Who is the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick or Don Shula? Not surprisingly, that is a question that inspires ardent passions, not just among New England Patriots’ and Miami Dolphins’ fans, but across the entire NFL spectrum. And yet, unlike so many sports hypotheticals, this most mystifying of conundrums may, in fact, have a clear cut answer, but in order to reach it, we must dig deep, past well-worn statistics, to the fascinating stories they mask.
To that end, we will compare these two giants of the game in six unique categories: regular season performance, post season performance, player development, the level of competition in each of their eras, head-to-head matchups and character.