Having a good head coach in the NFL is the most important thing to being successful. Yes, even more so than a quarterback. A great coach changes the culture of an organization into a winning one.
Take a look at the Patriots-Chargers game that recently happened. 99.9% of people would say that Justin Herbert is a better QB this year than Cam Newton. 100% of people would say that Bill Belichick is a better coach than Anthony Lynn. The final score of that game was 45-0 in favor of the Patriots. The coaching made all the difference in that game.
Obviously, this isn’t true in all cases, but it’s important to note because a quarterback, no matter the skill level, needs a good head coach. A great head coach, in fact, will raise the level of his quarterback’s play, i.e. Sean McVay with Jared Goff.
Why am I telling you this, you might ask? Well, there’s a trend happening right now in the NFL that’s not getting a ton of attention. It should be though because it’s the difference between winning and losing.
The Culture Shift
In order to succeed in the NFL, it used to mean having a hard-ass coach that ran a tight ship. That’s just not the case anymore. In fact, it’s the opposite. The more coaches let their players have fun, the better they perform. A team needs a coach that will lead its players with dignity, but stand up for them at the same time, take ownership of their own mistakes, and let the players be themselves. An NFL team needs a guy that players would run through a brick wall for. It’s the old cliche, but it couldn’t be more true. It’s the new formula in the NFL for success and every team should be modeling it.
Obviously, there are some exceptions to this rule. The coaches still have to be football smart and understand the intricacies of this complicated game. Even if the Chargers love playing for Lynn, his clock mismanagement and other blunders make him one of the worse coaches in the NFL. On the other side, you have Belichick, a guy who runs a tight ship and doesn’t allow players to have a ton of fun. The difference is Belichick is one of the smartest head coaches in the league, who understands every minute rule and detail of the game. Players who go to New England understand what they’re getting into, which is why it works.
The Tenured Culture Guys
The teams that jumped on these type of coaches first have seen the most consistent success. Guys like Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll, Sean Payton, John Harbaugh, Ron Rivera, and Andy Reid gave their teams the success they were looking for. All of them have something in common and that is they are player-coaches and culture changers.
Yes, all of them are geniuses, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a guy that doesn’t want to play for Mike Tomlin. Andy Reid is a big reason why the Chiefs have been so successful with Patrick Mahomes. He lets the players play the way they are comfortable playing, like letting Tyreek Hill flip into the endzone when he burned a Denver DB on a deep route. Pete Carroll letting Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman be themselves was huge for their two Super Bowl runs. Riverboat Ron showing up in Washington and giving his all, while in the midst of fighting cancer. How could a player not love that guy? Harbaugh and Payton firing guys up with their pre and post-game speeches. They changed their team’s culture and all it’s done is brought success.
The New Culture Guys
Brian Flores, Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay, Kyle Shannahan, Sean McDermott, Mike Vrabel, Joe Judge, Kliff Kingsbury, Frank Riech, Kevin Stefansky, and Matt Rhule. These guys have been hired as a head coach within the past four seasons. It’s the new wave of head coaches, and players love them. Now, take a look at the playoff picture. All but one of those coaches have their team in the playoff hunt right now. It works. Teams love their coaches and the coaches get them to play like a family.
Here’s an example from LaFleur:
As the tweet says, this is a good head coach. He goes out of his way to recognize Marquez Valdez-Scantling’s effort on a particular play blocking, as a wide receiver. He creates a team feeling in the locker room that the players understand, which he then praises.
Here’s an example from Flores:
He will go to battle for any of his players. No matter what, he’s got their backs and that’s how a head coach should act.
Another example, this time from Vrabel:
He cares so much about his team that he’s willing to jump in drills with them to make them better. This is the kind of coach players love.
The Guys that Failed
Matt Patricia and Bill O’Brien are two great examples of what happens when the players don’t like the coach. Patricia tried to instill a Patriots way culture within the Detroit Lions, which failed miserably. So much so, that when he was fired, former Lions players swarmed Twitter, bashing and subtweeting him. With Bill O’Brien it was the fact that he couldn’t get along with his star wideout, eventually trading him for a Coke and some Pringles. O’Brien wouldn’t let D-Hop be himself, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Texans and his firing.
Mike McCarthy is another example, as he lost his locker room because some players didn’t have respect for him.
The Lesson
For the numerous teams that will be finding a new head coach this year, get yourself a guy that players will love. It’s proven to show success. You have to change the culture before you start winning and the way you do that is with a coach that players will go to war with.
