Open thread: What is the most important quality in a head coach?

Defense wins championships. Offensive-minded over defensive-minded. Calm and composed or fiery and emotional. The NFL is constantly evolving and fans are often changing their mind on what they’re looking for in a head coach. As of now, the new fad appears to be hiring creative young minds on the offensive side of the ball, thanks to Sean McVay.

But even McVay couldn’t overthrow Emperor Belichick in last year’s Super Bowl. If Belichick’s grew on trees, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

What is the most important quality in a head coach?

My answer: I believe the most important quality in being a head coach is something that often goes overlooked. When I think of the ideal coach, I think back to what Doug Pederson was able to do for the Eagles during their Super Bowl run just a couple of years ago. Even with Carson Wentz going down, the Eagles were able to dominate some of the top defenses in the NFL because they had a staff in place that meshed extremely well together with a bunch of bright minds.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re offensive-minded or defensive-minded if you can’t do a good job of piecing together a coaching staff that works well with each other. For Patricia and the Lions, the defense made significant improvements throughout last year, which gave us a glimpse of Patricia’s smarts as a defensive mind. Now that Patricia has his guy at offensive coordinator and with his full staff in place, this is Patricia’s year to prove that he can develop and put together a winning culture.