Halas was a co-founder of the NFL itself in 1920 and founder of the Chicago Staleys (Bears). He started opponent game film analysis, daily practices, radio broadcasts and TV revenue sharing with smaller cities. He was the first to place coaches in the press box. And he ratcheted up the T-Formation to the "Complex-T" with spinning, fakes and other trickery.

Paul Brown was so intensely innovative that he almost made our #1 innovator on this list. He founded the Bengals and invented the face mask, taxi squad, the Draw Play, and tests of the play book. He was the first to analyze opponents game film, hire full-time assistant coaches. And he was the first to sign African American players.

While never the "Head" Coach of the Giants, he made several innovations there as defensive coordinator. He invented the 4-3 defense and the "flex" defense which gave linemen positioning flexibility. was the first to use tall defensive linemen. He taught "keys" to spot offensive tendencies. He promoted use of soccer players and started use of quality control coaches. He invented offensive player motion.

Stram invented the "moving pocket" so the QB could maximize the blocking scheme. He created ​the "triple stack defense", a 3-3-5 formation. He pioneered the two tight end formation, the use of Gatorade and the first coach to wear a microphone, in Super Bowl IV where his 12-point underdog Chiefs beat the Vikings 23-7 legitimizing the AFL which led to the NFL merger.

Curly Lambeau was co-founder of the Packers with his girlfriend coining the name. He is best known for innovating the passing game by creating pass patterns. He started the concept of flying to road games and created the first self-contained practice facility. He was the first to find investors to save his team during tough financial times. Lambeau field is named after him.

Gibbs invented the single back offense using three tight ends to enhance blocking (see Lawrence Taylor). He was to first to use "Tripps" or three receivers lined up on the same side of the field. He also was one of few coaches to incorporate an "H-back" as a ​prominent part of his offense.

Belichick 's best coaching is his innovative Super Bowl XXV 3-8 & 2-9 defensive formations which held the Bills high powered offense (29 PPG) to 19 points & killed clock time by forcing more rushing plays. In the same game he employed hard hitting on receivers to alter timing which he duplicated to upset the 14-point favored Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI years later. He deployed edge-of-rules offensive formations.