Despite Belichick banter, Gibbs is NFL’s finest coach

By Connor Byrne  |   Friday, June 16, 2006  |  Comments( 38 )

Washington Redskins
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These days, when thinking of the NFL's premier head coach, most automatically hand the honor to the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick. It's certainly an understandable choice, since Belichick has won three Super Bowls this decade and has gone a stunning 11-2 in his postseason career. Undoubtedly, he's tremendous at what he does, and will one day be enshrined in Canton, Ohio's Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Although Belichick is an incredible head coach, one has to wonder why the Washington Redskins' leader, Joe Gibbs, is never mentioned as the paramount man at his position. After all, he's won just as many Super Bowls as Belichick, but he's done it with a different quarterback each time.

Belichick, on the other hand, has accomplished his title triumvirate with Tom Brady, certainly the best QB the game has to offer today. Essentially, he's the modern-day version of former San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana, who won four Super Bowls in the Bay Area in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Gibbs' Washington glory has come with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams (the league's first African-American QB to win it all) and Mark Rypien. Of that Super Bowl-winning trio, none were consistently great over their careers. Theismann's the best of the bunch, but his career was nowhere near Hall of Fame worthy. Still, he managed to help Gibbs win his first championship in 1982's strike-shortened season, when running back John Riggins famously ran over the Miami Dolphins' defense in a 27-17 victory.

Williams performed brilliantly in Super Bowl XXII, as the Washington Redskins thrashed the Denver Broncos by a score of 42-10. In that game, Williams, a mediocre pro at best, threw for 340 yards and a quartet of touchdowns.

Lastly, Rypien capped off a storybook '91 season with an MVP performance in a 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI over the Buffalo Bills. That, of course, was the last time Gibbs won a title. However, following the '92 season, he took over a decade off to catch up with his family and pursue auto racing interests.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder shockingly brought Gibbs out of his football retirement to return to D.C. prior to the 2004 season. Many believed Gibbs wouldn't get used to the nuances of a "different" NFL. Those people couldn't have been more wrong.

Although Gibbs went just 6-10 in his first year, he rebounded in '05, unexpectedly guiding the Redskins all the way to the NFC Divisional Playoff Round, where they bowed out to the Seattle Seahawks-the eventual conference champs.

With the new season looming less than three months away, Gibbs' Redskins are among a handful of teams that will have a good chance to be crowned champions. If Gibbs does, indeed, accomplish his ultimate goal, it would give the 65-year-old an incredible four Super Bowl victories. He'd likely have to do it with 35-year-old QB Mark Brunell at the helm. Considering the fact that Gibbs has already won with three passers who weren't elite, winning with Brunell doesn't seem impossible. He's been more than serviceable throughout his career.

Just like Gibbs' old teams, this one is expected to win with a great running game, terrific offensive line, dependable, small receivers and a fierce defense. If that's the case, the current version of the Redskins seem more than ready for the challenge.

Meanwhile, Belichick, a former failure in Cleveland before joining New England in 2000, has a Patriots roster that seems to be crumbling in talent. The team went 10-6 last season and suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round. Key title contributors of the past such as linebacker Willie McGinest, receiver David Givens and kicker Adam Vinatieri departed during the offseason, so Belichick will have a substantial amount of work cut out for him.

One can make the argument that Belichick was never anything special until he stumbled upon Brady early in the '01 season. Of course, veteran QB Drew Bledsoe was wounded in a Week Two matchup with the New York Jets, which led to Brady's grand entrance.

Prior to the Brady era, Belichick's career regular season record with the Browns and Patriots was just 41-55. The '94 season was his only playoff appearance, when he led Cleveland to an 11-5 record before losing in the second round to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

By no means is this an attempt to unmask Belichick as some sort of fraud, because it's certainly true that he's a future Hall of Famer who's been the most brilliant head coach of the last five years. He's managed to seemingly pull players off the street and plug them into major weak areas of his Patriot teams. Not only have those no-names gotten the job done, but they've been major factors in title runs.

The fact that Belichick has experienced such success in an era of pro football famous for its parity makes the 54-year-old's accomplishments even more impressive.

Including the postseason, Belichick's career record is an exemplary 110-79. However, as mentioned earlier, most of those victories have come with Brady at the helm. Whether or not Belichick is a true coaching genius or demigod will always be up for debate, unless he somehow has consistent winning seasons sans Brady. That's unlikely, though, since Massachusetts is probably Belichick's last stop, and Brady is one of the league's most durable quarterbacks.

The limitless success a Gibbs and Brady duo could accomplish is flat-out frightening. Too bad nobody will never see it.

Gibbs, who has compiled a 157-82 career regular/postseason mark, seems ready to become the oldest coach in league history to win a championship. In doing so, he would surpass potential Hall of Famer Dick Vermeil, who won a title at the age of 63 in the 1999 season with the St. Louis Rams.

Just remember, before throwing Belichick's name in with the likes of Vince Lombardi and all the other legends of yesteryear, put Gibbs' name in first. After all, he's somehow managed to win three trophies baring Lombardi's name with so-so talent at football's most important position, quarterback.

--Connor J. Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com

Get more on Joe Gibbs at Realfootball365.com
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