8 Most Overrated Head Coaches in NFL History

When determining who the most overrated head coaches in NFL history are, there are plenty of aspects of their coaching careers that you could look at.

You could focus on a coach's lack of Super Bowl wins, horrid playoff record or inability to win with superior talent. However, the key determining factor is that the coach was made out to be far greater than he really was.

Here are eight coaches who were supposed to be "gods" but were really mere men.

Bill Parcells

I'm not talking about the old-school Bill Parcells here.

The Parcells I'm talking about is the one that took over the New England Patriots, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s and early 2000s. That Parcells was an overrated head coach.

In his 11 seasons as head coach for those three franchises, Parcells boasted a pedestrian record of 95 wins and 81 losses. He also only recorded three playoff wins in five trips to the postseason.

The problem was that Parcells had good talent around him, and he was constantly billed as this mad genius who would instantly improve the franchise. Unfortunately, he never fully lived up to that billing.

Jon Gruden

The problem with Gruden wasn't with winning. While his career winning percentage is only .540, he did have a winning postseason record and won a Super Bowl.

The problem is the fact that he inherited great teams that even awful coaches would have been likely to win with.

I mean, come on—Al Davis basically traded Gruden to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that was loaded with talent. It was in Tampa Bay that Gruden became one of the best coaches in the league.

Gruden was put in an ideal situation, but once that situation ran out, so did his team's winning ways. In his last three years in Tampa, Gruden's record was 22-26.

Inheriting a great team doesn't make you a great coach.

Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka is widely considered one of the better coaches in NFL history. However, the facts simply don't prove that.

First, Ditka coached the 1985 Chicago Bears, which most would say is the greatest team in NFL history. With that much talent, it is ridiculous that Ditka couldn't lead basically the same team back to the Super Bowl in 1986, 1987 or 1988.

Secondly, just look at what he did to the New Orleans Saints franchise. The man traded every single one of the Saints' 1999 picks to draft Ricky freakin' Williams. I know Williams was a stud coming out of college, but come on, really?

No great coach should ever ruin a franchise, and great coaches should certainly win and win with great teams.

Jeff Fisher

In 17 seasons as head coach for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, Jeff Fisher only made the playoffs six times.

Look, I know that this guy named Peyton Manning was basically ruling the division for over a decade, but six playoff appearances is still bad news. Fisher made the playoffs in a little over 33 percent of his seasons.

That's far worse than an F grade. I got a 33 percent on an English test. and I was sent back two grades. The only way that Fisher was able to keep his job was because people thought he was a great coach.

Unfortunately, he wasn't a great coach, which is why he is overrated.

Marty Schottenheimer

Here are some fun facts about Marty Schottenheimer.

Fun Fact No. 1: Schottenheimer had a career playoff record of 5-13.

Fun Fact No. 2: Schottenheimer never brought his team to a Super Bowl.

Fun Fact No. 3: Schottenheimer's only championship came with the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL. They only played four games in the regular season, and he had home-field advantage in the championship game.

Not very impressive fun facts for a coach that so many people think was incredible at his job.

Dan Reeves

When you are the youngest head coach in the NFL, expectations can be rather high. I mean, how else can you explain such a young man getting a head coaching job unless he is a "prodigy," right?

That's what happened to Dan Reeves when he took over the Denver Broncos in 1981. Even though he had a successful career with both the Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons, Reeves' biggest issue was in the big game.

He made three Super Bowls with Denver and another one with the Falcons. However, even with a player like John Elway on his team, he was unable to win one of those four Super Bowls.

A 0-4 record in the biggest game doesn't scream "prodigy" or incredible coach. What it does scream is overrated.

Chuck Knox

When you are the man that has coached the most games without appearing in a Super Bowl, that isn't a good thing.

The so-called legendary Chuck Knox coached 334 games over his career, and while he won plenty of those games, he could never get his teams into the Super Bowl. Great coaches are supposed to at least coach in the biggest game of the season.

To make matters even worse, his former team made, and won, the Super Bowl two years after Knox retired from his second stint with the St. Louis Rams.

Herman Edwards

Other than being a part of numerous postgame rants, Herman Edwards was a rather awful head coach. However, because of his ability to talk a big game, people thought he was this incredible mastermind.

A 54-74 career record as a head coach doesn't scream mastermind. In fact, it doesn't even scream good. What it does scream is below average.

While Edwards may be the best there is at talking the talk, he obviously wasn't able to back it up on the field. Neither the New York Jets nor the Kansas City Chiefs became a better football team because of Edwards. 

You could actually say that they became worse teams by the time he was through with them.