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Ranking the top five Kansas City Chiefs coaches of all time

By Lyle Graversen

14 Dec 1997: Head coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Kansas City Chiefs yells instructions during the Chiefs'' 29-7 win over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport
14 Dec 1997: Head coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Kansas City Chiefs yells instructions during the Chiefs'' 29-7 win over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport /
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9 Dec 1996: Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Kansas City Chiefs argues with a referee in the second half of the Raiders v Chiefs game at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/ALLSPORT
9 Dec 1996: Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Kansas City Chiefs argues with a referee in the second half of the Raiders v Chiefs game at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/ALLSPORT /

3. Marty Schottenheimer

I’m not going to hide my bias here. Marty Schottenheimer is my favorite Kansas City Chiefs coach. He wasn’t the best, but he was my favorite. He was the coach that made me a Chiefs fan. I loved “Marty Ball”. I loved watching those teams with Christian Okoye trucking defenders and the defense terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. I wouldn’t be writing about the Chiefs today if it wasn’t for Schottenheimer.

Fandom aside, Schottenheimer absolutely deserves this very spot. In fact, like Vermeil in the fourth spot, I really don’t think you can make a strong case for Schottenheimer being anywhere other than third on this list.

If you only count Hank Stram’s wins after the team moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs, Schottenheimer actually has the most wins as a head coach in team history, and his winning percentage in Kansas City is actually slightly better than Stram’s as well. Both Stram and Schottenheimer won three division titles during their time in Kansas City. However, Schottenheimer simply couldn’t get over the hump to win a Super Bowl.

Schottenheimer coached in 10 postseason games in K.C., which is impressive. However, he was just 3-7 in those games. That is why he is definitely one of the franchise’s truly legendary coaches, but he isn’t quite in the league of the top two who brought home a championship. I love Marty Schottenheimer and it breaks my heart that he was never able to get that elusive Super Bowl win, but he is still one of the all time great Kansas City Chiefs coaches and very deserving of this number three spot.

Now we get to the two coaches that won a Super Bowl in Kansas City.

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