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite not being as long as other tenures in the study, Reid’s time in Kansas City ranks in the top three for win percentage (0.700), postseason wins (18) and Super Bowl wins (3). This led to the spell ranking fourth overall with a score of 92.66, and with no immediate retirement plans, this could rank even higher in the years to come.
When looking at the iconic names whose reigns were finally ended in 2025, Harbaugh’s time in Baltimore ranked 8th overall with a score of 87.39, and Tomlin’s time at the Pittsburgh Steelers ranked 10th after scoring 83.05.
The top 15 coaching tenures in NFL history can be seen below.
Head Coach | Team | Seasons | Win % | Regular Season Wins | Playoff Wins | Super Bowl Wins | Score |
Bill Belichick | New England Patriots | 24 | 0.687 | 266 | 30 | 6 | 99.40 |
Don Shula | Miami Dolphins | 26 | 0.659 | 257 | 17 | 2 | 96.72 |
Tom Landry | Dallas Cowboys | 29 | 0.607 | 250 | 20 | 2 | 95.98 |
Andy Reid | Kansas City Chiefs | 13 | 0.700 | 149 | 18 | 3 | 92.66 |
Chuck Noll | Pittsburgh Steelers | 23 | 0.566 | 193 | 16 | 4 | 91.82 |
George Seifert | San Francisco 49ers | 8 | 0.766 | 98 | 10 | 2 | 90.52 |
Joe Gibbs* | Washington Commanders | 12 | 0.674 | 124 | 8 | 3 | 89.66 |
John Harbaugh | Baltimore Ravens | 18 | 0.614 | 180 | 13 | 1 | 87.39 |
Bill Walsh | San Francisco 49ers | 10 | 0.609 | 92 | 10 | 3 | 85.76 |
Mike Tomlin | Pittsburgh Steelers | 19 | 0.628 | 193 | 8 | 1 | 83.05 |
Bill Cowher | Pittsburgh Steelers | 15 | 0.623 | 149 | 12 | 1 | 81.43 |
Mike Shanahan | Denver Broncos | 14 | 0.616 | 138 | 8 | 2 | 80.59 |
Tony Dungy | Indianapolis Colts | 7 | 0.759 | 85 | 7 | 1 | 75.93 |
Sean Payton** | New Orleans Saints | 15 | 0.631 | 152 | 9 | 1 | 73.09 |
Pete Carroll | Seattle Seahawks | 14 | 0.606 | 137 | 10 | 1 | 68.87 |
*Joe Gibbs’ first tenure **Sean Payton missed 2012 due to suspension
Other legendary coaching spells ranked just outside the top 15. Green Bay Packers duo Mike McCarthy and Mike Holmgren ranked 16th and 17th respectively. Meanwhile, with two Super Bowls each, Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants tenure ranked 18th and Jimmy Johnson’s time with the Cowboys ranked 19th.
So, there are the best, most iconic NFL coaching tenures according to our data. With some elite current coaches in today’s game, who knows what this list will look like in 10 years’ time. Maybe Andy Reid will solidify top spot with a couple more Super Bowl wins with Patrick Mahomes. Or maybe newer names such as Mike Macdonald and Sean McVay can continue the success at their current sides, and break into the top 10! To see similar content to this throughout the NFL offseason, head over to our blog page. And to check out NFL futures, head over to our NFL page.
Methodology
We gathered the most iconic and successful coaching tenures in NFL history. We then scored these tenures on the following metrics:
Seasons coached in the specific tenure (10%)
Regular season win percentage (20%)
Total regular season wins (15%)
Total playoff wins (25%)
Super Bowl wins (30%)
The percentages above reflect the weighting of each metric. Of course, a Super Bowl victory and postseason success are the ultimate goals, so these were weighted slightly higher!
Each tenure was then given a normalised score out of 100 based on how it performed in the metrics above. The higher the score, the better the tenure.
Coaching statistics were sourced from pro-football-reference.com.
*Tenures which were completely pre-Super Bowl era were not included.
**Data correct as of February 2026.
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