Super Bowl Coaches and Their Quarterbacks

I thought it would be interesting to look at Super Bowl coaches and their starting quarterbacks. Beside each coach's name is the number of times they appeared in the game, and their quarterbacks. Beside each quarterback's name is their status (J,F/J, F explained below), the number of Super Bowls they appeared in with that coach, and (where applicable) the total number of Super Bowls they played. They jury's out, of course, on the status of some of the quarterbacks currently playing.


Bold indicates Hall of Famers
* indicates previous championships in pre-Super Bowl Era
**indicates still active as head coach or starting quarterback
J = Journeyman; quarterback had just a couple above-average years, if any; rarely seen as a strength of the team, often benched or a back-up. Or, NFL career very brief.
F/J = Generally seen as above-average when starting, maybe a sensational year or two, but also prone to benching and trades
F= Franchise quarterback - unquestioned starter for several years - though it should be noted that some are much better than others.

Vince Lombardi 2 Starr (F)(2)
Hank Stram2 Dawson (F)(2)
John Rauch 1 Lamonica (J/F)(1)
Weeb Ewbank 1* Namath (F)(1)
Don Shula 5 Morrall (F/J) Griese (F) (3) Woodley (J) (1) Marino (F) (1)
Bud Grant 4 Kapp (J) (1) Tarkenton (F)(3)
Don McCafferty 1 Unitas (F)(1*)
Tom Landry 5 Morton (J/F)(1 -2 total)) Staubach (F) (4)
George Allen 1 Kilmer (J/F)(1)
Chuck Noll 4 Bradshaw (F) (4)
John Madden 1 Stabler (F)(1)
Red Miller 1 Morton (J/F)(1 - 2 total)
Tom Flores 2 Plunkett (F/J)(2)
Dick Vermeil 2 Jaworski (F/J)(1) Warner (F/J)(1 -2 total)
Bill Walsh 3 Montana (F)(3 - 4 total)
Forrest Gregg 1 Anderson (F)(1)
Joe Gibbs 4 Theismann (F)(2) Williams(J) (1) Rypien(J) (1)
Mike Ditka 1 McMahon (F/J)(1)
Raymond Barry 1 Eason (J)(1)
Bill Parcells 3** Simms (F) (1) Hostetler(J) (1) Bledsoe (F) (1)
Dan Reeves 4 Elway (F)(3 - 5 total) Chandler (F/J)(1)
Sam Wyche 1 Esiason (F)(1)
George Seifert 2 Montana (F) (1 - 4 total) Young (F) (1)
Marv Levy 4 Kelly (F)(4)
Jimmy Johnson 2 Aikman (F)(2 - 3 Total)
Bobby Ross 1 Humphries (J)(1)
Barry Switzer 1 Aikman (F)(1 - 3 Total)
Bill Cowher 2 O’Donnell (J)(1), Rothleisberger (F) (1**)
Mike Holmgren 3** Favre (F)(2**) Hasselbeck (F)(1**)
Mike Shanahan 2** Elway (F)(2 - 5 total)
Jeff Fisher 1** McNair (F)(1**)
Brian Billick 1** Dilfer (J)
Jim Fassel 1 Collins (J)
Bill Bilichek 3** Brady (F)(3**)
Mike Martz 1 Warner (J/F) (1 - 2 total)
Bill Callahan 1 Gannon (J/F) 1
Jon Gruden 1** Johnson (J/F)(1)
John Fox 1** Delhomme (J/F)(1**)
Andy Reid 1** Donavan McNabb (F) (1**)

It was just interesting to see how the success of some Hall of Fame coaches and quarterbacks are closely tied together.

Of the Hall of Fame coaches, only George Allen didn't go to at least one Super Bowl with a clear "franchise" quarterback, because Billy Kilmer competed with the Sonny Jurgenson for the starting job. Indeed, all of them coached at least one Hall of Fame quarterback in the Super Bowl except Madden and Gibbs.

Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks are usually pretty good, but they don't have to be great. Yet it should be noted that every quarterback who's gone to the Super Bowl at least three times, win or lose, was not only a franchise quarterback but was (or clearly will be) a Hall of Famer.

I'm thinking that 3 conference titles is more or less of a guarantee for getting into the Hall of Fame - regardless of how many Super Bowls are won. After all, before the Super Bowl era the NFL had less than half of the teams they have now. And you can't name a three-time champion coach or quarterback from those days who isn't in the Hall of Fame. So you can expect Dan Reeves, 0-4 in Super Bowls, to get into the Hall of Fame before Tom Flores, who's 2-0. And it is highly probable among Hall of Fame coaches that they got to work with Hall of Fame quarterbacks for at least part of their career, and vice-versa.