The 5 best defensive coordinators in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs

For a team celebrating truly historic players and performers on the offensive side of the ball, it's interesting to note that the Kansas City Chiefs are also experiencing one of the greatest defensive stretches of football in their storied history.

Making a ranking of the best defensive coordinators of all time means contending with plenty of history, but it also means trying to get an honest reflection of the present. How much is recency bias coming into play in this modern era? How much weight should multiple Super Bowls in this magical stretch should factor in? (We think quite a bit, by the way.)

In the end, we've sorted things out quite well (we think at least) and have come up with the top five defensive coordinators in Chiefs history.

Criteria for selection

The metrics used to determine the best coordinators were a mix of how their units performed against the rest of the National Football League (such as rank in points allowed or total yardage or takeaways) and the success of the overall team. We also tried to factor in the level of talent with which each coordinator was working, their greater body of work, and how they've been remembered.

The 5 best defensive coordinators in Chiefs history

5. Dave Adolph

Let's be honest: There's not a great entrant for the fifth and final spot on our list of the best defensive coordinators in Chiefs history. But what gives Dave Adolph the edge over a few others is the team's overall success during his tenure (even the defense).

Adolph is the man the Chiefs turned to after Bill Cowher was poached away by the Steelers. He's also the man Gunther Cunningham replaced in 1995. During the three seasons in which he was defensive coordinator, the Chiefs had average numbers defensively after enjoying the strong leadership of the bookends previously mentioned.

Adolph's defenses ranked fifth, 11th, and 12th in scoring defense and seventh through 14th in yards allowed, turning in above-average results even if the team wasn't fully satisfied after a few seasons. Adolph went on to become well-versed in the AFC West as he also coached the defenses of the Chargers and Raiders over the years.

4. Bob Sutton

Recency bias is going to come into play here for some Chiefs fans who will cry foul over the inclusion of Bob Sutton. The lasting memories aren't so great. However, to exclude Sutton would mean forgetting an impressive start to his tenure with the Chiefs. The truth is that Sutton's overall body of work was above-average—with some years even better than that.

Sutton was a long-term positional coach for the New York Jets when Andy Reid came calling to make him his defensive coordinator in 2013. In that first season, the Chiefs defense was fifth in scoring and finished second in takeaways. It consistently ranked highly in both categories under Sutton, including a league-leading tally in takeaways in 2016.

In Sutton's first four seasons, the Chiefs never finished outside of the top seven in points allowed.

Sutton's defenses relied heavily on creating turnovers and not allowing the big play, which made it frustrating, especially late in his tenure, to watch teams move the chains seemingly at will on drive after drive. However, the end result, more often than not, was primarily what Sutton was aiming for all along.

Near the end, however, the wheels began to come off, and the results got progressively worse. When the 2018 season concluded with such a disheartening loss to the New England Patriots, Sutton took the fall as the team knew it needed to make seismic changes on that side of the ball.

Firing Sutton after 2018 was the right move for the Chiefs, but hiring him in 2013 was too. They needed to move on to take the next step, but his leadership definitely helped set the course for consistent success early in Andy Reid's tenure.

3. Bill Cowher

It might be weird to list Bill Cowher at No. 3 overall considering he only coached in Kansas City for three seasons, but we're hedging a bit here knowing just how well things would turn out for his future as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cowher first came to Kansas City via Marty Schottenheimer's surprise hiring. If you've forgotten, Schottenheimer was a successful head coach with the Cleveland Browns, but his headstrong approach rattled team owner Art Modell the wrong way, and the pair agreed they couldn't co-exist. That left an accomplished head coach available on the open market, and the Chiefs ushered in one of the franchise's most exciting eras accordingly.

Cowher came with Schottenheimer as his defensive coordinator and was a red-hot head coach-in-waiting as part of Marty's coaching tree. Under Cowher's supervision, the Chiefs finished in the top eight in points allowed for three consecutive seasons and even led the NFL in takeaways in 1990—Cowher's second year. (It helped to have Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas.)

The Steelers came calling the following season and chose Cowher over Dave Wannstedt to be their new head coach. From there, Cowher became a household name and coaching legend for the next 15 years on the Steelers sidelines with a win in Super Bowl XL.

2. Gunther Cunningham

For many Chiefs fans who caught on in the '90s and beyond, the name Gunther Cunningham is synonymous with "Chiefs defense." That's because his leadership and intensity captained the defense (and sometimes the entire roster) for 11 seasons with the franchise as defensive coordinator and head coach.

Joe Posnanski told a great story about the late Cunningham in a tribute piece, focusing on the time he developed 73 new blitzes for a single postseason matchup against the Denver Broncos in January 1988.

Again, that intensity.

That passion lifted Cunningham's defenses to great heights, including leading the NFL in points allowed on two separate occasions. His units were also bullish with the footballl and finished in the NFL's top 10 in takeaways six times. His players loved him and everyone respected him, which is why Carl Peterson decided to hire him as head coach for a two-year stretch that proved to be a bad fit.

1. Steve Spagnuolo

Could anyone have predicted just how well the Steve Spagnuolo era would work out?

When Spags took over for Bob Sutton, there was hope, to be sure, but some fans were calling for a newer face rather than another NFL recycling job. Suffice it to say, we're all glad to be wrong sometimes, and Spags has no shortage of admirers at the present time.

The best way to describe Spags' current impact as the team's defensive coordinator is that he just won the Dr. Z Award, given out annually by the PFWA in honor of Paul Zimmerman to an assistant coach for his lifetime body of work. Most recently for Spags, that's featured three more Super Bowl rings and four appearances, including some postseason runs in which it was the defense earning victories—not just a unit leaning too heavily on the uber-talents of Patrick Mahomes.

Under Spagnuolo's leadership, the Chiefs are coaching up the league's best young cornerbacks around—from Charvarius Ward and Kendall Fuller to Trent McDuffie and L'Jarius Sneed. Chris Jones has elevated his game to a truly elite level. Promising linebackers like Willie Gay Jr., Leo Chenal, and Nick Bolton have made good on their potential and then some.

Spags has proven to be a master chess player with the versatile defenders he's been given to work with, and he's confounded even the best offensive minds in the game. Just look at how the Chiefs defense handled the Baltimore Ravens on the road last postseason as one example. Now, with a three-peat in view, Spagnuolo and his staff can truly place themselves in rare company with another strong defensive showing.