The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots in Superbowl LX, concluding the 2025-26 NFL season with the 29-13 victory. This season was one with the most parity with seven of eight divisions having a new winner, perennial playoff contenders and pre-season favorites Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions all failing to make the playoffs while the long shot Patriots made it back to the championship. The parity of this season leaves many important lessons for front offices to reflect on looking to 2026 and beyond.
No lesson was as obvious as the importance of coaching. While having a good coaching staff has always been part of a winning organization, the 2025-26 season amplified how a good staff can raise the floor of a team and how a bad one will crash the ceiling. The two most obvious situations both hail from the NFC West, this year’s most competitive division.
The San Francisco 49ers were devastated by injury, including absences from starting quarterback Brock Purdy and season ending injuries to all-pro defenders Fred Warner and Nick Bosa. In spite of this, the team managed to win 12 games and a playoff game against then-reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles. This is a direct result of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offensive brilliance, who put together a top offense with backups and journeymen such as Mac Jones, Kendrick Bourne and Jake Tonges as his starters. On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, new head coach of the Tennessee Titans, was able to institute a philosophy of “next man up” to deal with the major injuries. While the unit struggled, particularly down the stretch, it made critical stops to seal wins for the team.
Another example is Seattle; head coach Mike Macdonald, hired ahead of the 2024 season is objectively a mastermind, who orchestrated the league’s best scoring defense – nicknamed “The Dark Side” – which played key roles in the week 18 game for the NFC’s top seed. This defense dominated San Francisco once again in the divisional, and kept the Patriots and their number two offense out of the end zone for three and a half Superbowl quarters. While the talent of the unit is undeniable, Macdonald’s brilliance and mastery of modular defense helped it reach a new level.
This barely scratches the surface, ignoring worst-to-first turn arounds by Mike Vrabel of New England and Liam Cohen of the Jacksonville Jaguars, coordinators such as Klint Kubiak in Seattle who called a dangerous offense and Jeff Ulbrich in Atlanta who revitalized an once porous defense as well as countless assistant and position coaches who have helped refine players.
It also explains the record ten head coach openings, as many teams realized the key lesson of this season: good isn’t good enough. This is why superbowl champion John Harbaugh and five time division champion Sean McDermott were fired. In spite of their lofty resumes, continual recent playoff failure lead to the change. While many debate about if their dismissals were deserved, they all stem from the idea that they were not good enough to win a Superbowl in this era. Many coaches are worse than “not good enough”, and they can drag a talented roster to a bottom feeder.
The opposite of Shanahan would be ex-Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, whose offensive incompetency dragged a talented group that returned 10 of 11 starters from a team that set a playoff scoring record to a bottom 10 finish. His offense was eventually eliminated in the wild card by Shanahan and Saleh’s squad after scoring 19 on a defense that gave up 34 the following week. While it’s possible that the departure of Mekhi Becton and a rotating interior offensive line contributed, it wouldn’t explain the decline. In 2024, despite losing all-pros Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffery and Trent Williams, the 49ers offense finished fourth in total offense. These polar opposite situations show how having the right coach can be a make-or-break factor regardless of roster talent.
Another example would be ex-Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris. The Falcons talented roster included All-Pros Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts, with other talented players including Drake London and rookie defenders James Pearce Jr., Jalon Walker and Xavier Watts. However, poor time management and keeping offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, in spite of his obvious inability to maximize and develop talent, Atlanta fell to 8-9, third in the NFC south, and one game from the playoffs in a historically weak division. Morris and Robinson were dismissed following the season, despite impressive victories versus Los Angeles and Tampa Bay down the stretch.
The randomness of the 2025 NFL season made it one of the most memorable of recent seasons. It also highlighted the importance of coaching, with multiple teams whose incredible coaching staff was an x-factor, dragging depleted rosters to the divisional and causing talented rosters to fail. It serves as an important reminder to front offices the cliche of good isn’t always good enough.
