Mike Shanahan will coach in Denver today for the first time since 2008 (when he was coaching the Broncos). This kind of thing doesn’t happen often – a coaching legend coming back to coach where he became famous.
But it does happen on occasion – about once every other year at the NFL level. Below is the list of coaches since the merger with at least 100 games, playing against their original team. These are guys who became famous in one city, then came back to coach against that same team.
This includes Andy Reid coaching at Philadelphia back in Week 3. And there will be one more similar type of game next week, when Tennessee plays against Jeff Fisher (but that one will be in St. Louis).
Overall, these guys finished with a win-loss record of 9-7-1. That’s pretty good, considering road teams typically win only 43 percent of the time.
But bringing down the high-flying Broncos will be a tall order for Shanahan. And given that he’s been gone for five years, he shouldn’t have any inside-type information on personnel to give him any kind of meaningful advantage.
COACHES COMING HOME
Year Coach, Score (Game)
1970 Paul Brown, lost 30-27 (Bengals at Cleveland)
1970 Don Shula, lost 35-0 (Dolphins at Baltimore Colts)
1971 George Allen, won 38-24 (Washington at Los Angeles Rams)
1976 Hank Stram, won 27-17 (Saints at Kansas City)
1983 Don Coryell, lost 44-14 (Chargers at St. Louis Cardinals)
1989 Marty Schottenheimer, tie 10-10 (Kansas City at Cleveland)
1996 Bill Parcells, won 23-22 (Patriots at Giants)
1997 Bill Parcells, lost 27-24 (Jets at Giants
1999 Mike Holmgren, won 27-7 (Seahawks at Green Bay)
2001 Jim Mora Sr., lost 34-20 (Colts at New Orleans)
2003 Tony Dungy, won 38-35 (Colts at Tampa Bay)
2005 Norv Turner, won 16-13 (Raiders at Washington)
2006 Tom Coughlin, lost 26-10 (Giants at Jacksonville)
2006 Dennis Green, lost 31-26 (Cardinals at Minnesota)
2013 Andy Reid, won 26-16 (Kansas City at Philadelphia)
> 2013 Mike Shanahan (Washington at Denver).
--Ian Allan