It's no secret to Cleveland Browns fans just how tough the AFC North is and nothing proves that more than the four head coaches who call the division home. Browns fans have been lucky to have Kevin Stefanski leading the charge after the team struggled to find someone capable of leading the team to the postseason but even with Stefanski turning things around in Cleveland, he's got competition for the best coach in the division.
The rest of the division consists of John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens, Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals, and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's the competition in the AFC North and it's no wonder all four teams finished with winning records a season ago with three AFC North squads making the playoffs.
It's going to be a tough task ranking these coaches but I'll give it my best shot. Let's rank them from worst to first.
4. Zac Taylor
You know the rankings are going to be tough when a head coach who helped lead a struggling team to the Super Bowl a few years ago is in the last place position. That being said, an argument could made that Taylor wasn't the reason the Bengals got to the big game and that Joe Burrow and the defense played more of a part in that.
In Taylor's first year on the job, the Bengals went 2-14, landed the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and took Burrow with that pick. Burrow was injured midway through Taylor's second season and the Bengals won just four games but you could start to see the gears shifting into place.
By Year 3, the Bengals were on people's radars and the team delivered. They won the AFC North, won their first playoff game in 30+ years, and then went on to shock the back-to-back defending AFC champion Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game to advance to their first Super Bowl since the 1988 season.
The Bengals lost in the Super Bowl but made it back to the AFC title game the next year. In 2023, the team lost Burrow again to a season-ending injury and the team missed the postseason for the first time since 2021. Taylor might have been the most recent AFC North head coach to appear in a Super Bowl but again, how much of reaching the game was on him, and how much of it was despite him?
Taylor makes baffling decisions sometimes, leaving Bengals fans and NFL fans scratching their heads. Had Burrow not come in and balled out during Taylor's third season, there's absolutely reason to believe that Taylor could have been shown the door following that year considering he had just six wins in his first two years (and has a losing record after the 2023 season at 37-44-1).
Fortunately for Taylor, as long as Burrow is there and the team is winning, he has job security.
3. Kevin Stefanski
I hate having to put Stefanski in the three-spot but that's how good the coaching is in the division. The Browns hired Stefanski in the 2020 offseason after he had success as the offensive coordinator in Minnesota and he immediately showed he was the right hire, leading Cleveland to an 11-5 season and a playoff berth in his first year on the job.
The Browns had back-to-back losing seasons in 2021 and 2022 but rebounded in 2023 in a big way despite having to start five different quarterbacks. That's when coaching is important and Stefanski proved that he can coach well even in less than ideal situations. The Browns won 11 games and reached the playoffs for the second time in a four-year span.
Some could argue that Taylor should be listed over Stefanski but I feel like the Browns head coach has done more with less roster talent than Taylor and the Bengals. He also has a winning record sitting at 37-30 and his losing seasons haven't been as bad as Taylor's losing seasons.
2. Mike Tomlin
Numbers one and two are a coin flip but I went with Tomlin in the two-spot. Everyone knows that Tomlin has yet to post a losing season while leading the charge in Pittsburgh and this is impressive considering he's been there since 2007. He helped get the team a Super Bowl win during his second year and had the Steelers back in the Super Bowl two years later.
Not only has Tomlin yet to have a losing season while on the job in the Steel City but he's managed to do this despite the Steelers not always having a great quarterback situation. Ben Roethlisberger missed a significant amount of time due to injury in a few seasons, putting the Steelers in a bind and recently the team has been searching for a franchise quarterback to no avail.
None of that has mattered though. No matter how the Steelers start the season, by the time the regular season is coming to a close, they're back in the thick of things and finishing with a non-losing record. The reason I have him in second is because the Steelers haven't won a Super Bowl since his second season and haven't been to the big game since the 2010 season. They also have not been a threat in the playoffs over the last half decade.
1. John Harbaugh
John Harbaugh was hired by the Baltimore Ravens in 2008 and they haven't looked back ever since. While Harbaugh has had losing seasons while running the show in Baltimore, it took until his eighth year on the job for that to happen and it's only happened two times total (2015 and 2021). Both years the Ravens had losing records under Harbaugh was because the starting franchise quarterbacks were injured for a significant chunk of the season.
Harbaugh helped lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl during the 2012 season, his fifth year in the head coach spot and has led them to the AFC Championship Game four times. While the Ravens have just one Super Bowl title under Harbaugh, they've been a relevant team since he took over and when the team is hot, they can beat anyone.
It was tough to pick who deserves the top spot between Harbaugh and Tomlin but I gave it to Harbaugh because the Ravens have been a much more lethal team in recent years and nearly made it to the Super Bowl this past season.