Where does Belichick rank?

I do not think Halas should be in the first group. He was coach of a great team, the Bears of the '40s, and his status as a pioneer qualifies him as a legend, but he was coach/owner, removing one acute pressure point for any coach. I think of him as I do Connie Mack. Mack is an integral part of the history of baseball. Is he the best manager of all time? No.

 

Post-merger is especially instructive here.

 

Post-merger candidates would be Noll, Shula (also pre-merger in his case), Walsh, Parcells, Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson and Belichick. Gibbs winning three Super Bowls with three different QBs, none a Hall of Famer or close to it, is a powerful argument on his behalf.

 

Gibbs won a strikeball game against a Dallas team full of regulars- that was a true coaching marvel

 

I tend to agree with this. I know he's had Tom Brady the whole time, but considering how that teams gets raided almost every year by free agency, winning almost every year is amazing. They've also benefited from players giving them discounts because they want to play there, but that happens from time to time with the great teams.

 

Agreed.

I'd go Belichick, Lombardi, Walsh, Brown, Parcells as the first tier
Second tier would be Shula, Landry, Noll, Gibbs and maybe Levy

I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody.

 

Still not seeing your reasoning for Landry. Noll has more championships and his team won both times they faced off in the Super Bowl. Noll and Landry both hit points where they stopped winning with their usual regularity. The only difference is Noll hung on longer because he had the Rooney family as owners and Landry had Jerry Jones.

That said, Paul Brown belongs on the first team ahead of both of them.

 

Paul Brown never won a Super Bowl, therefore he sucks...

 

It's a little before my time but no love for Madden? Growing up it seemed like he was the standard bearer and now he's almost never brought into the conversation. Anyone more familiar here that can make a case for or against his inclusion?

 

John Madden coached 10 years, taking over a team that had gone to the Super Bowl the previous year. He won one Super Bowl.

Also it's generally accepted as fact that Al ran the defense.

 

Let's see 12 is twice as many as 6 and how many times did Reid lose a playoff game at home when his team was favored.

 

Sid Gilman and Don Coryell probably had the biggest impact on NFL offenses from 1960-2000.

And winning titles makes you the greatest QB of all time, unless your name is Bart Starr, who quarterbacked more championship teams than just about anybody.