How is it that one coach stands out in contrast to all Super Bowl champion coaches?
Vince Lombardi won the first two Super Bowls with Bart Starr as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback. Don Shula and Miami won two with Bob Griese. Tom Landry steered Dallas to two Super Bowl trophies with Roger Staubach at the helm. Chuck Noll and the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in the 1970s with Terry Bradshaw behind center.
Tom Flores and the Raiders won two with Jim Plunkett as the leader of the offense. Bill Walsh was the head coach with Joe Montana the field general for three Super Bowl crowns for the 49ers. The 49ers won two more with head coach George Seifert coaching and Montana and Steve Young as signal-callers.
Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer both coached the Cowboys to Super Bowl rings with Troy Aikman taking the snaps from center. Denver’s Mike Shanahan as head coach and John Elway in the pocket for the Broncos won it all twice.
Tom Coughlin’s NY Giants took the crown twice with Eli Manning the on-field general. Last but certainly not least, New England’s Bill Belichick won six rings with Tom Brady as the quarterback.
Seifert is the only one above to win a second Super Bowl with a second quarterback (Montana and Young).
There is also Marv Levy and the Bills who went to multiple Super Bowls with Jim Kelly under center — and lost. Likewise, Dan Reeves led Elway and the Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances — they also lost all three.
Yet, there is one other coach to win more than multiple Super Bowls with more than one quarterback, Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins. Gibbs not only won more than one Super Bowl with more than one quarterback, he accomplished the feat three times!
Gibbs led Washington to Super Bowl trophies with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien winning Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI.
Starr, Griese, Staubach, Bradshaw, Montana, Young, Aikman and Elway are already in the Hall of Fame. Without question Brady will be in the HOF and Eli Manning a 2-time SB MVP is likely to be elected to the HOF. Only Jim Plunkett is likely to not make the HOF.
By contrast, Theismann was only an All-Pro once (1983), and Williams and Rypien were never All-Pro. Rypien had a great year only in 1991. Williams though never even a pro-bowler, was a veteran leader and had huge moments like the playoff win at Chicago (1987) and a nearly perfect 2nd quarter in Super Bowl XXII, earning the MVP.
Joe Gibbs is distinctive among Super Bowl coaches with multiple wins, doing so with three non-Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Hats off to Coach Joe, who is remarkably now age 81. The Washington franchise and fans were certainly blessed to have enjoyed Joe Jackson Gibbs as head coach.