The Most Overrated Head Coaches in the NFL This Season
1. Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers)
The Steelers have been nothing if not consistent over the past several years, but after yet another early playoffs exit, fans are starting to lose their patience with head coach Mike Tomlin.
Pressure has mounted on Tomlin for the last few seasons to make changes to the team that could make them believable title contenders, yet they still can’t seem to find the momentum they need. According to our data, 3,120 fans have made their feelings known on social media, making Tomlin the head coach most likely to be described as overrated.
2. Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks)
Finishing the year with a winning record wasn’t enough for the Seahawks to earn a spot in any postseason games, as the Rams marginally beat them to earn the top spot in the division. Mike Macdonald has drawn some of the criticism for this, as a first-year coach taking over from a popular figure in Pete Carroll.
His second season may bring greater success, but he ranks as our second most overrated coach this season, according to 2,520 dissatisfied supporters.
3. Sean Payton (Denver Broncos)
Heading into the 2024-25 season, expectations for the Denver Broncos were low, but Sean Payton’s coaching was able to pull the team around to a Wild Card round playoff spot before losing to the Bills. Despite this, many fans seem to consider his coaching ability overhyped, as we counted 2,380 posts describing him as overrated.
4. Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers)
Kyle Shanahan has found success with a number of teams, having even made his way to the Super Bowl on two occasions, but his season with the 49ers left a lot to be desired. Wrapping the regular season up with a 6-11 record, his typically calculated style of offense failed to make its usual mark on the league.
With 2,180 fans describing him as overrated on social media this season, he takes the No. 4 place on our list and will have to earn more wins in the 2025-26 season to regain the trust of some lapsed fans.
5. Jim Harbaugh (Los Angeles Chargers)
Jim Harbaugh has overachieved in his first year as head coach of the LA Chargers, leading them to an unexpected playoff spot despite being new to his role. They ended up facing a first-round exit at the hands of the Texans, but it places them in good stead for a stronger run next season. According to the data, 1,600 fans on social media are still unconvinced, however, as Harbaugh rounds out our list of the most overrated head coaches according to NFL viewers.
Methodology
To create the ranking, we analyzed social listening data from X and Reddit to identify the most overrated NFL teams, quarterbacks, and coaches of the 2024-25 season.
All posts containing "overrated" were tracked and filtered since the first week of pre-season, with mentions grouped and ranked by frequency for each person/team.
Data accurate as of Jan. 27, 2025.
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