At the end of the day it’s about winning, right? The measure of success in professional football is championships. So perhaps the best way to determine which side of the football is better is through Lombardi trophies. Below is a list separated into two sections. One half features quarterbacks who won a title with an offensive head coach. Th other has those who won with a defensive head coach.
The results were fascinating.
Super Bowl-Winning QBs with Offensive Coaches
- Drew Brees (1)
- Aaron Rodgers (1)
- Trent Dilfer (1)
- Eli Manning (2)
- Peyton Manning (1)
- Brad Johnson (1)
- Bart Starr (2)
- Joe Namath (1)
- Len Dawson (1)
- Johnny Unitas (1)
- Joe Montana (3)
- Jim Plunkett (2)
- Joe Theismann (1)
- Doug Williams (1)
- Mark Rypien (1)
- Jim McMahon (1)
- Troy Aikman (1)
- Brett Favre (1)
- John Elway (2)
- Kurt Warner (1)
Total = 26
Super Bowl-Winning QBs with Defensive Coaches
- Tom Brady (5)
- Ben Roethlisberger (2)
- Russell Wilson (1)
- Joe Flacco (1)
- Peyton Manning (1)
- Bob Griese (2)
- Roger Staubach (2)
- Terry Bradshaw (4)
- Joe Montana (1)
- Ken Stabler (1)
- Phil Simms (2)
- Troy Aikman (2)
- Steve Young (1)
Total = 25
Wow. In 52 Super Bowls since 1966, it’s almost dead even with the offensive coaches holding a narrow one-title lead. Defensive coaches have won four of the past five, narrowing the gap in recent years. However, there are a couple things worth noting. Nine of the 25 defensive championships have come courtesy of just two men in Bill Belichick and Chuck Noll. On the other hand 18 different offensive head coaches have won at least one championship.
What does this say? Defensive coaches tend to win in clusters but offensive head coach tend to have more sustained success. There is also one other thing worth noting. In the entire history of the Bears franchise, every head coach who won a championship had an offensive background.
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It’s true. George Halas, Ralph Jones, Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos all played both ways. Mike Ditka was a Hall of Fame tight end. No coach with a purely defensive background has managed to win one. Perhaps that more than anything is the most tell-tale sign of where they need to focus.
