It doesn’t go to losing teams

Harbaugh isn’t the only coach likely up for the award. One of his likely competitors is Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who finished the season strong. In spite of arguably the worst roster in the league and talk of the franchise purposefully tanking, Flores got his players to play their hearts out. Where Flores had likely started the season off on the hot seat after a rough start, he should be firmly in the running for the award.

Sadly, history says he has no chance. The award so rarely goes to a coach with a losing record and with Miami finishing 5-11, Flores is staring down decades of history fighting against him here. The only coach to win the award with a losing record was way back in 1990 when Jimmy Johnson finished 7-9.

In reality, the award almost always goes to the coach with the best record or the coach that surprising got his team into the postseason. As I noted above, Baltimore has the best record and very few pundits were expecting the Ravens to even win their division, much less look this dominant.

If history holds true once again this season, Harbaugh is the type of coach that usually gets the award.