The 25 best NFL head coaches who never won a Super Bowl

No head coach won more games in the '90s than Schottenheimer. In fact, no coach has won more regular-season games without winning a title than him. His 21-season career was built on establishing the run and being more physical on both sides of the ball than his opponent. The “Martyball” formula yielded an impressive .613 winning percentage, three AFC championship appearances, and 11 seasons with 10 or more wins. Never, though, was he able to hoist the Lombardi trophy, a mark that ultimately has kept him out of Canton. He was the NFL Coach of the Year in 2004 after taking a 4-12 San Diego team and turning it around to 12-4. 

A protege of Tom Landry, Reeves was a tremendous coach over his 23 seasons and is one of the few on this list who didn’t lack playoff wins or Super Bowl appearances. The Lombardi Trophy, however, always eluded Reeves, who went 0-4 in The Big Game. Only two other coaches (both on this list) have made that many championships and failed to come away with a ring. Reeves is one of nine coaches to collect 200 wins in his career. He also proudly holds a pair of AP Coach of the Year awards, including in 1998 when he turned Atlanta into a 14-2 club following a sub-.500 season, the season prior. 

It didn’t matter where Knox was, he was going to deliver a winning program. He is the only person to ever win three Coach of the Year awards with three different franchises. In 11 playoff appearances, Knox took his team to the conference championship four times but was never able to get a crack at the Super Bowl. With the Rams, he won five consecutive division titles, and later found success with Seattle, where he led them to their first-ever playoff appearance in 1983 and, five years later, their first division title. 

Fisher was a true leader of men. That was never more apparent than in the way he handled the transition from Houston to Tennessee as the Titans’ coach. It was with that organization that he made his only Super Bowl, dramatically losing to the Rams, where the famous image of Tennessee’s Kevin Dyson’s outstretched reach falling one yard short of tying the game. Fisher finished with an above-.500 record, and he left Tennessee as the franchise leader in coaching wins with 142 across his tenure with the Oilers and Titans. 

Any list including the best head coaches to never win it all is sure to include the longtime Buffalo head honcho. There aren’t many, if any, coaches who can lay claim to a more dominant run than his Bills’ teams that won six straight AFC East titles and made four straight Super Bowls. The problem? He went 0-4 in those appearances, a blemish that certainly haunts him to this day. Regardless, Levy is one of the greatest leaders to man an NFL sideline, compiling a .561 win percentage over 17 seasons with eight playoff appearances. The two-time Coach of the Year was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001. 

Grant earned his much-deserved spot in Canton after dominating the 70s at the helm of the Minnesota Vikings. It was there that he won 11 division titles and reached four Super Bowls. Unfortunately for Grant, his teams were unable to claim victory in the final game in any of their trips. There's an asterisk here, however, as he did coach a team to a pre-merger title in 1969, the same year that he won the AP Coach of the Year award. 

There wasn't much that Mora Sr. didn't accomplish within the NFL coaching ranks. He's one of the best at turning around organizations, having done so multiple times in New Orleans and Indianapolis. He led the Saints to their first-ever winning season and playoff berth. He took a 3-13 Colts team in his first season and transformed them into a 13-3 team the following season. Despite all of his regular-season success, Mora’s Achilles' heel proved to be the postseason, where he failed to win a game (0-6). 

Green orchestrated some of the game’s most dynamic offenses, most notably the Vikings’ league-leading 1998 team. That unit was stacked with Randy Moss and Cris Carter, finishing 15-1 that season. Unfortunately, that squad and the 2000 team tripped up in the conference championship. Green never made it to a Super Bowl over his 13 seasons between Minnesota and Arizona, but he finished with a respectable .546 winning percentage. 

Whenever you saw Caldwell on the sidelines, he never looked too overwhelmed or too overjoyed. He was a steadying presence with both Indianapolis and Detroit. His tenure wasn't as long as others on this list, with just seven seasons, but he found a way to make four playoffs in that span and one Super Bowl as a first-year coach. His rookie campaign saw his Colts team win 14 straight games. He's also one of the only coaches to compile a winning record in Detroit. 

Phillips earned his stripes as one of the top defensive coordinators in the league before becoming a head coach, even winning a Super Bowl as an assistant later in his career in Denver. As the head man, his teams went 1-5 in the postseason despite an impressive 82-64 regular season mark. While his Dallas teams were criticized for underperforming in the biggest moments, he did lead the franchise to its first playoff win in 12 years in 2009. 

A championship-winning offensive coordinator, Martz was never able to get over the top as the head coach in St. Louis. The innovator and mastermind behind the Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” experience, Martz called the plays during the team’s 1999 title run. He was promoted to top billing in 2000, where he stayed for six seasons, making the postseason in three of those years. His brief tenure was highlighted by an astounding .623 winning percentage, two NFC West titles, and a Super Bowl appearance in 2001. 

One of the few active coaches on the list, Harbaugh has made the playoffs in four of his five seasons and is positioned to make another in 2025. All he does is win. Look no further than his above .680 career winning percentage. He guided San Francisco to a Super Bowl appearance and has more playoff wins than losses. During his time with the 49ers, he reached three straight conference finals behind a stout defense and his physical brand of offensive football. He was the AP NFL Coach of the Year in his first season in 2011. 

Lewis transformed Cincinnati, turning it from a league laughingstock into a formidable franchise. He’s the prime example of a coach that shouldn’t be judged for what he never obtained (a ring) but for what he brought to the organization. And what he brought was a franchise-best 131 regular-season wins, five straight playoff appearances, and four AFC North titles. The monkey on his back, however, was when the calendar shifted to the postseason. His teams went 0-7 in the playoffs. For that, Lewis is often labeled a historical underachiever. That, though, doesn’t tell the whole story as he inherited a club that had gone 2-14 before his arrival and quickly turned them into a formidable foe by ending a 15-year playoff drought. 

There aren’t many offensive minds as highly-regarded as Turner. He was brilliant as an offensive coordinator, with two Super Bowl rings to his credit as a member of the Dallas coaching staff, which led to him becoming a head coach for 15 seasons across three organizations. As a head coach, he led his teams to four playoff appearances, going 4-4 in those games. His regular-season record is marred by down seasons in Washington and Oakland, which is why he’s the only head coach with 100-plus wins to have a career losing record (.483). 

“Riverboat Ron” is one of the best coaching nicknames around. Long before aggressive fourth-down calls became the standard in the league, Rivera was the one most associated with taking calculated risks. Because of that style, he led a dominant 15-1 season in Carolina that culminated in a Super Bowl appearance in 2015. A two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year recipient, Rivera is Carolina’s all-time leader in wins (76) and the only coach there to take the Panthers to two straight playoffs. He may not have a ring as a coach, but he did win one as a player with Chicago. 

McDermott has put together some historic seasons recently in Buffalo, but none have seen him stand atop the mountain when the season concluded. He brought winning football back to the city, ending a 17-year playoff drought as a first-year head coach. Twice, he has taken his teams to the AFC Championship Game, but has yet to get the Bills into The Big Game. He’s approaching 100 careers with an above .650 winning percentage over his first nine seasons. He trails only the aforementioned Marv Levy in coaching wins within the organization. 

Smith, a defensive whiz known for his Tampa 2 defense, served as a head coach for 12 seasons across three organizations. All three of his playoff appearances came in Chicago, including a Super Bowl bid in 2006. That matchup is significant in NFL history as it was the first Super Bowl to feature two African-American head coaches, with him and Tony Dungy. The 2005 AP NFL Coach of the Year led Chicago to three division titles and was instrumental in leading the dominant Bears’ defense in the early 2000s. 

Dallas is a franchise where regular-season wins are important, but winning Super Bowls is all that matters. That’s why Garrett’s tenure is often underappreciated. He’s the second-winningest coach in the storied franchise’s history, but his 2-3 mark in the playoffs is where his critics quickly go to. The 2016 NFL AP NFL Coach of the Year led the Cowboys to three division titles. Perhaps most impressive was when he took over a 1-7 club midseason and led it on a 5-3 run to close out the season.

NFL fans can thank Wyche for installing the no-huddle offense. Behind this new philosophy and an MVP quarterback in Boomer Esiason, Wyche took Cincinnati to a Super Bowl in 1988. That was a game famously ended on a last-minute touchdown drive by Joe Montana. If not for that historic effort, Wyche wouldn’t be on this list. When he left the Bengals, he spent four seasons with Tampa where his luck ran out with zero winning seasons. Despite that, what Wyche brought to the game is more than worthy of a spot on this list. 

Wannstedt earned his head coaching duties after serving as a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator in Dallas. Across his 11 seasons as the head man, Wannstedt went 42-31 in Miami with an AFC East Division title in 2000 and multiple playoff berths. He originally found success with Chicago, where he led them to their first road playoff victory since 1963. His teams, however, were never able to get over the hump or even make a conference championship. 

Fox remains one of only seven coaches to take two different franchises to a Super Bowl in Carolina and Denver. While he went winless in the title game, his 8-7 postseason mark is impressive, as is his .520 regular-season winning percentage. Not many coaches can say they’ve turned around franchises quicker than Fox, who built an 11-5 team that made it to the NFC title game out of a sub-.500 team the year prior. He also inherited a 4-win Denver team and proceeded to win 12 or more games in his first three seasons. 

With four playoff appearances in nine seasons, Mariucci was often associated with winning clubs. His first season in San Francisco saw him take the Niners to the NFC Championship game following a 13-3 record. That same year, he was also the recipient of the AP NFL Coach of the Year. His San Francisco teams also won two division titles under his tutelage. His winning percentage took a hit when he went to Detroit for three seasons, failing to win more than six games in any of them. 

The Vikings were a well-oiled machine in 2017 thanks to Zimmer. That team went 13-3 and reached the conference championship behind the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL. His Minnesota teams won two division titles in his eight seasons, ending a dominant run by Green Bay that saw them atop the NFC North for four straight years. 

Shanahan has come very close to winning it all, following in his father's footsteps as a two-time champion. The offensive guru has led San Francisco to two Super Bowls in nine seasons, including four playoff appearances. Every time his Niners’ teams have made it to the winner-go-home format, they’ve reached the conference championship. That’s a true testament to how he has prepared his teams for the big moments, although that ring still eludes him as a head coach. 

How good was Allen? He never had a losing season in his 12 seasons. To this day, no NFL coach who has lasted that long has achieved a winning record in every single campaign like Allen. The Hall of Famer ranks third all-time in winning percentage (.705) behind only Vince Lombardi and John Madden. His Washington club reached the Super Bowl in 1972 before falling short. The only thing missing from his resume is a Super Bowl ring.