100 Years of NFL: The Coaches Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vince Lombardi

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." --Vince Lombardi

Vince Lombardi was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967, and the head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1969. He is often misquoted as saying "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing", but that was actually Red Sanders of UCLA, where Lombardi probably heard the quote. He used the aforementioned quote in a letter titled "What It Takes to be Number One".

Vince Lombardi was no stranger to losing - his teams lost 35 times over the ten seasons he was head coach. However, he made winning his habit. His teams won 105 games (and tied six more). He won three NFL Championships with the Packers, in 1961, 1962, and 1965, and won the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. The Super Bowl trophy is named for him. He passed away unexpectedly from cancer in 1970 and the following year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Answer: Pittsburgh Steelers

After playing for the Cleveland Browns for seven seasons, his coach, Paul Brown, recognized that Noll had game smarts and could have probably called the plays in the games himself. He was given a coaching position immediately with the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers under Sid Gillman. Under Gillman, Noll flourished and learned a lot about football, but he also had a way with people and was able to get the most out of his players.

After some time with the Baltimore Colts, Chuck Noll was offered the head coaching position of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Joe Paterno had turned the job down and Noll took over in 1969. Noll managed the team well, recognized amazing talent in the draft, and created stifling defences. In his 23 years with the Steelers, Noll won four Super Bowls, IX, X, XIII, and XIV, and was the coach of the year in 1972 and 1989.

Chuck Noll was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1993. He passed away on June 13, 2014. His legacy, other than his extensive coaching tree, was of providing opportunities for African-American players and coaches on the team and allowing for equal treatment for all players and staff.

Answer: Car racing

Joe Gibbs coached the Washington Redskins from 1981 to 1992, and again from 2004 to 2007. With the team, he won three Super Bowls, XVII, XXII, and XXVI. In between these two tenures, Gibbs founded and owned Joe Gibbs Racing, a car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup series and later in the Xfinity series. JG Racing has had many successes in the racing world and is considered a leader. Joe Gibbs was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020.

As a football coach, Joe Gibbs spent seventeen years as an assistant before being offered a head coaching position with the Redskins. Despite losing his first five games of his first season, Gibbs coached the Redskins to an 8-8 record that year. In his second season, Gibbs took his team all the way to the Super Bowl, defeating the Miami Dolphins 27-17 and giving Gibbs his first ring. Gibbs went on to win two more. After retiring, Gibbs was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and devoted his time to car racing.

In 2004, Gibbs was coaxed out of retirement to rejoin his Redskins. He had three more seasons in the NFL, getting to the playoffs twice more, but ultimately retired for good. He ended his career with a 171-101 record overall.

Answer: Cleveland Browns

Bill Belichick is the coach for the New England Patriots since 2000, and has been the coach of their amazingly successful run of their first six Super Bowl victories (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, and LIII), three more appearances where the team lost, and his wins as coach of the year in 2003, 2007, and 2010. However, this wasn't Belichick's first head coaching position. Belichick first coached the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995. In that time, the Browns went only 36-44, however, Belichick coached the team to one successful season where they made the playoffs. In fact, they even won their wild-card game... against the New England Patriots!

Bill Belichick has the distinction of being the fourth coach to lead his team to an undefeated regular season, and the first to do it in a 16-game season. Sadly, the Patriots lost that Super Bowl to the New York Giants. Belichick has been honoured many times, and when he retires, it is clear that he will be voted to be in the Hall of Fame.

A small asterisk, Belichick was also twice the head coach for the New York Jets, but never coached a game. The first time he was merely the interim head coach, and, the second time, he was head coach for a day before resigning.

Answer: Miami Dolphins

When he retired, Don Shula held the record for most victories as a head coach. Over his career, he won 328 regular season games and 19 playoff games. In 1972, Shula led the Miami Dolphins to a 14-0 record in the regular season and then went on to win Super Bowl VII. This was the first perfect season in NFL history. The previous season the Shula-led Dolphins had lost the Super Bowl and only scored three points in the game making it the lowest point total in the big game. Thus, Shula got redemption for the blowout loss. In the next season, Shula won his second (and last) Super Bowl.

Overall, Shula's teams made the playoffs 19 times in his 33 seasons as head coach. Over those years, Shula's teams only had two losing seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Answer: Curly

Earl "Curly" Lambeau was a highly-valued prospect coming out of high school. However, he did not attend college as expected but went on to work for his father in construction and played occasional gridiron. He went for a bit to Notre Dame, but left due to tonsillitis and never returned. He worked for the Indian Packing Company and then started his own football team in 1919 with an initial investment made by the company. The team was named the "Packers" in honour of the company and the name stuck.

In the beginning, Curly Lambeau was a player-coach and set himself up as a rusher, passer, and kicker. After winning the NFL Championship in 1929, Lambeau retired from playing and concentrated solely on coaching. He won more Championships in 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, and 1944 making him the second coach to win six championships. Overall, Lambeau holds a 229-134-22 record and only had five losing seasons, only two of those with the Packers. He was part of the inaugural class of inductees when the Pro Football Hall of Fame was established in 1963. He passed away in 1965 and the stadium where the Packers play was named in his honour.

Answer: Cleveland Browns

Paul Brown started coaching in high schools in his native Ohio, then Ohio State, and finally he was approached about starting a new franchise for a league to rival the NFL. This All-America Football Conference (AAFC) aimed to start a team in Cleveland. When he accepted the head coaching position and was also given a stake in the franchise, Brown was still in the US Navy as the country was still at war. However, when Brown was discharged, he joined the team, who had already signed some key players to the roster.

Despite Paul Brown's objections, the team decided to call the new franchise after him, the Browns. These Cleveland Browns dominated the AAFL in the first four seasons, 1946-1949. The AAFL then was absorbed into the NFL and Paul Brown was immediately successful there too, winning the Championship in 1950, 1954, and 1955. However, he wasn't always liked by his players, being very controlling and strict (to the point of even being very harsh), and especially by the administration of the team, who often thought that Brown was overstepping his grounds.

The dispute between Paul Brown and owner Art Modell eventually came to a head and Brown was sacked in 1962. After spending several seasons out of the NFL, Brown decided to return by starting a new franchise, in the AFL (an NFL competitor), in Ohio - the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals and the AFL were absorbed into the NFL in 1970. Brown coached up until 1975, 45 years of coaching. In 2000, the Bengals named their new stadium in honour of Paul Brown.

Paul Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Answer: 4-3

Tom Landry started out as a football player for the AAFC's New York Yankees. When the league was absorbed into the NFL, the Yankees were disbanded and the New York Giants took the rights to Landry. Right away he was thrusted into coaching opportunities. When head coach Steve Own was sacked and Jim Lee Howell was brought in, Landry was promoted to an assistant coaching position. After his seventh season playing, Landry retired as a player and moved into coaching full-time.

At first, Tom Landry was the defensive coordinator of the Giants opposite Vince Lombardi. When he took a look at the popular defence at the time, 6-1-4, he realized that there was a better option and came up with the 4-3 defence. This allowed for more flexibility and variability. When Landry became the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 1960, he innovated even further - especially when faced with playing Lombardi's Green Bay Packers.

Tom Landry managed to make the Cowboys great. He coached the team for 29 straight seasons, an NFL record. In that time, he had 20 straight winning seasons, another NFL record. He won two Super Bowls (VI and XII) and was named Coach of the Year twice. His Cowboys were so successful in the 70s that they were dubbed "America's Team". Landry was sacked before the 1989 season after three consecutive losing seasons and a team ownership change. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Answer: New York Yankees

George Halas was the first coach of the Chicago Bears, originally the Decatur Staleys, and coached them (on and off) for forty years between 1920 and 1967. He played for the Bears as well, but also had a career as a baseball player, an outfielder, and played twelve games for the New York Yankees. He was not very successful, and decided to stick with football.

As a player and coach, and also an executive for the team, Halas basically built up the Bears into the great franchise that they are. He coached from 1920 to 1929, again from 1933 to 1942. When World War II happened, Halas re-enlisted in the US Navy and served until 1945. Halas rejoined the Bears from 1946 to 1955, and for a fourth stint from 1958 to 1967. In all of those years, Halas only had six losing seasons. All in all, he won six NFL Championships and was also enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1963, part of the inaugural class.

Answer: Bill Walsh

Bill Walsh was an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1968 to 1975 under coach Paul Brown. In that time, he later found out that Brown had blocked opportunities for Walsh to advance to a head coaching position. When Brown retired in 1975, Walsh was surprised that he did not get the position of head coach and resigned from his position. He took the role of offensive coordinator with the San Diego Chargers, and, a year later, became the head coach of the Stanford Cardinals. He had two very successful seasons at Stanford.

In 1979, the San Francisco 49ers were reeling from a 2-14 season and Fred O'Connor's dismissal. Bill Walsh was hired and he drafted a young Joe Montana in the third round. That year, the 49ers went 2-14 again, but looked much better to owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. In 1981, Walsh gave the starting quarterback position to Montana and the team went 6-10. The next year, the 49er dynasty began. Walsh and the Niners won three Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, and XXIII) and Walsh won Coach of the Year twice. After the last Super Bowl win in 1988, Walsh retired. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1993.