Super Bowl 2025: Steve Spagnuolo chasing 5th ring, maybe Hall of Fame as well

NEW ORLEANS — The main reason for the New York Giants’ stunning Super Bowl XLII upset over the previously undefeated New England Patriots isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame yet.

Neither is Eli Manning.

No defensive coordinator is more decorated than Steve Spagnuolo. He is the only coordinator in NFL history with four Super Bowl rings. He’s the only coordinator who won championships with two franchises. He won one with the 2007 Giants, when his defense shut down Tom Brady and one of the great offenses in NFL history, and three more with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Nobody has ever made the Hall of Fame primarily for their work as an assistant coach. Spagnuolo is building a case to be the first.

“You know, my opinion, how could you not put him in the Hall of Fame?” Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones said. “He has had success with multiple programs.

“We didn’t start winning winning, getting over that hump, until Spags got here. I have so much respect for Spags and his body of work and how much he put into the game. That’s my guy. I hope he gets in the Hall of Fame, and becomes the first assistant coach to make it.”

That Hall of Fame debate will be fascinating, and it would be groundbreaking if Spagnuolo ever made it in.

He still has business to attend to. In Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, his defense will try to slow down the Philadelphia Eagles. A fifth Super Bowl ring, including an unprecedented three in a row as the defensive mastermind of a Chiefs dynasty, might be enough to get him that Hall of Fame nod.

Should Steve Spagnuolo make the Hall?

The Hall of Fame topic isn’t new to Spagnuolo. He has been asked about it as his résumé grew. It’s not like he’s going to lobby for himself, so he handles the questions the best he can.

“I’m humbled when I’m asked the question. I don’t focus very much time on it,” Spagnuolo said this week. “That’s way beyond my dreams. Right now I’m just worried about beating this football team we’re going to face.”

Others don’t mind making the case.

“I’d vote for him,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said.

Reid brought up the late Jim Johnson, his old defensive coordinator when he was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Johnson’s blitz packages were revolutionary, and also were a teaching point for his old assistant Spagnuolo. Johnson had 10 great seasons with the Eagles, though he never was part of a Super Bowl champion in Philadelphia.

“I’ve been lucky to be around a few good defensive coordinators, and Jim Johnson was one Steve had an opportunity to grow up with,” Reid said “And I was asked that [Hall of Fame] question about Jim, and I’d vote for him too like I would Steve. Both tremendous. Huge influence on the team, and huge influence on the defense.”

The way the Chiefs dynasty has changed helps to boost Spagnuolo’s legacy. For the first few years of it, Patrick Mahomes and the offense were a juggernaut. They just would outscore teams, like two years ago when the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 in a Super Bowl. But after Tyreek Hill was traded and Travis Kelce got a little older, the offense slowed down a bit. It didn’t matter because Spagnuolo’s defense took off. Last season the Chiefs were second in points allowed. This season they were fourth.

The Chiefs’ dynasty doesn’t continue like it has without the defense, led by Spagnuolo, becoming one of the NFL’s best.

Spagnuolo would ‘invite’ another head coaching opportunity

The one thing that could turn the Hall of Fame argument into an easy one is if Spagnuolo had a successful run as a head coach. He got a chance with the St. Louis Rams from 2009-2011 and went 10-38 (he was also was 1-3 as Giants interim coach in 2017). It’s not like he’d be the first coach to fall flat in his first head coaching opportunity and then succeed in his second.

The Chiefs’ success might be working against Spagnuolo, who is 65 years old. Kansas City has gone to at least the AFC championship game each of Spagnuolo’s six seasons with the team. Teams with vacancies don’t usually like to wait to hire a head coach until after the Super Bowl, which might be one reason Spagnuolo hasn’t gotten another shot yet. But he has gotten some interviews and would like the chance.

“I would invite the opportunity. The competitiveness in all of us is very open for that,” Spagnuolo said. “It would have to be something really good. I’m blessed to have a really good job right now. But it’s always in the back of my mind. It’s not on my mind right now, we have a game to play, but I’ll think about it later on.”

Until then, Spagnuolo’s brilliance on defense will have to suffice. His players this week talked about him in two ways. They mentioned his personal touch, having a relationship with each player he coaches. They also talked about his Xs and Os, which are extremely complicated with countless looks. That was big when Spagnuolo sent the exact right blitz at Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen on a key fourth down late in the AFC championship game, and Allen threw incomplete under pressure.

“Guys from other teams, they tell me ‘OK, this is what you were born on, being drafted here,’ but they tell us this is not how defense is around the league. This is special,” Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson said. “It looked like a foreign language. I’m a smart player and it was very difficult for me to pick up.

“It’s an advantage for us. We give the offenses so many different looks. Maybe they don’t know what’s coming. It’s hard to watch film and pick up what we do. Spags isn’t going to do the same thing too much.”

Few men in NFL history have had a more impactful legacy than Spagnuolo, from the memorable job the Giants did to fluster Brady and the 2007 Patriots to the second phase of the Chiefs dynasty when it turned into a defensive force. Plenty of people in the Hall of Fame already don’t have the championship pedigree Spagnuolo already has. And there might be more titles to add before Hall of Fame voters take a look at his case.