Ranking NFL's top 10 quarterback-coach duos for 2026: Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid dethroned by NFC West risers

The head coach and quarterback carry the most weight in an NFL team's success. Just look no further than the Kansas City Chiefs, who became the first team in NFL history with five Super Bowl appearances in six seasons from 2019 to 2024, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid at the helm. 

However, Super Bowl LX featured head coaches and quarterbacks still early in their respective tenures. The Seattle Seahawks' duo of Sam Darnold and Mike Macdonald lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the quarterback's first year with the franchise and the head coach's second. The AFC champion New England Patriots reached the big game in quarterback Drake Maye's second season and head coach Mike Vrabel's first as the franchise's head coach. 

Where will they all stack up in the 2026 edition of our top 10 NFL quarterback-coach duos? Let's take a look. 

Before we dig in, let's lay out a key ground rule. 

• New coaches and quarterbacks on new teams DO NOT QUALIFY for the list: Josh Allen and Joe Brady will not appear on the list this year, as Brady is a first-time NFL head coach with Buffalo. Lamar Jackson and Jesse Minter won't be listed below either, as Minter is a first-time NFL head coach with the Baltimore Ravens. Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy won't be listed below despite having worked together for over a decade in Green Bay because this is McCarthy's first season as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach. To appear below, they must have spent one season together on their current team in their current roles. 

10. Trevor Lawrence/Liam Coen (Jaguars)

The Jacksonville Jaguars went 13-4 in 2025 after going 4-13 in 2024, making them the third team in NFL history to post a 13-win season after a 13-loss season. The Jaguars' duo of quarterback Trevor Lawrence and head coach Liam Coen helped power this surge in a major way.

Lawrence initially struggled with picking up Coen's Shanahan/McVay tree offshoot scheme, but once it clicked, he put the league on notice. He led the entire NFL in total touchdowns, with 24 across the final eight games of the regular season, a stretch in which Jacksonville went an unblemished 8-0 to win the AFC South. Lawrence's 38 total touchdowns stand as the third-most in football last season behind only the league's last two MVP winners: Matthew Stafford (46) and Josh Allen (39). 

The final six games of the regular season were this duo's masterpiece: Lawrence produced an absurd 19 total touchdowns to only a single turnover. That feat made him just the third player in NFL history to record 19-plus total touchdowns and one or fewer turnovers in the final six games of a season, according to CBS Sports Research. The other two players to do so are 2019 Drew Brees (20 total TDs to one turnover) and 2020 NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers (21 total TDs to one turnover). 

If this duo can find more early-season consistency while breaking through in the playoffs, they could rise in 2026. 

9. Justin Herbert/Jim Harbaugh (Chargers)

No team had a more dire offensive line situation than the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025. The Chargers allowed 60 sacks (the most in team history) and the most quarterback hits in the NFL (138) while having 11 different starting offensive line combinations because of injuries, which was tied for the most in the NFL. 

Yet, quarterback Justin Herbert, whose 24,820 total passing yards rank as the second-most in a player's first six seasons in NFL history, and head coach Jim Harbaugh figured out a way to drag Los Angeles into the postseason. The Chargers appeared in the AFC Wild Card round before the offensive line disintegrated into the New England January air. The only things holding back this duo are team health and postseason success. 

8. Jalen Hurts/Nick Sirianni (Eagles)

It's tough to argue with the results of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. He's one of just five NFL head coaches to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, and he is the only one to reach multiple Super Bowls in his first five seasons, per CBS Sports Research. Sirianni's 65 wins, including the playoffs, are the second-most in NFL history through five seasons behind only George Seifert's 68.

However, the way he and Super Bowl LIX MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts are getting it done these days, while leading their loaded roster, raises some questions. Philadelphia averaged its lowest points per game (22.3), total yards per game (311.2) and rushing yards per game (116.9) in a season under Sirianni in 2025. 

Hurts is fresh off the most inefficient season of his career, producing a career-low in pass yards per attempt (7.1) and his lowest completion percentage (64.8%) since 2021, his first year as the Eagles' starting quarterback. Some of that had to do with former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, but Hurts and the season-long tension between him and ex-No. 1 wide receiver A.J. Brown were factors as well. The sustained success of the Hurts-Sirianni duo is why they're still inside the top 10, but a major uptick in results will be required to remain here this time next year.

7. Caleb Williams/Ben Johnson (Bears)

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson pulled off the near-impossible: He joined Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns in 2020) as the only rookie head coaches in NFL history to snap a franchise's 15-plus-year playoff victory drought. Johnson is also the only Bears head coach ever to win a postseason game in his first season. 

That was largely due to the immediate connection he developed with quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards in 2025 while also cutting his sacks taken from a league-high 68 in 2024 to just 24 last season. This duo helped Chicago win an NFL single-season record seven games in 2025 when trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter (including the postseason). 

Williams eventually fell victim to hero ball with the NFL's highest off-target rate (14.6%) and average time to throw (3.28 seconds). But despite that, he possesses the third-highest touchdown-to-interception ratio by any quarterback through their first two seasons since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger (minimum 17 starts), per CBS Sports Research. The two quarterbacks ahead of him are two-time NFL MVP passers Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. 

* Minimum 17 starts

If Williams could cut down on his inefficient tendencies, Chicago's duo will be a fast riser. 

6. Brock Purdy/Kyle Shanahan (49ers)

Despite the San Francisco 49ers' top-six highest-paid players missing a league-leading 64 games (including the postseason), they made the playoffs and won a road playoff game at the Philadelphia Eagles.

That's an impressive feat for the 49ers' duo of quarterback Brock Purdy and head coach Kyle Shanahan. Purdy's situational efficiency in Shanahan's scheme reached new heights in 2025 with him completing 58.3% of his third and fourth down pass attempts, the highest rate by any quarterback in the last 35 seasons, per CBS Sports Research. Like the rest of the San Francisco roster, Purdy needs to work on improving his durability. He missed a combined 11 games across the last three seasons, including eight in 2025 with a turf toe injury. Shanahan is a master at maximizing whoever is on the football field, but it would be nice to see him work with a full deck for once. That may be difficult with much of his core on the wrong side of 30. 

5. Jordan Love/Matt LaFleur (Packers)

Just two quarterbacks have produced at least nine wins, 20-plus passing touchdowns and fewer than 12 interceptions in each of the last three seasons. That's 2025 NFL MVP Matthew Stafford and Jordan Love, who just finished his first three seasons as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback in 2025. Head coach Matt LaFleur has been able to make do with Malik Willis when Love has been sidelined by injury, but his offense soars with Love's deep ball precision and arm strength when humming the football into tight windows over the middle of the field. 

Love threw for 329 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 73% of his passes (27 for 37) in the Packers' 31-27 playoff collapse against the Chicago Bears. The perception of Love entering 2026 would be different if now-released kicker Brandon McManus hadn't left seven points on the field in that game, which ended in a four-point loss. That night, Love became just the sixth player in NFL history to throw for four touchdowns and no interceptions in a road playoff game. 

He and LaFleur overcame lackluster play from their offensive line most of the 2025 season. Green Bay's offensive line allowed a quarterback pressure rate of 40.9% in 2025, the fourth-most in the NFL. A higher passing volume in the Packers' offense could also lead to a boost in how people feel about Love. He attempted 439 passes (ranking 19th in the NFL in 2025), but with an offense slightly more tilted toward the pass, Love could produce stats more in line with the league's more celebrated passers. That looks to be the case after three-time Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs was placed on the commissioner's exempt list with two misdemeanors. 

The Packers' offense could discover a new ceiling with Love having even more on his plate in 2026, which could lead to many more wins for LaFleur. His 76 victories since he became Green Bay's head coach in 2019 are tied for the third-most in the entire league. 

4. Drake Maye/Mike Vrabel (Patriots)

The New England Patriots duo of quarterback Drake Maye, the 2025 NFL MVP runner-up, and head coach Mike Vrabel, the 2025 NFL Coach of the Year, helped power the franchise to become the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl following a 13-plus-loss season. That's pretty, pretty good. 

Maye became the first quarterback since 2007 Tom Brady (from the 16-0 regular season that earned him NFL MVP honors) to lead the NFL in record (14-3), completion percentage (72%) and yards per pass attempt (8.9) in 2025. He also made a massive leap in downfield accuracy, posting the league's best completion percentage on throws of 15-plus air yards (58%) after ranking dead last in this metric in 2024 at 29%. 

Including the playoffs, Vrabel's 17 wins in his first year in charge of the Patriots are tied for the most by a head coach in their first season all-time, along with George Seifert's 17 with the San Francisco 49ers in 1989. This duo came up short against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, but they could continue to climb quickly with more strong seasons strung together.

3. Sam Darnold/Mike Macdonald (Seahawks)

Mike Macdonald built the NFL's most dominant defense in 2025. His "Dark Side" defense became the first team since the 2015 Denver Broncos, the Super Bowl 50 champions, to rank top two in the NFL in both yards per carry allowed (3.7) and pass yards per attempt allowed (5.5) in the same season. Macdonald's unit allowed the fewest yards per carry (3.7) despite using the lowest rate of base defense (6%) in the entire league. Truly a coaching masterclass. 

* First team to rank top 2 in both since the 2015 Denver Broncos

Some may question how Macdonald and the Seahawks' duo can rank this high with Sam Darnold as their starting quarterback, but the lens through which people view Darnold needs to change. The Minnesota Vikings went from being 14-3 with him as their starting quarterback in 2024 to 9-8 and out of the playoffs entirely without him in 2025. Seattle went from being 10-7 with the NFL's 18th-ranked scoring offense (22.1 ppg) in 2024 to being 14-3 with the league's third-ranked scoring offense (28.4 ppg) with Darnold in 2025. Of course, having the No. 1 scoring defense makes field position and ball control for an offense exponentially easier, but Darnold deserves credit for being at the controls of the unit on the field. 

No quarterback has been a part of more victories across the last two seasons than Darnold and his 28 wins. That, and him ranking top-five in the league in passing yards (8,367), passing yards per attempt (8.2) and passing touchdowns (60), has to mean something. 

2. Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid (Chiefs)

The Kansas City Chiefs duo of quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid reigned supreme on this list for years. And rightfully so after the Chiefs became the first team in NFL history to appear in five Super Bowls in a six-season span from 2019-2024. They won three of those, but they've lost some luster since the Philadelphia Eagles pummeled them in Super Bowl LIX, which concluded the 2024 season.

Reid's scheme has stagnated over the last three years, with Mahomes averaging nearly 50 fewer passing yards per game than in his first five seasons and a touchdown-to-interception ratio nearly half what he produced in those years. In 2025, Mahomes was sacked a career-high 2.4 times per game in 2025 while completing a career-low 41.9% of his throws when pressured. 

With Mahomes coming back off a torn ACL and LCL that he suffered in Week 15 last season and the Chiefs' first season missing the playoffs since 2014, he and Reid truly have something to prove once again. 

1. Matthew Stafford/Sean McVay (Rams)

Head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford powered the Los Angeles Rams to the NFL's No. 1 scoring offense (30.5 points per game), total offense (394.6 total yards per game) and passing yards per game (268.1 passing yards per game) in 2025. Stafford led the league in both passing yards (4,707) and passing touchdowns (46) en route to winning 2025 NFL MVP honors. He piloted McVay's offense, which made him the fourth quarterback in NFL history with 45-plus passing touchdowns (46) and fewer than 10 interceptions (8) in a season. The other three instances were Tom Brady in 2007 and Aaron Rodgers twice (2011 and 2020). 

This duo has already won a Super Bowl together, and they nearly captured another, losing in the NFC Championship game last season to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks. The defeat wasn't Stafford's fault, as he became the first quarterback in NFL history to lose a playoff game with 350-plus passing yards (374), 3-plus passing touchdowns (3) and no turnovers. 

Stafford and McVay are also two big reasons why the Rams enter 2026 as the overwhelming Super Bowl favorite at +550 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook. The next closest teams are the Buffalo Bills at +1000 and the Seahawks at +1100. That makes the 2026 Rams just the fifth team with preseason Super Bowl odds shorter than 10-1 in the last 50 seasons. Let's see if they can live up to the hype and finish the job in 2026 as they did in 2021, the last time the Rams really went all in.