The 25 Biggest Coaching Fails in NFL History

NFL head coaches are some of the best minds in professional sports. They climb through the ranks to emerge as one of the 32 most elite in their profession, obviously no easy task. Once they get the head job, some of these men like Don Shula or Bill Parcells rise to Hall of Fame levels as they guide their teams to multiple championships. And yet, not everything is always such smooth sailing.

Even for these surefire Hall of Famers, spectacular failure lurks around every corner. It doesn’t matter if you’re Bill Belichick or Joe Gibbs. Sometimes a decision you make is going to come back to haunt you at the worst possible time, creating moments that fans will remember forever. From “Red Right 88” to “Spygate,” these are the 25 Biggest Coaching Fails in NFL History.

25. Bill Parcells Outsmarts Himself

Date: 12/21/1997
Team: New York Jets

Bill Parcells was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2013, and deservedly so. He won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants and is one of the iconic coaches in league history. However, even the Tuna was prone to the occasional gaffe from the sideline. Perhaps none was bigger than his decision to throw a halfback pass at a key moment of the Jets' final regular season game in 1997, when his team was stationed at the Lions' nine yard line and could've just kicked a field goal to send it to overtime. The pass was intercepted, and the Jets were eliminated from playoff contention as a result.

24. Andy Reid Promotes Juan Castillo to Defensive Coordinator

Date: 2/2/2011
Team: Philadelphia Eagles

It's one thing to hire a Defensive Coordinator with limited experience; that's usually a worthwhile gamble, so long as that person has plenty of experience working with defensive players. Andy Reid, though, turned conventional wisdom on its head when he promoted Offensive Line coach Juan Castillo to Defensive Coordinator in the buildup to the 2011-12 season. Castillo had not coached defensive players since he was the Defensive Line coach at tiny Texas A&M University-Kingsville from 1982 to 1985, and Eagles fans were shocked and appalled that this was the man leading their "Dream Team" defense. Predictably, this experiment failed miserably and Castillo was fired early in the 2012-13 season.

23. Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz Nearly Come to Blows

Date: 10/16/2011
Team: San Francisco 49ers

Football is a game of passion, and players get involved in skirmishes on the field all the time. When these occur, their coaches are tasked with reeling them in and keeping them focused on the task at hand. It was quite the role reversal, then, when San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz nearly fought after Schwartz took exception to Harbaugh's hard handshake/back pat following a late 49ers win.

Schwartz pursued Harbaugh as they jogged off the field, getting in his face and forcing the pair to be separated by the players who had just finished beating the hell out of each other. It was quite the display of maturity from two leaders of men.

22. Bill Belichick's Ego Swells to New Heights

Date: 11/15/2009
Team: New England Patriots

There may never be a more self-assured coach than Bill Belichick. No matter how many times he actually is the smartest guy in the room, there's no doubt he always thinks he is. That's clearly what was going on here, as the Patriots desperately tried to stave off a furious Colts rally. Facing a 4th-and-2 from their own 28-yard line and clinging to a six point lead, they lined up on offense to presumably draw the Indy defense offside. But then Tom Brady snapped it, and completed a pass about one foot short of the first down. The Patriots went on to lose the game, and the Colts went on to reach the Super Bowl.

21. Bill Parcells Allows Tony Romo to be the Holder

Date: 1/6/2007
Team: Dallas Cowboys

Few people ever really think about the holder. And why would you? It's usually the punter or a backup quarterback, somebody of marginal importance at best. It was Tony Romo's primary function early in the 2006 season, as he entered the year as the Cowboys' backup behind Drew Bledsoe. However, after Bledsoe struggled, coach Bill Parcells replaced his starter with Romo, who has held onto the QB1 role ever since. However, Parcells also decided that Romo still wasn't above being the team's holder, and this move would ultimately prove costly.

With 1:19 to go in their Wild Card matchup with the Seahawks, Romo drove the Cowboys to the Seattle 2-yard line, setting up a chance at a go-ahead 19-yard chip shot field goal. A fatigued Romo fumbled the subsequent snap, failed to run it in, and the Cowboys' season was over shortly after.

20. Jim Schwartz Challenges a Touchdown, Thus Losing Right to Challenge

Date: 11/22/2012
Team: Detroit Lions

Prior to the 2012-13 season, the NFL instituted a rule that all touchdowns would be automatically reviewed via instant replay to ensure accuracy. So, when the Texans' Justin Forsett's knee clearly hit the ground early in his 81-yard third quarter touchdown run, it was obvious to all watching that it was going to be overturned and the Lions' lead would stay at 24-14. Lions coach Jim Schwartz apparently didn't get the memo, though, and threw his challenge flag on the play anyway.

Unfortunately for him, the NFL also has a rule that, if you illegally throw a challenge flag, you are penalized 15 yards and the play immediately becomes unreviewable. Schwartz's incompetence therefore managed to allow an illegal touchdown to stand, and the Lions would go on to lose the game.

19. Barry Switzer Inexplicably Gambles, Loses

Date: 12/10/1995
Team: Dallas Cowboys

Barry Switzer never radiated intelligence in his decision-making as Cowboys coach, and his Super Bowl title can largely be credited to the incredible talent he inherited from previous coach Jimmy Johnson. Switzer was obviously confident in his team, and with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter he decided that rather than punt the ball back to the Eagles he would go for it and try to win the game. Not a bad move, right? Well, the problem was that the game was tied and the ball was on the Cowboys' 29-yard line. Emmitt Smith got stuffed at the line, and the Eagles kicked a field goal to win the game shortly thereafter.

18. Bobby Petrino Quits by Leaving a Note in Players' Lockers

Date: 12/12/2007
Team: Atlanta Falcons

The transition from college coach to the NFL is not easy, and many coaches fail at it. There's no shame, really, in realizing that you're over your head. But what Bobby Petrino did in the middle of his first season with the Atlanta Falcons really is the definition of spineless. Not only did he quit just 13 games into his five-year, $24 million contract, but he did it by leaving unpersonalized, four sentence letters in each of his players' lockers. In less than 24 hours, Petrino had accepted the head coaching position at Arkansas and a Falcons organization already in disarray thanks to the arrest and suspension of Michael Vick was thrown even deeper into chaos.

17. Marv Levy Makes "Wide Right" Possible

Date: 1/27/1991
Team: Buffalo Bills

Obviously, "Wide Right" happened because Scott Norwood whiffed on a makeable field goal. Nobody questions that. However, one can't help but wonder how things would've been different had Bills' coach Marv Levy not played so conservatively on offense, which forced Norwood to try a high-pressure kick from well outside his normal range. The Bills took over from their own 10 with 2:16 to play, and yet Levy called for numerous runs from quarterback Jim Kelly and running back Thurman Thomas to try to bring them down the field.

While that play selection did bring them to range, it wasn't a particular area of comfort for Norwood. He had hit on just six of his 10 attempts from 40 to 49 yards that season with a long of 48, and for his career converted just 59 percent of kicks from 40-plus. While the subsequent miss forever haunts the one-time Pro Bowler, Levy shoulders some of the blame for not being more aggressive in setting up the Super Bowl-winning attempt.

16. Joe Gibbs Declines to Play it Safe, Pays For It

Date: 1/22/1984
Team: Washington Redskins

Joe Gibbs is a legend of coaching, and in 1983-84 had one of the best teams of his career. The Redskins set an NFL record for points in a season (541) and had won the previous season's Super Bowl, making them the logical favorites in their return trip. However, the Raiders came out strong, taking a 14-3 lead and pinning Washington deep in their own end with 12 seconds to play in the first half. Rather than kneel on it and regroup at the break (they were receiving the second half kickoff), Redskins coach Joe Gibbs decided to instead attempt a screen pass they had run for a big gain earlier in the season against the Raiders.

Los Angeles linebacker Jack Squirek sniffed it out immediately, intercepting the pass and returning it for a touchdown. The deficit proved to be insurmountable, and the Raiders used the momentum the pick-six generated to complete their blowout win.

15. Jason Garrett's Timeout Call Ices His Own Kicker

Date: 12/4/2011
Team: Dallas Cowboys

Icing the kicker has become a staple of modern day football. Coaches feel that the time a kicker uses to "think about it" is enough to cause him to miss. Interestingly, the tradition of icing one's own kicker has not yet caught on. Maybe that's because Jason Garrett is not quite the innovator he seems; when he inexplicably iced his kicker Dan Bailey prior to Bailey's trying for a 49-yard, game-winning field goal, the kicker naturally missed his attempt and the Cowboys lost in overtime. They'd go on to finish 8-8, meaning that the win likely would've earned them a playoff spot. Woops.

14. Bill Parcells Keeps Kicking to Desmond Howard

Date: 1/26/1997
Team: New England Patriots

The New England Patriots were most definitely outgunned on offense in Super Bowl XXXI. And yet, despite being big time underdogs, they hung tough against the Packers, and a third quarter Curtis Martin touchdown run had just cut the Pats' deficit to 27-21 with plenty of time remaining. Despite being burned earlier in the game by Packers' return man Desmond Howard, coach Bill Parcells decided to send the subsequent kickoff right at the former Heisman Trophy winner, paying dearly when Howard took Adam Vinatieri's boot 99 yards for (at the time) the longest scoring play in Super Bowl history. The Patriots would never advance past their own 3- yard line after that, and Parcells would never coach another game for them.

13. Wade Phillips Makes the Music City Miracle Possible

Date: 1/8/2000
Team: Buffalo Bills

The Doug Flutie phenomenon reached a fever pitch late in the 1999-2000 season, as the diminutive quarterback started 15 games for the Bills and led them to an 11-5 record and a spot in the playoffs. Inexplicably, Bills coach Wade Phillips decided to bench Flutie in favor of Rob Johnson for their first round playoff game, a move Phillips claimed was at the behest of owner Ralph Wilson. It didn't work. Johnson went 10-for-22 for 131 yards and 0 TDs, was sacked six times, and the Bills didn't score a point until the third quarter. After the "Music City Miracle" brought the game to a close, poor Buffalo and their fans have yet to return to the playoffs.

12. Rex Ryan Leaves His Starter in Late into a Preseason Game

Date: 8/24/2013
Team: New York Jets

Say what you will about Mark Sanchez (and Jets fans would probably say a lot), but it would've at least been nice to have the option of playing him. But when coach Rex Ryan decided he just had to have his likely starter in during the waning minutes of a preseason game just weeks ago, it was destined to end poorly. Sanchez took a big hit and tore his rotator cuff, putting his season in jeopardy and forcing Jets fans to endure a brutal season of Geno Smith. If things continue on their current trajectory, though, at least they won't have to stomach Ryan for much longer.

11. Mike Martz Keeps Playing Prevent

Date: 2/3/2002
Team: St. Louis Rams

Despite John Madden's advice to the contrary, the New England Patriots came onto the field with 1:30 to go in Super Bowl XXXVI and immediately began throwing the ball in an attempt to get into field goal range. Rams' coach Mike Martz, for some curious reason, was perfectly happy to allow the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady to march down the field, as he kept the Rams' defense in a prevent formation throughout the possession and thereby allowed Brady to go 5-for-6 in a no huddle offense. The checkdown receivers continued to be open thanks to the deep Rams defenders, and the Patriots quickly got into range for the game-winning field goal as a result.

10. Mike Shanahan Allows His Franchise QB to Cripple Himself

Date: 1/6/2013
Team: Washington Redskins

Robert Griffin III enjoyed a fantastic rookie season in 2012-13, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and carrying his Redskins team into the playoffs. It wasn't all perfect, though, as Griffin suffered a knee injury in Week 14 that forced him out of action for a week and limited his mobility even once he returned. When he reinjured the same knee in the first quarter of Washington's playoff game against Seattle, RG3 should've been done. Only, thanks to coach Mike Shanahan, he wasn't. Griffin stayed in the game and tore his ACL and LCL trying to recover a botched snap in the fourth quarter, jeopardizing his future and leaving legions of fans shaking their heads.

9. Dennis Green Goes Conservative at the Worst Time

Date: 1/17/1999
Team: Minnesota Vikings

The 1998-99 Minnesota Vikings had a great offense, scoring 556 points for what was at the time an NFL record. They had Hall of Fame wide receivers in Cris Carter and Randy Moss, an excellent running back in Robert Smith, and four-time All-Pro selection Randall Cunningham at quarterback. And yet, with the game tied, two timeouts and 30 seconds remaining, and the ball a manageable 40 yards out of field goal range, coach Dennis Green decided against trying to win the game and instead figured he'd take his chances in overtime. Bad call. The Falcons won the toss, and naturally kicked a field goal to win the game on the opening possession of OT.

8. Dan Reeves Starts Eugene Robinson in the Super Bowl

Date: 1/31/1999
Team: Atlanta Falcons

It's never great to get caught with a prostitute, especially if you're a professional athlete. It's a particularly bad look if you do it the night before the Super Bowl, and you just received an award for possessing "high moral character" from an organization honoring Christian athletes. Despite the arrest and long night in jail, Eugene Robinson still got to start the game thanks to the mercy of Falcons' coach Dan Reeves. John Elway was not nearly as kind, torching Robinson for an 80-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Broncos a huge 17-3 lead. Robinson's horrible game punched his ticket out of town a year later and was Reeves' fourth loss in a Super Bowl.

7. Andy Reid Has the Eagles Take Their Sweet Time

Date: 2/6/2005
Team: Philadelphia Eagles

With 5:40 to go in Super Bowl XXXIX and down by 10 points, Andy Reid obviously needed his Eagles team to score with haste when they began their drive on their own 21. However, for whatever reason, Reid and quarterback Donovan McNabb did not feel particularly compelled to go quickly, eschewing the hurry-up offense and instead taking their time as they moved down the field against the Patriots. While the Eagles did get in the end zone eventually, this only happened after 3:52 had been consumed, leaving just 1:48 for them to work with. After a three-and-out by the Patriots forced the Eagles to use all their timeouts, Philly's next possession began with them pinned back to their own four-yard line with just 46 seconds to go. One McNabb pick later, and the loss was assured.

6. Mike Ditka Snubs Sweetness

Date: 1/26/1986
Team: Chicago Bears

Walter Payton, one of the greatest running backs in the history of the NFL, did not score a touchdown in a Super Bowl his team won by 36 points. It's not for a lack of situations he could've gone in, either; quarterback Jim McMahon scored on a one-yard run, and defensive tackle William "Refrigerator" Perry got in on a one-yard plunge that made the score 44-3. Payton's absence from the score sheet was palpable, and it was all thanks to coach Mike Ditka, who somehow forgot that his star had yet to reach the end zone. Da Coach has since gone on record saying that one of the greatest regrets of his career was not creating more opportunities for his star player to reach pay dirt. It would prove to be the only Super Bowl appearance of Payton's career.

5. Marty Mornhinweg Takes the Wind

Date: 11/24/2002
Team: Detroit Lions

Widely regarded as one of the worst coaches in the history of the NFL, Marty Mornhinweg set a new bar of incompetence in this matchup with the Bears. After winning the coin toss in overtime, he decided that the best move he could make for his team in the sudden death extra period was to kick it to the Bears. After all, there was a strong prevailing wind! Not surprisingly, the Bears promptly thanked Marty, drove right down the field, and kicked a field goal to win the game without allowing the Lions to get the ball. To his credit, Mornhinweg still claims it was the right decision.

4. Don Shula Benches One of the Best Ever

Date: 1/12/1969
Team: Baltimore Colts

Johnny Unitas was one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Don Shula was one of the league's greatest coaches. What could go wrong? Well, when Shula decided that he'd instead go with Earl Morrall under center for Super Bowl III rather than the "80% healthy" Unitas, he cast his lot with the wrong player. Morrall threw three interceptions before Shula brought in Unitas, but it was too little too late as the Jets overcame the mighty Colts on the strength of Joe Namath's guarantee.

3. Bill Belichick Tapes Other Team's Signals

Date: 9/9/2007
Team: New England Patriots

Everybody in football is looking for an edge. All teams are trying to figure out what the opposing side is doing, so that they might design a way to stop it. That job gets a lot easier when you're filming the signs your opponent is sending in to their players, a fact the New England Patriots had figured out prior to playing the Jets early in the 2007-08 season. Coach Bill Belichick had a camera trained on the Jets' coaches at all times as they signaled in defensive plays; the only problem was that Jets' coach Eric Mangini had previously worked for the Patriots and knew all about this practice.

He reported it to the league after the Patriots stomped his team 38-14, causing a massive media frenzy and discipline from the league against Belichick and the organization. While the Patriots didn't truly suffer as a result of the scandal (they went 16-0 and reached the Super Bowl), the saga has certainly tainted Belichick's legacy.

2. Sam Rutigliano Calls for "Red Right 88"

Date: 1/4/1981
Team: Cleveland Browns

It was one of the coldest NFL games of all time, and it looked like the Cleveland Browns and MVP quarterback Brian Sipe were poised to survive and advance to the AFC Championship game. They drove the ball deep into Oakland territory, and stationed on the Raiders' 13-yard line with a chance at a chip shot field goal to win the game. Instead, coach Sam Rutigliano called for a pass play (the aforementioned "Red Right 88") and the throw was intercepted in the end zone, ending the Browns' season. While there were some extenuating circumstances (the kicker was hurt and was just 2-for-4 on the game), this extraordinary miscue made for one of Cleveland's most legendary losses.

1. John McVay and Bob Gibson Create the Miracle at the Meadowlands

Date: 11/19/1978
Team: New York Giants

The Miracle at the Meadowlands is one of the most legendary plays in the history of football. The Giants had a 17-12 lead, the Eagles were out of timeouts, and there were 20 seconds on the clock. Easy choice, right? Kneeldown, game over. Only for some insane reason, the Giants decided to try to run the ball. This isn't Madden, there are consequences. Here, the Eagles happened to send the house after the Giants, which in turn allowed the Birds' Herm Edwards to scoop up the inevitable botched handoff and return it for a game winning touchdown. The Giants' offensive coordinator was immediately fired, and he never worked in football again.