The Worst Coach in the History of Every NFL Franchise
More so than any other professional sports league in America, the NFL is a coach's league. With teams constantly retooling their rosters in the modern-day NFL, it's become that much more important that coaches be able to adjust to new and different players, all while, you know, trying to win football games.
Which is why there are fewer jobs in sports that are tougher than being an NFL head coach, and why the fine line between winning and losing so often falls on coaching.
On the positive side are coaches like Jon Gruden, who took a team in Tampa Bay that Tony Dungy had built into a perennial playoff contender and won a Super Bowl. Though, to be fair, Gruden's tenure with the Buccaneers wasn't particularly successful after that.
On the other side of the coin are guys like Wade Phillips, who inherited a talent-laden Dallas Cowboys team from Bill Parcells and fell flat on his face.
Bottom line, coaching matters in the NFL, and there have been plenty of bad ones, along with poor tenures by formerly successful coaches.
With that in mind, let's have a look at the worst coach each franchise has had the distinction of employing. Note the prevalence of mediocre retreads, college busts and formerly successful figureheads who populate this list.
Dallas Cowboys: Dave Campo
1 of 32
Some folks in Dallas these days might point to Wade Phillips as the lamest duck to ever take lashings as Jerry Jones' top whipping boy.
Those fans would be wise to reach a little further back into Cowboys lore, where they would find an even more inept coach—Dave Campo.
The man best known for going "Campo Livid" took over as the head man in Dallas in 2000 after spending 11 years in the organization, including the previous five as the defensive coordinator under Chan Gailey.
Unfortunately for the 'Boys, Campo did anything but live up to the expectations that Gailey, who'd taken Dallas to the playoffs five times in five years, had left behind.
Campo's Cowboys went 5-11 in each of his three seasons, which needless to say, wasn't good enough for even one playoff appearance.
Washington Redskins: Steve Spurrier
2 of 32
Just as Campo's career as the head coach in Dallas was ending, Steve Spurrier's tenure in Washington was getting underway.
Spurrier left his post at the University of Florida to bring the excitement of his "Fun and Gun" offense to a moribund Redskins franchise that was in need of something fresh and new.
It didn't take long for Spurrier to figure out that he wouldn't be able to win NFL football games by overwhelming his opponents with tremendous talent—especially since his Washington teams didn't really have much of that.
The 'Skins went 12-20 in two seasons under the Ol' Ball Coach, who made a habit of replacing oft-sacked starting quarterback Patrick Ramsey mid-game with Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews—both former Gators who played under Spurrier in The Swamp.
Philadelphia Eagles: Bert Bell
3 of 32
The Philadelphia Eagles bear the honorable distinction of having employed two of the three worst coaches (according to winning percentage) in NFL history.
One of those two—Bert Bell—is actually in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite a career record of 10-46-2.
To be fair, Bell had more than enough noteworthy accomplishments on his resume to merit inclusion; he spent time as co-owner of the Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers, advocated for the establishment of a draft and served as commissioner of the NFL from 1946 until his death in 1959.
As one might suspect, Bell wasn't elected into the Hall for his coaching prowess, or lack thereof.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Texans Football")
.jpg?w=256 "Indiana Pro Day Football")
New York Giants: Bill Arnsparger
4 of 32
The 1970's were not a good decade for the New York Football Giants, who didn't once reach the playoffs during that 10-year span.
Bill Arnsparger did nothing to stem the tide of mediocrity. Arnsparger spent 11 years as an assistant coach with Don Shula who, as you may know, was one of the most successful head coaches in NFL history, though that greatness didn't exactly rub off on his top assistant.
As great of a defensive mind as he was, Arnsparger was just as big of a flop as a head coach. He won a whopping seven games in 35 tries from 1974 to 1976. He was let go part way through the 1976 season, as his G-Men kicked off that campaign with seven consecutive losses.
St. Louis Rams: Scott Linehan
5 of 32
Scott Linehan had plenty of talent to work when he was the head coach of the St. Louis Rams, though he clearly didn't do much with it.
St. Louis was anything but the "Greatest Show on Turf" during Linehan's tenure. Despite having a talented offense led by Marc Bulger, Steven Jackson and Torry Holt, Linehan's Rams went a woeful 11-25 before being axed in the midst of the 2008 season.
Linehan has since moved on to be the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, whose offense hasn't quite taken flight since he arrived.
San Francisco 49ers: Mike Nolan
6 of 32
The 49ers have struggled on the field ever since Steve Mariucci was given his walking papers, having employed five different head coaches since 2003.
Among that distinguished line is Mike Nolan, the son of Dick Nolan, who had a modestly successful tenure in San Francisco during the mid-1960's.
Unfortunately for Mike, he couldn't even match up to dear ol' dad, posting a record of 18-37 in three and a half seasons at Candlestick Park.
The biggest blunder of Nolan's career, of course, was his role in the selection of Utah quarterback Alex Smith with the first overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft.
The Niners chose Smith over a local product—Cal signal-caller Aaron Rodgers—who allegedly has done decently well with the Green Bay Packers recently.
Now, if only Nolan coached as well as he dressed.
Seattle Seahawks: Tom Flores
7 of 32
It may strike some as a bit strange to find Tom Flores on this list.
After all Flores won two Super Bowl championships with the Raiders,—one in Oakland and one in Los Angeles—becoming the first minority coach in the history of the NFL to take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
As successful as Flores' Silver and Black teams were, his Seahawks squads were equally as bad.
Flores returned to the sideline in Seattle following a five-year hiatus, but found wins to be rather hard to come by, scoring only 14 of them in three seasons. Flores called it quits for good in 1994, returning to front office duties after Paul Allen bought the team.
Arizona Cardinals: Dave McGinnis
8 of 32
The Cardinals are one of the NFL's oldest franchises, dating back to the team's days in Chicago and St. Louis, which means they have had their fair share of bad coaches over the years.
Dave McGinnis stands out as the worst of the 36 men to have held the post. Few thought things could get any worse after the end of the Vince Tobin era, but somehow they did.
To his credit, McGinnis' teams went 14-12 in games decided by eight points. He has also been vindicated to an extent, as even Denny Green, his successor and a successful coach in his own right with the Minnesota Vikings, struggled to win with a talent-starved roster.
Minnesota Vikings: Les Steckel
9 of 32
Speaking of the Vikings, they've been one of the more successful NFL franchises over the years, though there's one season since the team's initial struggles as an expansion club that stands out.
That year, as most Vikes fans know, is 1984.
That was the one and only season of Les Steckel's NFL head coaching career and for good reason. Steckel had the tough task of following up legendary coach Bud Grant and did so rather disappointingly, as the Vikings posted a 3-13 record during that solitary season.
Not surprisingly, Steckel was rewarded with a pink slip for that performance and was promptly succeeded by Grant, his predecessor, who came out of retirement to fill the post.
Green Bay Packers: Forrest Gregg
10 of 32
Green Bay struggled through the 1980's, as the Packers turned to former legends to lead them back to respectability.
Following a disappointing 8-8 season in 1983,the Pack replaced Bart Starr, whose tenure was somewhat tumultuous, with one of his former teammates—Hall-of-Fame offensive lineman Forrest Gregg.
Unfortunately, Gregg was hardly an upgrade. After leading the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XVI in 1982, Gregg returned to Green Bay, at which point the going got rather tough, as 25-37 mark would indicate.
Gregg's successor, Lindy Infante, didn't fare much better going 24-40 over four seasons; he at least won Coach of the Year in 1989 though.
Chicago Bears: Abe Gibron
11 of 32
The Chicago Bears went through some rather lean years after legendary team founder and coach George Halas finished his fourth and final stint at Soldier Field.
Jim Dooley was named Halas' replacement just a day after Halas announced he was retiring. The Dooley era resulted in three-and-a-half years of disappointment, followed up by the short and even rockier tenure of Abe Gibron.
Gibron's Bears were a sorry 11-30-1 in his two-and-a-half seasons, which predictably ended with him getting the axe at the close of the 1974 campaign.
Detroit Lions: Marty Mornhinweg
12 of 32
The Detroit Lions have had some sorry coaches since their founding in the 1930's, but none of their hires turned out to be quite as lousy as Marty Mornhinweg.
Sure, Mornhinweg's 5-27 record was patently awful, though there are certainly plenty of former Lions coaches whose tenures produced many fewer wins than losses.
Mornhinweg's acumen as a head coach (or lack thereof) came to the fore in a game against the Chicago Bears in 2002. After winning the coin toss to begin the overtime period, he elected to defer to the Bears, figuring his Lions would be better off with the wind in their favor than the ball.
This, despite the fact that his kicker Jason Hanson owned the NCAA record for the longest successful field goal at that time, having nailed a 62-yarder while at Washington State.
And, as one might expect, the Bears wasted little time capitalizing on the bone-headed decision, as Chicago scored the winning field on the opening drive and left Detroit fans calling for the head of "Marty Moron-weg."
New Orleans Saints: Mike Ditka
13 of 32
Until recently, the New Orleans Saints were arguably just as bad of a franchise as the Lions, if not more so.
There was a time when New Orleans was the place where great coaches went to kill their sideline careers, with the likes of Dick Nolan and Hank Stram finding life with the "Ain'ts" to be a bit tougher than their previously successful stops.
No coach of that caliber had a tougher time in the Big Easy than Mike Ditka.
Five years after getting his walking papers from the Chicago Bears, "Iron Mike" emerged in New Orleans, where he (mis)guided the Saints to a paltry 15-33 mark.
In addition to the losing, Ditka was panned far and wide for his decision to trade up to select Texas running back Ricky Williams in the 1999 NFL Draft, particularly when three of the players the Washington Redskins drafted with the picks they received—LaVar Arrington, Jon Jansen and Champ Bailey—turned out to be Pro Bowlers.
And, let's not forget about the flack Ditka received for gracing the cover of ESPN the Magazine dressed as the groom with Ricky Williams as the bride.
It's no wonder Ditka still considers his time in 'Nawlins to be the "three worst years" of his life.
Atlanta Falcons: Bobby Petrino
14 of 32
If you thought the Saints had bad luck with coaching, the Atlanta Falcons have arguably fared just as poorly.
Never mind that only three of the franchise's 12 coaches with at least half a season's worth of games managed to finish their time in Hotlanta with winning records, though that certainly doesn't reflect well on the organization's history.
Few teams have ever been betrayed by their own coach quite as egregiously as the Dirty Birds were when Bobby Petrino came and went.
Petrino left his post at the University of Louisville to coach Michael Vick and the Falcons in 2007, agreeing to a five-year, $24 million deal despite having never been a head coach in the NFL.
In return for this bounty, team owner Arthur Blank received the most tumultuous season that any franchise has seen in quite some time.
Petrino left Atlanta to become the head coach at the University of Arkansas after a 3-10 start and did so in such a way that warranted defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer referring to him as a "coward" and a "gutless bastard"; that is, Petrino notified the players of his departure by leaving little more than a note for them in the locker room.
This was the very same season mind you, during which Vick's dog-fighting ring was broken up, which made Petrino look even more cowardly for abandoning a sinking ship.
Carolina Panthers: George Seifert
15 of 32
The Carolina Panthers have had only four head coaches in their 16-year history (if you count Ron Rivera, who has yet to coach a game for the team), with only one guy standing out as being particularly bad, though his mediocrity might surprise some people.
That's right, folks. The worst coach to ever lead the Carolina Panthers is, in fact, George Seifert.
Okay, so maybe Seifert—considered by many to be among the greatest coaches in NFL history—doesn't necessarily deserve that kind of negative recognition, lest we simply forget about his 114 regular season wins, 10 postseason wins and two Super Bowl titles with the 49ers.
Then again, we're not talking about the Niners here. We're talking about the Panthers, with whom he compiled just 16 wins against 32 losses in three seasons, with a 1-15 mark in 2001 easily being the low-light of his tenure.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Leeman Bennett
16 of 32
What is it about the NFC South and bad coaching?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers set the standard for NFL mediocrity when they lost their first 26 games upon entering the league as an expansion franchise in 1976.
However, it wasn't until 1985 that the Bucs laid eyes on the worst coach in franchise history—Leeman Bennett.
Bennett had previously enjoyed some success as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, which made him an attractive option to replace the retiring John McKay.
Unfortunately for Tampa, Bennett's hiring turned out to be an egregious mistake, as made clear by the team's 4-28 record in his two seasons at the helm.
Perhaps the team should have seen it coming, as Bennett had spent two years as an RV salesman immediately before signing on to be the Bucs' head coach.
New England Patriots: Rod Rust
17 of 32
With a name like Rod Rust, you've got to wonder how the guy ever landed a head coaching job anywhere.
After one season in New England, the Patriots must have been wondering the same thing. Rust was the head coach in Foxboro in 1990 when the Pats piled up a dismal 1-15 record, which still stands as the worst mark in franchise history.
Not that it'd be all that easy to top that kind of mediocrity.
Is it any wonder then that Rust was never again granted the privilege of being the head coach of an NFL squad?
New York Jets: Rich Kotite
18 of 32
Some Jets fans would likely point to Lou Holtz as the worst coach in their team's history after "Sweet Lou" pulled the first Bobby Petrino and ditched the NFL during his first season to coach at the University of Arkansas.
Those fans would not be all that far off-base in that opinion, though perhaps they'd do well to have a look at the two-year tenure of Rich Kotite.
Kotite came to New York after a more-or-less successful tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, though his prosperity in Pennsylvania didn't exactly carry over, to say the least.
The Jets finished with the worst record in the NFL during both of his seasons, going 3-13 in 1995 and then dipping even lower to 1-15 in 1996.
That whole fiasco led Kotite to resign two days before the end of the season, and the poor guy hasn't been on an NFL sideline since.
Miami Dolphins: Cam Cameron
19 of 32
The Dolphins haven't had many head coaches in their storied history, but one man stands out as having had a particularly awful tenure.
Miami brought in San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to help wash away the disappointment of the short-lived Nick Saban era.
It soon became clear that Cameron would be capable of anything but that, as the 'Fins started the 2007 season with 13 consecutive losses and finished with just one win.
The axe fell hard on Cameron once Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland were brought in to clean house, though Cameron has since landed on his feet as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens.
Buffalo Bills: Hank Bullough
20 of 32
The Bills have suffered through some bad coaching in recent years, though even the failures of guys like Mike Mularkey and Gregg Williams don't quite stack up to those of Hank Bullough.
To be fair, Bullough was a fine defensive coach, having coordinated the Bengals' D that led the team to the Super Bowl and tutored Dick LeBeau, one of the great defensive minds in NFL history.
As a head coach though, Bullough left much to be desired. In a season and a half, Bullough's Bills managed just four wins against 17 losses—clearly grounds for termination.
Of course, the good folks of Buffalo were redeemed following Bullough's departure, as he was succeeded by the legendary Marv Levy.
Oakland Raiders: Lane Kiffin
21 of 32
The Oakland Raiders have been in steady decline ever since they traded head coach Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, with the low point of that intermittent period coming with the short-lived Lane Kiffin era.
Mercurial Raiders owner Al Davis hired the 31-year-old Kiffin, who thereupon became the youngest head coach in NFL history, after being rebuffed by Steve Sarkisian, who at the time was Kiffin's offensive coaching comrade at USC.
Kiffin's first season was something of a disaster, as the Raiders went 4-12, prompting Davis to try to force Kiffin to resign and thereby forfeit the remaining $2 million on his contract. As expected, Kiffin refused to do so, creating an even more awkward situation that ultimately resulted in Kiffin's firing four games into the 2008 season.
The tiff between Kiffin and Davis wove a strange and tangled web once Davis refused to pay Kiffin the remainder of the money he was due, citing various rules violations and false accusations on Kiffin's part. Kiffin, of course, refuted those claims and filed a grievance against Davis and the Raiders, though an arbitrator did eventually rule that Davis in fact had grounds for terminating his young and inexperienced coach.
San Diego Chargers: Mike Riley
22 of 32
Lane Kiffin isn't the only coach to be painfully plucked from the Pac-10 by a team in the AFC West.
Eight years before Kiffin cursed the Raiders, Oregon State head coach Mike Riley was the choice of the Chargers to lead the team back to respectability after the failure of Kevin Gilbride.
Unfortunately for the Bolts, Riley wasn't much better, going 14-34 in three forgettable seasons in San Diego before getting his pink slip in 2001.
By 2003, Riley was back in Corvallis, coaching in the ranks to which he more properly belongs.
Denver Broncos: Josh McDaniels
23 of 32
Not to harp too much on Lane Kiffin, but you've got to think other teams in the NFL took notice when young, immature "geniuses" like Kiffin and Eric Mangini started crashing and burning left and right.
However, as the hiring of Josh McDaniels proves, the Denver Broncos didn't much care about that trend.
McDaniels had earned a reputation as a bright offensive mind as a coordinator with the New England Patriots, serving as the quarterbacks coach for all three Super Bowl championship teams and serving as the offensive coordinator in 2007 when Tom Brady and the Pats rewrote the NFL's record books.
And it seemed, at the outset at least, that McDaniels would make for an excellent head coach when the Broncos won their first six games to begin the post-Mike Shanahan era.
Well, perhaps not so much when considering the fiasco that was Broncos' training camp in 2009, when McDaniels tried to swing a deal that would've sent Jay Cutler, Denver's starting quarterback, to New England in exchange for Matt Cassel, whom McDaniels had groomed into a quality NFL signal-caller in Foxboro. That, of course, resulted in the crybaby Cutler getting traded to Chicago.
The cracks in McDaniels' facade resurfaced during the season, as Denver finished 2009 with just two wins its final 10 games in a stretch that saw McDaniels butt heads with star wideout Brandon Marshall and his team salt away the AFC West title to the Chargers.
2010 turned out to be even worse for McDaniels. After a 3-9 start and a videotaping scandal similar to the one of which he was a part in New England, McDaniels got the axe from Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, mercifully bringing to an end an embarrassing chapter in the history of a once-proud franchise.
Kansas City Chiefs: Frank Gansz
24 of 32
Frank Gansz was a terrific special teams coach, good enough to earn praise as "the best special teams coach ever" by Dick Vermeil, the Larry Brown of football.
That being said, his time as a head coach in Kansas City was anything but special.
Gansz was promoted to be the Chiefs' head coach in January 1987 after the firing of John Mackovic. In Gansz' first season—a strike-shortened one—the Chiefs went 4-11 and followed up that campaign with an equally miserable mark of 4-11-1 in 1988.
To no one's surprise, Gansz was let go after the 1988 season and replaced by arguably the best regular season coach of all time—Marty Schottenheimer.
Baltimore Ravens: Ted Marchibroda
25 of 32
Much to the chagrin of Cleveland Browns fans, the Baltimore Ravens have been remarkably successful since their inception in 1996.
Well, at least since Ted Marchibroda left town.
Marchibroda is the only person to have ever coached both Baltimore teams—the Colts and the Ravens—though his tenure with the current Beltway club was far less successful.
In three seasons at the helm, Marchibroda's teams went 16-31-1. To his credit, Marchibroda established a foundation on which Brian Billick built Baltimore into a Super Bowl champion.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Bill Austin
26 of 32
Strange as it may be to think about, there was a time when the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the NFL's moribund franchises.
Bill Austin was the last in the long line of mediocrity along the Allegheny, posting a record of 11-28-3 between 1966-1968 and paving the way for the glorious reign of Chuck Noll.
Austin would make one more appearance in the NFL as head coach of the Washington Redskins for a single season following the death of NFL luminary Vince Lombardi in 1970.
Cincinnati Bengals: Dick LeBeau
27 of 32
It's tough to fault the Bengals for making Dick LeBeau their head coach in 2000. After all, the man had long since established himself as a defensive genius, particularly after creating the "zone blitz" while with the Bengals in the late 1980's.
After a brief stint with the Steelers in the mid-1990's, LeBeau returned to Cincy in 1997 and was later promoted to the team's head coaching position after serving as the defensive coordinator under Bruce Coslet.
LeBeau's time as the head coach of the "Bungles" became an unfortunate blemish in an otherwise fantastic football career, as his teams went a woeful 12-33 in his three seasons at the helm.
At least Cincy got Carson Palmer out of it, right? Right?
Cleveland Browns: Chris Palmer
28 of 32
Few teams in the NFL have quite as loose a revolving door to their head coach's office as do the Cleveland Browns, particularly since their revival in 1999.
Arguably the worst of that bunch was Chris Palmer, who had the unenviable task of being the first head coach of the new Browns.
The Browns went 5-27 in Palmer's two seasons, though in his defense, he had only a roster chock full of young players and cast-offs with which to work.
Indianapolis Colts: Rod Dowhower
29 of 32
The move from Baltimore to Indianapolis was a rough one for the Colts, who spent the rest of the 1980's scuttling about in mediocrity after Robert Irsay had the team pack up shop and ship west.
The middle of the decade was particularly harrowing, as the Colts went 5-24 under the auspices of Rod Dowhower between 1985-1986.
His short NFL tenure, which occurred between mediocre showings at Stanford and Vanderbilt, came to a grinding halt when the Colts began the 1986 season with 13 consecutive defeats.
Tennessee Titans: Hugh Campbell
30 of 32
The Tennessee Titans have never had a bad head coach, per se, but the Houston Oilers certainly have.
Just before Dowhower became a tower without power in Indianapolis, Hugh Campbell was busy mucking things up in Houston.
Campbell spent the bulk of his football career as a player, coach and front office figure in the Canadian Football League, though he did spend two mostly fruitless years with the Oilers. He led the club to a 3-13 record in his first season in 1984, and though the team's record improved to 5-9 in 1985, he was still let go, after which point he returned to Canada to run the Edmonton Eskimos.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Jack Del Rio
31 of 32
It really is quite unfair to Jack Del Rio to label him as the worst coach in Jaguars history, seeing as how he's only the second head man in the franchise's 16 seasons of existence.
Nonetheless, his overall record of 65-63 and his playoff mark of 1-2 just isn't quite as good as those of his predecessor Tom Coughlin, who went 68-60 during the regular season and 4-4 in the playoffs during his tenure in Jacksonville.
Houston Texans: Dom Capers
32 of 32
Though seven years younger than the Jaguars, the Houston Texans have the same problem in terms of having only two coaches from whom to choose as the franchise's worst.
However in Houston's case, the choice is much easier. On the one hand is current head coach Gary Kubiak, who's compiled a record of 37-43 in five seasons while nudging the Texans ever closer to that coveted first playoff berth.
On the other hand is Dom Capers, who was the team's first coach after fulfilling the same role for the Carolina Panthers back in the mid-1990's. Capers had a miserable time trying to guide the Texans to respectability, with a record of 18-46 in four seasons, including a dismal mark of 2-14 during his last campaign in 2005.
As such, Capers gets the nod here, practically by default.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Texans Football")
.jpg?w=480 "Indiana Pro Day Football")
.jpg?w=480 "Jaguars Raiders Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Roseman on Makai Lemon Call 📞")
.jpg?w=600 "Claypool Gets NFL Tryout")
.jpg?w=600 "Malik Willis' Wild 1st Pitch ⚾")
