Top-5 HCs to win just two championship games

[74_75_78_79_]

Here's the list of candidates...

Steve Owen ('34 & '38)
Ray Flaherty ('37 & '42)
Greasy Neale ('48 & '49)
Buddy Parker ('52 & '53)
Tom Landry ('71 & '77)
Don Shula ('72 & '73)
Tom Flores ('80 & '83)
Bill Parcells ('86 & '90)
George Seifert ('89 & '94)
Jimmy Johnson ('92 & '93)
Mike Shanahan ('97 & '98)
Tom Coughlin ('07 & '11)

Quite a list to make a top-5 out of. Won't be easy.

[JuggernautJ]

"Just two?"
A lot of good coaches/players never won even one...

Shula, Landry, Owen, Tuna....
Seifert or Parker... (can't decide)

[74_75_78_79_]

Of course many good ones didn’t even win one; and some who won just one were better than some of these who won just two.

As for who the top-5 is amongst these candidates? Tough exercise but I’ll give it a try...

1) Owen
2 - tie) Landry & Shula
4) Parcells
5 - tie) Parker & Johnson

Yeah, went with Owen at #1. Eight championship game appearances in just over 20 seasons along with two extra playoff berths to boot. Pretty impressive. Rebuilt two other championship-caliber teams just before the end of the run in both ’50 & ’51. Had the AAFC still existed those two seasons thus Browns out of the picture, perhaps two more title game berths and maybe even better.

[JuggernautJ]

Technically, Shula did win a third championship.
His Colts were 1968 NFL Champions... but not Champions of the football world.

[conace21]

Technically, Shula did win a third championship.
His Colts were 1968 NFL Champions... but not Champions of the football world.

I would add Lou Saban and Hank Stram to the list. I consider championship games to be the team's final game of the year. Saban's 1964 and 1965 AFL titles count, since Buffalo didn't play another game. Stram's 1962 title counts, but his win in the 1966 AFL championship game does not. So in my book, Stram, Rauch, Shula, and Grant do not get credit for their respective league championships from 1966-1969.

[BD Sullivan]

"Seifert or Parker... (can't decide)

Parker, since Seifert won the first SB with Walsh's team at its peak and his second against a fluke team that probably should have gotten bounced in the divisional playoff.

Parker might had his his third had he not quit during the 1957 training camp.

[JuggernautJ]

"Seifert or Parker... (can't decide)

Parker, since Seifert won the first SB with Walsh's team at its peak and his second against a fluke team that probably should have gotten bounced in the divisional playoff.

Parker might had his his third had he not quit during the 1957 training camp.

I don't disagree.
But I should probably disqualify myself from choosing...
I was/am a fan of those 49ers teams and the 50's Lions were one of the first teams I "discovered" when I started learning about football history. So, objectivity... not.