Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo speaks to the media before the NFL football team’s practice Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
From our count, there are not any pure offensive or defensive coordinators in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — nor does the Hall of Fame consider coordinators. But Steve Spagnuolo is making a case to rectify that issue.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive coordinator won his fourth Super Bowl ring on Sunday in Las Vegas — his third with the Chiefs after putting forth a masterful display to stymie the San Francisco 49ers.
It made him the most decorated coordinator in NFL history with four Super Bowl titles, putting him in even more exclusive company as he was the only coordinator to ever win titles with multiple teams.
Spagnuolo was the mastermind behind the New York Giants defense in 2007 that derailed the 18-0 New England Patriots pursuit of perfection, holding Tom Brady and one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history to just 14 points and 274 yards of total offense.
He oversaw a top-10 defense in 2019 when he helped break the Chiefs’ 50-year Super Bowl drought. In Super Bowl LVIV, his defense yielded 20 points to the San Francisco 49ers.
Last year, his defense clamped down in Super Bowl LVII, holding the Philadelphia Eagles to just 11 second-half points, allowing Patrick Mahomes to overturn a 10-point halftime deficit to win 38-35.
This past Sunday, however, was a performance comparable to Super Bowl XLII with the Giants as he neutralized a high-powered offense that featured Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk to just 22 points.
Challenging quarterback Brock Purdy with an abundance of pressures (51.2% of the young quarterback’s snaps), Kittle had just four receiving yards while Samuel and Aiyuk combined for just six receptions. It was just the third time in 48 games that Aiyuk and Samuel did not combine to post…
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