“Who is the greatest NFL coach of all time?” That question has been asked many times over the years but remains one that is tough to answer. The discussion goes all the way back to the Vince Lombardi days of the NFL. Lombardi is often considered the best ever to coach the professional sport with an all-time record of 105-35-6, and the first two Super Bowls as coach of the Green Bay Packers makes it hard to argue against Lombardi.

Another all-time great was  Don Shula, whose overall record of 328-156-6 and 2 Super Bowl titles with the Miami Dolphins places him second on most rankings. After Lombardi and Shula, George Halas of the Chicago Bears and Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys are before Bill Belichick, the number one coach on this list.

If one were to rank the top coaches of the past 25 years, the list is still tough to make but sounds pretty close to this: Belichick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin, and Gary Kubiak.

At the top of the active coaches’ list is Belichick, who has an overall record  of 234-115 as coach of the Cleveland Browns (1991-1995) and the New England Patriots (2000-present). He has currently just passed his 200th victory as head coach of the New England Patriots now holding a record of 201. Belichick started off his career, serving as an assistant under New York Giants head coach Bill Parcells for almost 20 years. He was a top assistant and one-time head coach when, in 2000, Patriots’ Owner Robert Kraft hired Belichick as head coach and general manager of the Patriots, and so began the journey to being the 4th-best coach in NFL history.  That same year, Belichick drafted future star quarterback Tom Brady from Michigan in the sixth round and two years later Belichick won his first Super Bowl against the then-St. Louis Rams. Belichick’s success is undeniable, as is his shrewd but heartless player moves. Known for making cuts, trades, and player releases  throughout his years of coaching establishes the fact that Belichick is not afraid to let a player go. Veteran players who were a big part of the Patriots’ success that were later cut by Belichick include Willie McGinest and Vince Wilfork and the surprising trades of Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones.

Next on the list of top active coaches is a coach who has transformed quarterbacks including  Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick and, ironically, current Eagles’ coach, Doug Pedersen. That coach is  Andy Reid, who currently serves as coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. Reid started off his career just coaching quarterbacks in Green Bay. Before becoming  head coach of the Eagles, Reid coached the Eagles for 12 years and had 9 postseason appearances including four straight appearances in the NFC Championship game and one Super Bowl appearance. The Eagles fired Reid in 2012 after having a 2-year play-off drought. This, however, meant the start of a new chapter for Reid as he was hired in just days as  the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. Reid came in and helped bring in players to transform the offense of the Chiefs. One player Reid made better was quarterback Alex Smith. Smith was the starter for the San Francisco Forty-Niners until second-round pick Colin Kaepernick dazzled in his debut game, and Smith never started a game for the Niners again. Reid has already made it to the postseason twice with the Chiefs but has a lot to prove if he wants to earn his first ring.

Number 3 on the list goes to a coach who is not only a head coach of a team but also the only person in the league to be an executive vice president of their association also. That man is Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll is the 3rd-oldest coach to win a Super Bowl and a coach with only 3 no-postseason appearances in his 11-years of NFL coaching. Carroll has coached one season for the Jets and the 3 following years for the New England Patriots. At New England, Carroll had 2 post-game appearances, both of which he lost. Before moving to Seattle, Carroll coached the USC Trojans and won two national championships in a 9-year span. Carroll is a “player’s coach” who brought a title to the Northwest in 2013 and was one play from a second title in 2014. Carroll, now being the oldest coach in the NFL still active today, is an experienced coach with a now-shaky offense.

The 4th coach on this list ranks right below Carroll in the recordkeeping books. This coach  is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl:  Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, who won his first title at the age of 36. Before Tomlin went to Pittsburgh, he was mainly a defensive guy. He served as a defensive backs’ coach at Tampa Bay, where they finished as the number-one defense in 2002 and was then hired by the Minnesota Vikings as Defensive Coordinator where the Vikings finished 8th in the league. That all changed when he took over for Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh, and he changed his focus to an all-run offense strategy and manipulated the Tampa 2 technique he learned in Tampa Bay to his Steelers’ defensive advantage. Tomlin reached and conquered the Super Bowl a year after becoming Steelers’ head coach and since then has had 4 more postseason appearances. Tomlin is still in a developing situation with an almost-all-rookie defense and new defensive coordinator, but he should be able to get another ring soon before he has to deal with Big Ben’s departure.

Last but not least on the list is a coach who is practically new to the role of head coaching and – as of early January – now no longer holds the title.  Prior to his unexpected resignation for what he called health reasons, he coached the team he once played for:  the Denver Broncos. His name is Gary Kubiak, and he has had stints as a coach with teams including the Niners, Broncos, Texans, and Baltimore Ravens. His head-coaching career, however, includes only  the Texans and Broncos. Since 2006, when he took over as the Texans’ head coach, Kubiak managed to make two postseason appearances, both of which led to losses in divisional games. After getting fired midway through 2013, Kubiak took over as the offensive coordinator in Baltimore the following season. Baltimore was ranked the number-one total offense in the NFL that year, which helped Kubia regain confidence. Kubiak then transferred to Denver’s head coach position the following year and won Super Bowl 50 in his first year as head coach with leading TD passing leader Peyton Manning, who retired after Super Bowl 50, and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller. Kubiak’s style is a major shotgun style which he used mostly on Manning and now on Trevor Siemian. While Kubiak is still developing, his team for the 2nd year in Denver has a record of 8-5, and they are looming in on the number-two spot in their AFC West Division.