How This Unusual Campaign Broke the Typical Coach of the Year Mould.
Typically, the National Football League's Coach of the Year trophy adheres to a simple pattern. It often acts as a form of apology. Our apologies we misjudged your team in our preseason forecasts.
Theoretically, it's a direct path: the coach who oversaw the biggest resurgence wins the prize. However, it creates an annual discussion about expectations and whether we're truly honoring excellent coaching or simply the biggest surprise.
But the latest race is profoundly different. The group of candidates is exceptionally deep. It has been the season of comebacks. The NFL has been unpredictable, with reigning division winners fading and longtime underperformers improving in unison. In an typical year, Sean Payton leading the his team to the summit of the AFC would make him the clear front-runner. Yet in such a turbulent and fun year, he's facing multiple other exceptional candidates.
Below is how the hypothetical ballot ought to look.
5) Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears, 11-5
Voters for Coach of the Year voters love QBs. This is a tradition. Sean McVay in 2017. Another in 2020. A third in 2022. Should you fix a franchise QB, you're halfway home.
Ben Johnson not only corrected Caleb Williams; he's unleashed him. In the right system, Williams has been given the opportunity to display his special ability. Since Week 9, the Chicago offense rank fourth in offensive Expected Points Added per play. That's not a hot streak – it's consistent excellence. Under Johnson, the quarterback has become increasingly decisive, less reckless, and has eagerly submitted to the system instead of going rogue. It is an offense constructed solely in the coach's vision: a physical run game, a consistent helping of play-action passes and a innovative passing attack that frees wide receiver receivers all over the field. Williams has capitalized. And when clear throws haven't been there, he's been capable to create magic from broken plays.
The coach arrived to Chicago with a defined offensive philosophy. Almost every bet – rebuilding the trenches, highlighting the pass-catchers, transforming Williams into a timing-based passer – has worked. That's uncommon for a first-year skipper. And it's even more uncommon yet for a coach who entered the building with the immense pressure he did. For two straight cycles, he was the most sought-after candidate on the coaching carousel. But when it comes to hiring a head coach, there are no sure things. Remarkably, Johnson has met the hype – and even surpassed them. He's demonstrated not just to be a offensive dork but the kind of leader that can breathe fresh energy into an franchise.
During a ordinary season, he would be the overwhelming choice. Yet the current isn't a typical season!
Where Johnson's case comes a bit into trouble is on defense. The Bears presently rank 25th in defensive success rate. They are relying on turnovers, and takeaways are notoriously inconsistent. Defensive minds can focus on ball disruption, but no one can ensure it. Johnson is on the list because the offensive production is real. He's not higher because variance is doing an outsized share of the defense's heavy lifting. If not for a few breaks of the ball, the team would be several victories worse off. It's been an exceptional transformation, and the foundation is established for long-term success. However he falls short in this ranking.
4) The Jacksonville Jaguars Coach, Jacksonville Jaguars, 12-4
Coen is in a comparable spot to his counterpart. He's another rookie leader who has masterminded a dramatic turnaround. During the crucial final weeks of the year, he has his franchise quarterback playing the most complete all-around ball of his professional life. And he's also spearheaded the transformation of a defense that now ranks number five in the league in Expected Points Added per play.
Even more notably, Coen has mastered the off-field stuff, which wasn't a guarantee following his initial press conference introduction and some of his preseason moves.
Coen walked into the Jaguars with an uncommonly raw staff. In contrast to other coaches, who surrounded themselves with the ideal staff cocktail of youth and veteran savvy, he bet on newbies. From the head coach himself to assistants to position coaches, the Jags are filled with rookies. That kind of approach is intriguing on paper, but often fails in reality – as past failures are a warning – because everyone is learning a new job in real-time. Yet Coen has pulled everyone and all elements into sync.
Following an early hot beginning, there was a chance that the campaign would go off the track. A mid-year collapse caused the team wobbling once more. That's typically when coaches panic and change too much. He didn't. Instead, he simplified things. Jacksonville stopped chasing home-run answers and started hunting sustainable ones. The coach recentered the offense around key players and the ground attack, and encouraged Lawrence to use his legs more often.
The results are evident. The Jags have won seven games in a row and will be the AFC's No 3 seed. He gets the tiniest deduction in the standings because he took over a talented team, but he has proven he can maximize that talent.
3) The Seattle Seahawks Coach, His Team, 13-3
Every Coach of the Year argument has a pivotal decision. For Mike Macdonald, it was his quarterback choice.
Moving on from a incumbent, signing a new signal-caller and partnering him with an new play-caller might have derailed the season in the early weeks. Rather, it defined it. By the mid point of the year, the new QB was an Most Valuable Player candidate. He has fallen away since that time, slipping to a lower rank in efficiency per dropback over the latter part of the season, placing him just a single spot ahead of other QBs.
Still
