Ranking the best HC-QB duos in the NFL

AFC Championship - Bill Belichick and Tom Brady of New England Patriots

HC-QB duos that ruled the NFL

While the previous HC-QB duos were those that made an impact on how the offense was played or how its limits could be stretched, we now move on to those HC-QB duos that have been most successful in winning championships. In this category, three HC-QB duos stand head and shoulders above the rest.

#3 - Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, New England Patriots

In the modern era, no HC-QB duo has been as successful as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Together they reached nine Super Bowls and won six of them. To put it into perspective, no franchise can match that record, let alone any other coach or quarterback. They also reached the AFC conference game thirteen times in 19 seasons and won the division title 17 times. During that time, Tom Brady was named Super Bowl MVP four times and won the league MVP award three times.

#2 - Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers

To find any other HC-QB duo as iconic as that of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, we must go all the way back to the very first years of the Super Bowl era. Even today, in terms of league championships, the Green Bay Packers lead the way with 13, and a primary component of their success was the HC-QB duo of Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr.

Lombardi and Starr were together for nine seasons, from 1959 to 1967. During that time they had a regular-season winning record of 0.77. But what made this HC-QB duo become a beast of its own was in the postseason, where in the 10 games they played, they lost only once.

They won seven league championships, including the first two Super Bowls. Bart Starr was chosen as the game's MVP in both Super Bowls. As for Vince Lombardi, they named the Super Bowl trophy in his honor.

#1 - Paul Brown and Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns

This brings us to arguably the greatest HC-QB duo of all time: the legendary Paul Brown and Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns. They played together from 1946-1955. In those ten seasons, there was no one who could come close to surpassing them.

They had a winning record of 0.861 percent in the regular season and played 12 postseason matches, out of which they won nine. But it was their sheer dominance across the board that stood out. They won their conference in all the 10 seasons and won seven league championships.

Among Paul Brown's many inventions as a pioneering head coach was the draw play for his quarterbacks to use.

As far as Otto Graham is concerned, even after all these years, no one has ever come close to matching his winning record or his passing average of 8.63 yards per attempt, which remains an NFL record to this day. As far as iconic HC-QB duos go, it is hard to find any better than this one in terms of records and legacy.