This will probably be just the first in a series of posts we do on Andy Reid over the next couple weeks, but here we have highlighted his success relative to other current NFL coaches. Before we get to the chart, here are the rules:
The X axis is cumulative regular season winning percentage. Important to note that this a) only includes current NFL coaches, and b) only includes their track record with their CURRENT team. So Jeff Fisher and Mike Shanahan don’t get credit. This is a What Have You Done for Me Lately? world.
The Y axis, I’ve termed Annualized Playoff Success. I went through each coaches playoff history and gave them credit for their success on a simple point system I created.
Playoff Appearance (No Wins): 1 Point
Playoff Win(s) (but no Conference Championship): 2 Points
Super Bowl Loss: 3 Points
Super Bowl Win: 5 Points
You add up all those points and divide by total coaching tenure with the team (to mitigate the impact of long tenure).
The bubble size represents total Playoff Points under my system (so it’s a bit biased towards long tenure, but instructive nonetheless). Orange bubbles, in case you couldn’t guess, mean super bowl winners.
Andy Reid is a little tough to see, but he is the biggest blue bubble, just under Tom Coughlin.
The big takeaway here is: “Be careful what you wish for” regarding a coaching change. I’ve long been an Andy Reid supporter. Despite some obvious shortcomings, I believe he is still one of the best coaches in the league. Most importantly, it is very difficult to find a good NFL coach. As we can see in the chart above, by our assumed current standards (Andy Reid = just not good enough), there are A LOT of crappy coaches out there.
There’s no guarantee the Eagles make the right choice when it comes to the next coach, and I’d argue that the odds actually suggest it will be tough to find someone as good as Reid has been.
Just to clarify, this is not an endorsement of keeping Reid, just reminding everyone to temper their enthusiasm to get rid of him.
Eagles Rewind 
Love the bubble chart. You make a good point and I still don’t think that there is anyone better than AR to develop a QB in the league. Norv Turner, maybe, as an OC. It almost looks like if AR could get another year with Foles and get back to a more traditional WCO he could turn it back upright. I am afraid of going through the coaching carousel hoping to hit on one like you say. Following a loosing team is not fun (see this year). I would rather stick it out with AR again and get a real DC in than roll te dice and wait/pray for the new guy’s system to develop.
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