Some interesting facts about legendary head coach Bum Phillips:

-His son Wade Phillips was an assistant on his staff in New Orleans and would take over for his father when he resigned as head coach of the team in the middle of the 1985 season. The younger Phillips would go on to be defensive coordinator and head coach for other NFL teams during his career as well.

-Bum Phillips’ real first name is Oail.

-Bum Phillips voluntarily interrupted his college career and enlisted in the United States Marines after the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor at the beginning of World War II.

-Bum Phillips played football in college for Lamar University before entering the war and for Stephen F. Austin after returning from war.

-Bum Phillips spent the entire 1950s and most of the 1960s coaching at various high schools and colleges all over Texas including Jacksonville, Amarillo, Nederland, and Port Neches-Groves High Schools; as well as at Texas A&M, Southern Methodist University, UTEP, and the University of Houston.

-At the time that Bum Phillips left Houston, he was the Oilers all time winningest head coach with a record of 59-38.

-Bum Phillips was known for wearing a cowboy hat on the sidelines, but he never wore it when his team played indoors, including the Astrodome in Houston and the Superdome in New Orleans. He would regularly claim that his mother raised him to not wear hats indoors.

-The final game that Bum Phillips coached, a 30-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1985, was the first start of quarterback Bobby Hebert’s career.

-Bum Phillips’ time in Houston gave him a winning record by a good margin, 59-38 including playoff games. His time in New Orleans would not be as successful and would see him go 27-42 and never make the playoffs.

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Sid Gillman was the head coach in 1969, when he stepped down due to poor health midseason after going 4-5 and turned the team over to Charlie Waller who would finish the season with a 4-1 record. Waller would remain the head coach in 1970, putting up a record of 5-6-3 (yes, three ties in one season). Gillman was back to coach the team in 1971 and went and 4-6 before stepping down once again and turning the team over to Harland Svare who would finish the year at 2-2. Svare would remain as the head coach for the 1972 season and would go 4-9-1. Svare would then start the 1973 season with a 1-6-1 record before being replaced by Ron Waller, no relation to Charlie Waller from earlier in our story.

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Some interesting facts about longtime NFL head coach Chuck Knox:

-Chuck Knox coached the Rams on two different occasions, first from 1973 to 1977 and then again from 1992 to 1994.

-Before entering the ranks of professional football assistant coaches, Chuck Knox coached at the collegiate level with Juniata College, Wake Forest University, and the University of Kentucky.

-As an assistant coach with the AFL‘s New York Jets in the early 1960s, Chuck Knox was responsible for recruiting future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Joe Namath.

-In 1974, in his second season as head coach of the Rams, Chuck Knox started James Harris at quarterback. This is notable as Harris was the first African-American to start and play regularly as a quarterback in the NFL.

-Before becoming head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 1973, Chuck Knox’s only head coaching experience was three years at Ellwood City High School in the late 1950s.

-In 1974, 1975, and 1976 the Rams under Chuck Knox won their division, advanced through the playoffs, and then lost the NFC Championship Game to the Minnesota Vikings.

-The Los Angeles Rams won their division in each of Chuck Knox’s five seasons as the team’s head coach during the 1970s.

-Chuck Knox’s first year as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in 1983 was also the first year the team made the playoffs.

-Chuck Knox was the first NFL head coach to win a division title with three different teams.

-Chuck Knox’s son, Chuck Knox Jr., has been an assistant coach in the NFL.

-Chuck Knox’s final record in the NFL as a head coach was 186-147-1.

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In seven years as head coach of the Colts, the worst record the team put up under Tony Dungy was 10-6. This came in his first year coaching the team (2002), and during his remaining six years with the franchise the worst record the Colts would put up is 12-4.

Regardless of how much talent the team had, those kind of results are amazing.

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A coach is most often judged not just on wins and losses, but how they do in the playoffs. Here is a look at some of the best playoff coaches of all time.

-Who got their teams into the playoffs the most years?

Don Shula coached the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins into the playoffs 19 times. He’s followed on that list by Tom Landry with 18 playoff appearances, Paul Brown with 15 appearances in the playoffs, and Marty Schottenheimer who got his teams into the playoffs 13 times.

-What coach has the most playoff victories in their career?

Tom Landry leads this category with 19 career wins in the postseason. He is followed by Don Shula with 19, Joe Gibbs with 17, and Chuck Noll with 16.

-What coach with a minimum of five playoff appearances has the best winning percentage in the playoffs?

With nine wins and just one loss in the postseason, legendary coach Vince Lombardi has a postseason winning percentage of .900. He is followed by Don McCafferty and Weeb Ewbank who at 4-1 have a winning percentage of .800, and then Bill Belichick who at 15-4 has a career postseason winning percentage of .789.

-What coach has won the most championships?

As the legendary coach of the Cleveland Browns, Paul Brown won a league leading seven championships. He is followed by Curly Lambeau and George Halas with six, and then Vince Lombardi with five.

-What coach has won the most Super Bowls?

The coach to win the most Super Bowls is Chuck Noll with four. Only three coaches have won three Super Bowls during their career: Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh, and Joe Gibbs.

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Some interesting facts about Jim Zorn:

-In Jim Zorn’s rookie year, the first year in the history of the Seattle Seahawks franchise, he led the league in passes attempted (439) and interceptions thrown (27).

-In 1978, his third season in the NFL, Jim Zorn was sacked a league leading 44 times.

-Jim Zorn finished his career with a record of 44-62 in games that he started.

-In a 13-11 victory over the Denver Broncos in 1982, Jim Zorn only played part of the game but ran the ball one time for 28 yards and also caught the only pass of his career which went for 27 yards. The pass was thrown by longtime Seahawks kicker Norm Johnson.

-Jim Zorn’s final year in the NFL, 1987, saw him go undefeated as a starting quarterback. He was 1-0 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thanks to a 20-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

-After Jim Zorn finished his career with the Seattle Seahawks, he went on to play one season in 1985 for the Green Bay Packers and then a final season in 1987 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

-Jim Zorn’s first 300 yard passing game came in his third season in the NFL, 1978, when he threw for 329 yards in a 24-20 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

-The most touchdowns Jim Zorn ever threw for in one game was four. He did this four times during his career: in a win over the Buffalo Bills and a loss to San Diego in 1977, in a win over the New Orleans Saints in 1979, and in a loss to the New England Patriots in 1980.

-The first touchdown pass of Jim Zorn’s career was thrown to Seattle wide receiver Sam McCullum.

-The last touchdown pass that Jim Zorn threw during his NFL career went to a future Hall of Famer, and it wasn’t Steve Largent. During his one season with Green Bay in 1985, he threw his final touchdown pass to wide receiver James Lofton.

-Jim Zorn threw just two touchdowns in the playoffs during his time in the NFL, both came in a 30-14 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1983 post season. The first one went to running back Dan Doornink and the second to tight end Charle Young.

-Jim Zorn threw more touchdown passes, 15 to be exact, against the San Diego Chargers than any other team in the league.

-The quarter that Jim Zorn threw the most touchdown passes of his career in is the 2nd quarter where he completed 35 of his 110 career touchdown passes.

-The longest touchdown pass of Jim Zorn’s career came in 1977 in a 42-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In the 2nd quarter of that game, when the Seahawks were trailing 28-0, he hooked up with running back David Sims for an 82 yard score.

-Steve Largent caught 43 touchdown passes from Jim Zorn, that is more than double the next player on the list who is Sam McCullum who caught 20 touchdown passes from Zorn.

-Jim Zorn rushed for 17 touchdowns during his career, the longest one going for 34 yards in a 31-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in 1979.

-Jim Zorn threw more touchdown passes (35) in the month of November than any other month.

-During his career in the NFL, Jim Zorn played against 27 different teams. The only team he played against at least once that he failed to throw a touchdown pass against was the Los Angeles Rams. The one team he never played against was the Seattle Seahawks.

-Jim Zorn played college football at Cal Poly-Pomona and was not taken in the NFL Draft.

-Though he only played in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks (9 seasons), Green Bay Packers (1 season), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1 season), he did see action with one other team. In an early September preseason game in 1975, Jim Zorn made an appearance at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.

-Jim Zorn wore number 10 during his career with the Seahawks and the Buccaneers. He wore number 18 as a member of the Packers.

-In 1986, Jim Zorn left the NFL and signed on as a backup quarterback with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, appearing in just one game.

-Jim Zorn is the only person to make it to the NFL that graduated from his high school, Gahr High School in Cerritos, California. The school has produced four Major League Baseball players though: Bret Barberie, Shane Mack, Tom Nieto, and Al Osuna.

-In his first game as a head coach in the NFL, Jim Zorn’s Washington Redskins lost to the New York Giants by the score of 16-7.

-As an assistant coach, Jim Zorn has held various positions at the college level at Boise State University, Utah State, and the University of Minnesota, he has also been an assistant coach in the NFL with the Seahawks and the Detroit Lions.

-Jim Zorn’s first victory as a head coach in the NFL came in the second week of the 2008 season with a 29-24 win over the New Orleans Saints.

-In 1991, Jim Zorn was the second player ever inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor, wide receiver Steve Largent was the first.

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In their entire history, only one time have the Vikings had two different men serve as head coach during one season. This happened in 2001 when Dennis Green, in his 10th season as head coach of the team, did not finish the season and Mike Tice took over and was the head coach for the last game of the year.

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the few teams to ever have a head coach come back and serve in that capacity a second time. Hall of Fame football coach Bud Grant was the architect of the great Vikings teams of the 1970s. He coached the team from 1967 until 1983 when he announced his retirement. He was replaced by Les Steckel who would go 3-13 as the head coach in 1984 before being fired. Following that, Bud Grant would return to be the head coach again, this time just staying that one season before retiring for the second time.

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-Played on the 1957 Ohio State National Championship football team as both a cornerback and a halfback.

-After being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1959, he would be cut by the team before the season started. He would sign with the Lions and remain with them for fourteen straight seasons.

-Dick LeBeau to this day holds the NFL record for most consecutive game appearances as a cornerback with 171.

-Dick LeBeau retired as a player in 1972 and started his coaching career the very next year in 1973.

-Having begun his playing career in 1959 and moving directly into coaching following his retirement as a player in 1972, through the 2009 NFL season Dick LeBeau has amassed fifty straight years of employment in the NFL as both a player and coach.

-Through 2009, Dick LeBeau has spent time on the coaching staffs of five different NFL teams (Eagles, Packers, Bengals, Steelers, and Bills).

-Dick LeBeau is generally credited with inventing the Zone Blitz defense.

-In 1962, Dick LeBeau returned both an interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He would only score four touchdowns in his entire career, half of them in that season.

-In 1960, his first full season with the Lions, Dick LeBeau would actually return two kickoffs for the team for a total of 16 yards.

-Dick LeBeau was born on September 9th, 1937. Other notable NFL players born on September 9th include Ron McDole, Joe Theismann, Johnny Robinson, Greg Coleman, Derek Kennard, Mark Arneson, Willie Broughton, and Tim Manoa.

Find out more about this longtime coach and former player in out IQFB profile of Dick LeBeau.

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In terms of number of victories, Wayne Fontes is the winningest coach in Detroit Lions history. Fontes coached the team for nine seasons, from 1988 to 1996, and over the course of his tenure there he put up a record consisting of 66 wins and 67 losses. The Detroit Lions head coach with the most career wins has a below .500 record.

Lions teams coached by Fontes made the playoffs four times, but only won one playoff game.

The Detroit Lions have been around as a franchise since 1930, and in almost 80 years this is the most wins any of the team’s coaches have been able to rack up.

To give a good idea about how poor this number is, let’s see how it ranks among all coaches who have ever coached in the NFL. 59 other head coaches have amassed more wins during their career than the Detroit Lions coach with the most wins, Wayne Fontes.

Fontes does have the distinction of leading the Lions to their most regular season wins though. In 1991, the Lions went 12-4 which is one more victory than they had ever accumulated during the regular season before.

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-The team leader for passing yards is Phil Simms who played for the Giants during the 1980s and early 1990s.

-The team leader for receiving yards is Amani Toomer who began his career in 1996.

-Tiki Barber, who joined the team in 1997, is the Giants’ career rushing yards leader.

-Toomer and Barber both also are the career leaders on the team for receiving and rushing touchdowns as well.

-Understandably, Phil Simms is also the career leader on the team for touchdown passes.

All of these records are held by players who have been in the league since the 1980s. the Giants have had some great people associated with the team throughout their history though, surely a major record holder would’ve come from the early history of the team.

The New York Giants began as a team in 1925, and during their first six seasons they had five different head coaches. Despite this instability at the top of the team, the Giants did still manage to put up some very good years during that span including seasons with records of 11-1, 13-4, and 13-1. In 1931, Steve Owen would become the team’s head coach. He would keep the job for 23 years before retiring following the 1953 season. Over the course of his time as the New York Giants head coach, he would rack up 151 wins. This puts this old timer at the top in the category of New York Giants winningest head coach. To put these numbers in a little perspective, following the 2008 NFL season, the Giants had 618 career wins as a franchise, with Owen being the head coach during nearly 25% of them.

There are a lot of newer faces at the top of the Giants record books, but head coach Steve Owen shows that the boys from way back knew a bit about winning football games too.

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