You can get by with a lot in the NFL, but you can't get by without the right head coach in place.
The league has proven over and over how much coaching matters, so who has the top coaches in the league heading into the 2026 season? We've already taken a look at the stellar lineup of coaches in the AFC for this upcoming season, but the NFC might be equally loaded.
This season should be one of the most competitive in recent memory. As we've continually evaluated every aspect of rosters around the league, it's already shaping up to be an incredible season, but with the lineup of coaches in the NFC, this is going to be another really tough year to crack the top 7 and get into the playoffs, much less endure throughout.
Our latest NFL Power Rankings are going to take a look at every head coach in the NFC for 2026, and rank them worst to best based on their pedigree, projection for this season, and roster strength. (Rookie head coaches will be listed at the bottom of the list)
NFL Power Rankings: Ranking NFC head coaches worst to best for the 2026 season
16. Mike LaFleur, Arizona Cardinals (rookie)
This was the only name on the list that was easy to place, because Mike LaFleur is the only rookie head coach in the entire conference.
That comes as a bit of a shock, especially because there were quite a few in the AFC, but it really felt like the Arizona Cardinals had to settle for the only guy who would take their job. And Mike LaFleur is not a bad option.
LaFleur got his break in the NFL as part of the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree, starting off with the Browns in 2014 and following Shanahan to Atlanta and San Francisco after that before getting a shot to call plays with the Jets in 2021. He's been the offensive coordinator for the Rams over the last three years, and the Rams are hoping his proximity with two of the best coaches in the league (Shanahan, Sean McVay) can give them at least a piece of that pie.
15. Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This may seem harsh, but you can argue that Todd Bowles has done less with more than any head coach in the entire NFC. Despite the fact that the Bucs had three straight division titles to open up Bowles's tenure with the team, they weren't fooling anybody.
The Bucs are 35-33 and have never had more than 10 wins in a season under Todd Bowles. Not only that, but the Bucs have been bounced immediately from the playoffs every single year under Bowles.
The standard is high. Bowles took over for a Super Bowl-winning team with Tom Brady at quarterback, and they were still only able to win eight games. It was a stunner that the Bucs brought Bowles back this year in the first place. He's entering the 2026 season firmly on the hot seat.
14. Kellen Moore, New Orleans Saints
Kellen Moore has done an outstanding job in the NFL as an offensive coordinator both with the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. In fact, the Eagles might have been missing Moore a lot more than they expected during the 2025 season.
Moore took over as the New Orleans Saints head coach and immediately inhereted an unexpected issue at the most important position in the NFL: Quarterback. Derek Carr's surprise retirement really threw a wrench in Moore's rookie year as an NFL head coach, but he and the Saints showed some really nice signs of progress.
Not only that, but they might have made some lemonade out of the lemons they were given at the QB position last season. Tyler Shough stepped up in his rookie year and looked like a possible franchise player at the position. The arrow is really pointing up for Moore.
13. Kevin Stefanski, Atlanta Falcons
If the Cleveland Browns are the most cursed organization in the NFL, then Kevin Stefanski has to get a bit of a pass for the way things transpired over the last handful of years, right? He was with the Browns for a whopping six seasons, and led them to the playoffs twice with 11 wins in each of those playoff seasons.
You have to give credit where it's due. The Browns are always a deeper story when it comes to poor decisions from the top down, but Stefanski proved on multiple occasions that he can lead a team when there's competence under center.
We'll see how he does in his first year with Atlanta, because he's inheriting another tough situation with Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa battling it out for the QB1 job.
Stefanski has a better foundation to work with in Atlanta, and I wouldn't be shocked if he takes the Falcons to a division title if he can figure out that QB position quickly.
12. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys
After his first year at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys, the jury is still out on Brian Schottenheimer as a head coach in the NFL.
It was beyond his control to see Micah Parsons traded to the Green Bay Packers right before the start of the season, and that trade really put him at a horrendous disadvantage in his first year on the job. The Cowboys understood that, and are taking a patient approach with him.
The team results weren't there last season, but with an improved defense and new coordinator Christian Parker coming in to call plays, the pressure will be on Schottenheimer quite a bit more in 2026.
The Cowboys have the talent offensively to make a deep playoff run in the NFC, but that defense has to catch up quickly.
11. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
If the Buccaneers could do it over again, they might have let Todd Bowles leave and kept Dave Canales around. Although Canales has had to do a little bit more work in the player development department with the Panthers than he did with the Bucs, he helped get this team to a point of competing for and winning the division in 2025.
The Panthers have improved in pretty much every possible way under Canales. Most notably, Bryce Young has made major strides forward after a disappointing rookie year in 2023.
In terms of quarterback development, offensive scheme, and setting up players to thrive in their environment, Canales is one of the better coaches in the NFC. He's very much on the rise entering 2026.
10. Dan Quinn, Washington Commanders
Dan Quinn is one of those coaches whose entire body of work needs to be considered in a list like this. He's obviously been to a Super Bowl in the past, and took the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game in his first year on the job.
Quinn does a good job of putting players in position for success defensively, but what we saw last year was the fact that this Commanders team was at least a year or two ahead of schedule during Quinn's first year on the job.
Injuries played a major factor offensively, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the Commanders were dead last in the NFL in yards allowed. The Commanders were 31st in the NFL last year in takeaway/giveaway ratio, and simply not good enough in all phases of the game.
With a healthy (and improved) roster, we'll see how quickly Quinn can bounce back, or if he'll be on the hot seat this year.
9. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears
This right here is the shining example of why a list like this is so difficult. While Ben Johnson is truly one of the best offensive minds in the NFL, you simply can't rank him too high on an offseason head coach list after just one season.
I'm as big of a Ben Johnson fan as you will find, and there are receipts everywhere to prove it. Johnson knows what he's doing in regards to player development, offensive scheme, quarterback development, and how to use every arrow in his quiver regarding offensive weapons. He's one of the best. What he did with Caleb Williams last year was nothing short of a football miracle.
There is no "but" other than the fact that there are simply so many more coaches in the NFC who have proven over long periods of time what they can do at the highest level. Johnson could easily be considered a top-5 coach in the conference in terms of his abilities, but stacked against his peers, he needs more time on task.
8. John Harbaugh, New York Giants
John Harbaugh is one of the most decorated coaches in the NFC, historically speaking, and was arguably the top prize of the head coaching carousel in 2026.
The Giants fired Brian Daboll during the 2025 season, and set their sights on getting another veteran coach in the building who could help raise the proverbial floor for such a young team overall. The problem with projecting the Giants in 2026 is not with Harbaugh as a coach, but the health of his roster.
Harbaugh has built a strong reputation for his years with the Baltimore Ravens, but there's also a reason why the Ravens moved on after the 2025 season. He's got to prove that the luster from the Super Bowl win in 2012 hasn't completely worn off, and that he's capable of leading a team to postseason glory once again.
7. Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota Vikings
Kevin O'Connell is another head coach who could easily be considered one of the top 3 or 4 coaches in this conference. The Vikings have pretty much overachieved every single year he's been at the helm, and he's done more with less at the quarterback position than a lot of coaches in the conference.
The Vikings won 9 games last season despite their issues at the QB position, and O'Connell is a huge reason for that. He is one of the best game managers in the NFL, and he's one of the best at getting his players to rally around his vision.
When you think of what it means for a guy to be a "player's coach", Kevin O'Connell could be the picture next to that term in the dictionary. He deserves a ton of credit for Sam Darnold's individual success, putting him in great positions week after week and rehabilitating him as a starter in the NFL.
If only the Vikings had kept him around...
O'Connell was the 2024 NFL Coach of the Year after leading the Vikings to 14 wins, but he needs to figure out the QB position once again and get his team to the next level in the postseason.
6. Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
Despite the fact that the Detroit Lions were the single most disappointing team in the NFL last season, Dan Campbell is still in the top-tier category among head coaches around the NFL.
Campbell's Lions are in a championship window, and he's taken this franchise from one of the sorriest losers in the league to a true contender and one of the league's best offenses.
From 2000-2020, the Lions had a winning percentage of 35.4 percent, and were 0-3 in the postseason. Since Dan Campbell has taken over as the team's head coach, the Lions have a winning percentage of 56.4 percent, and they've won two of the three playoff games they've played.
They've gone as far as even reaching the NFC Championship Game in the 2023 season under Campbell. This team should be expected to bounce back in a big way this coming season.
5. Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers
Matt LaFleur has had just one losing season in his time with the Green Bay Packers as head coach (2022), and it just so happened to also be the last year Aaron Rodgers played with the team.
The Packers have played in one of the toughest divisions in football since LaFleur took over, and he's managed to have a contending team pretty much every year. The way he put Aaron Rodgers in position to play some of the best football of his NFL career from 2019-2021 and then shifted into the Jordan Love era was incredible.
The Packers went from having one MVP candidate at quarterback to the next, and that wasn't an easy situation for LaFleur to navigate.
The true Kryptonite for LaFleur has been the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs. And playoff failures have somewhat defined LaFleur at this point. He has the type of roster to get past that in the near future.
4. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles
Depending on who you ask, some folks would have Nick Sirianni near the bottom of a list like this, saying that he rides the coattails of the Eagles' roster and his coordinators. Others would tell you he deserves to be even higher on this list based on the success he's had as a head coach in the league.
I think it's important to remember that a coach like Sirianni was once a coveted head coach candidate for a reason, and he's found a way to do an awesome job despite the immense pressure and scrutiny that comes along with the job.
Under Sirianni, the Eagles have reached the Super Bowl twice. That certainly counts for something. They've won the Super Bowl once. That counts for a lot.
Sirianni is a unique breed of human being. He's intense, energetic, and wears his passion on his sleeves. Although the Eagles weren't good enough this past season, Sirianni has proven he's a great head coach.
3. Mike Macdonald, Seattle Seahawks
In an era where every NFL team is looking for the next Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan, the Seattle Seahawks decided to zig while other teams might zag.
They hired a defensive-minded head coach in Mike Macdonald who, in just his second year on the job, led the team to a dominating Super Bowl victory over Mike Vrabel, Drake Maye, and the New England Patriots.
Considering how awesome and dominant the Patriots were at times last season, the Seahawks' dismantling of their AFC counterparts in the Super Bowl should not be overlooked. The crazy thing is, Macdonald is still only going to be 39 years old at the beginning of the 2026 season.
The Seahawks have won 24 games in the first two seasons under Macdonald, whose defensive scheme and ability to develop players on that side of the ball are his two greatest skills. We'll see how he does this year without Klint Kubiak and that dynamic offensive scheme he brought.
2. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
Although Kyle Shanahan has become known for his postseason failures, winning a Super Bowl in the NFL is easier said than done. Shanahan's legacy might be on a similar path to that of his dad, whose back-to-back Super Bowl wins in Denver came at the ages of 45 and 46.
You'll never guess how old Kyle is this year...
Shanahan has won 55 percent of his career games as an NFL head coach and has a 9-5 postseason record. He's come this close to winning it all on a couple of occasions, but just hasn't quite been able to get it done.
Despite his teams dealing with more injuries than most, Shanahan knows how to build a staff and get the most out of his players. NFL teams all want a piece of the Shanahan coaching tree. He's a thermostat in the coaching world.
1. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
Sean McVay might be the best head coach of this era of football when all is said and done. There is a reason why he became the youngest head coach in NFL history at the age of 30, and why he's still considered the top coach in the NFL at the age of 40.
This guy has a photographic memory. He's a wunderkind with one of the greatest football minds you could possibly have. The Rams have already won a Super Bowl under McVay's watch and are gunning for a second in the 2026 season.
They are routinely one of the best teams in the NFL with elite offensive play week in and week out. McVay not only develops players and puts them in positions for success, but he develops coaches who have had a lot of success around the league as well.
McVay is the gold standard. Every NFL team wants the "next" version of him.