Winning a Super Bowl is a goal every NFL player and coach aims to achieve, and they put in a ton of work all year long to get there.
Believe it or not, there have only been four people ever to win the Super Bowl as both a player and head coach. Three of the four are now members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Who Has Hoisted the Lombardi Trophy As a Player and Coach?
The four individuals in this exclusive club are Tom Flores, Mike Ditka, Tony Dungy, and Doug Pederson. New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel will try to become the fifth individual in Super Bowl 60.
Vrabel has a chance to do something that no person in NFL history has accomplished: winning a Super Bowl as a player and as a head coach with the same organization. He won three rings as a player with the Patriots and will now try to coach Drake Maye and Co. to a title after defeating the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship.
Flores, who played 10 seasons in the AFL as a quarterback, was a member of the 1969 Kansas City Chiefs. Flores played the majority of his career with the Oakland Raiders and finished his career with the Chiefs. He joined the team midseason and was the backup quarterback for Kansas City when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
As head coach of the Raiders in 1980, Flores won Super Bowl XV against the Philadelphia Eagles to become the first person to win as a player and head coach. He led the Raiders to another Super Bowl title three seasons later against Washington. Flores was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
Ditka was an All-Pro tight end with the Chicago Bears in the early 1960s and won an NFL championship in 1963. He played six seasons with the Bears, two with the Eagles, and his final four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. Ditka caught a touchdown pass in the Cowboys’ win against the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.
Ditka went on to win a Super Bowl as head coach of the 1985 Bears, a team that went 15-1 in the regular season. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
Dungy played defensive back for three seasons in the NFL, including two with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a member of the Steelers in 1978, when the team won their third Super Bowl title in five years.
Dungy became the third person to win a Super Bowl as a player and head coach when he guided the Indianapolis Colts to a victory over the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Doug Pederson became the fourth member of this club when he led the Eagles to a victory over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Pederson became a coach after being a quarterback from 1993 to 2004 with the Dolphins, Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Cleveland Browns. Pederson was a member of the 1996 Packers when they won the Super Bowl against the Patriots.
There have been two people who won the Super Bowl as players but lost as head coaches.
Ron Rivera was a linebacker for the Bears from 1984 to 1992 and was part of the legendary 1985 Bears defense when they won the Super Bowl. As head coach, Rivera’s Carolina Panthers went 15-1 in 2015 but lost the Super Bowl to the Broncos.
Dan Reeves was a teammate of Ditka for the 1971 Cowboys when they won the Super Bowl. Reeves reached the Super Bowl four times as a head coach, three times with the Denver Broncos and once with the Atlanta Falcons.
He lost all four games, including his last appearance when his former quarterback, John Elway, and the Broncos beat the Falcons. Reeves was an offensive coordinator for the 1977 Cowboys when they defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XII.
Gary Kubiak is the only person who lost the Super Bowl as a player but was able to win as a head coach. He was the backup QB to Elway for Reeves’ Broncos when they lost three Super Bowls in four seasons. He was Denver’s head coach when they defeated Rivera’s Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
All eyes will be on Vrabel and his Patriots to see if he can become the fifth person in NFL history to join this exclusive club.
