Pop Quiz:
Which NFL Head Coach had the third-highest career winning percentage ever?
The following answers might come up: Chuck Noll? No. Don Shula? No. George Siefert? Close. Everyone knows John Madden ranks No. 1, but it comes as a surprise that the third-highest winning percentage by an NFL coach belongs to a man named George Allen.
That’s right, George Allen.
He is a long-forgotten NFL coach. He not only had an incredible winning percentage, but in twelve seasons as a head coach, he never once had a losing season. On top of that he led his teams to a total of seven playoff appearances. Those stats are all good and well, but stats don’t tell a story, so here we go.
In 1966, George Allen took over as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, who were in the midst of some hard times. In fact, they had gone eleven straight years without reaching the postseason.
Allen would be the savior to lead them out of the darkness. After a stunning 1967 season in which they won their division and reached the playoff, he was almost unanimously named Coach of the Year.
In his four years with the Rams, he was able to lead them to two playoff appearances, but they never got out of the first round. A dispute between Allen and the ownership led to his firing following the 1969 season.
That’s when he received a call from the Washington Redskins offering him the head coaching job. He immediately took it and got to work.
Once again, Allen was faced with a daunting task. He took over an abysmal team. Washington had not been to the playoffs since 1945, but like he did with the Rams, he was able to turn the Redskins around, and in 1971 was named Coach of the Year for a second time after leading the Redskins to the playoffs.
However, his team again fell in the first round. At that point he was 0-3 in playoffs, but all that would change the next year, in 1972.
During that season, he led the Redskins to a division title with a record of 11-3 and then went on to beat the Packers 16-3 in the divisional round before blowing out their rivals, the Dallas Cowboys 28-3 in the Conference Championship. It should also be noted that the Cowboys were the defending World Champions, and this would’ve been considered a big upset.
After the magical '72 season, Allen would continue to try to get the Redskins back to the Super Bowl, but never could. Under his leadership, they would go to the playoffs three more times. They were eliminated in the first round every time.
He was let go after the 1977 season and would never coach again. In his twelve seasons, he compiled 118 wins, compared to only 54 losses. He led his teams to the playoffs seven times, and never had a losing season.
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