Dan Quinn coaching career: Timeline of NFL teams coached, Super Bowl history and more

Dan Quinn has been the head coach of the Commanders for just one season, but he has already made his mark on the organization.

The 54-year-old has led Washington to a 12-5 record and a wild-card victory, already making this the franchise's most successful campaign in at least 19 years.

After the Commanders won just four games last year, Washington added Quinn and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, which prompted an eight-win improvement from the 2023 season. With just eight teams left in the NFL playoffs, Quinn is the only head coach left currently in the first season with his team. 

Ahead of the Commanders' divisional-round game against the Lions, here's a look at Quinn's coaching career to date.

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Dan Quinn NFL coaching timeline

Quinn bounced around the league for a bit but became more settled when he got to Seattle. Then a defensive assistant, Quinn had two separate stints with the Seahawks that were separated by two years (2011-12) as the University of Florida's defensive coordinator.

When he returned to the NFL after two years in Gainesville, Quinn gained notice by leading the Seahawks' defense in 2013, when they won the Super Bowl. After just two years as Seattle's defensive coordinator, Quinn got his first head coaching job with the Falcons.

Atlanta fired Quinn midseason in 2020 when the team lost five straight games to begin the year. In the offseason, Quinn joined the Cowboys as their defensive coordinator and helped the team total three-straight 12-win seasons from 2021-2023.

After the 2023 season, Quinn returned got his second opportunity as a head coach, this time with the Commanders.

Dan Quinn coaching record

Overall, Quinn has a 55-47 career regular season record and a 4-2 career postseason record.

Quinn's most famous game came in Super Bowl 51, when he coached the Falcons against the Patriots. In that game, Atlanta took a 28-3 lead into the fourth quarter before blowing the lead in regulation, ultimately losing in overtime. 

New England ended that game on a 31-0 run, which included outscoring Atlanta 25-0 in the fourth quarter and overtime. Instead of going down as the first head coach to lead the Falcons to a Super Bowl victory, Quinn became known as the coach with the largest blown lead in Super Bowl history.

The following year, Quinn led the Falcons back to the playoffs as a wild-card team, where Atlanta beat the Rams to make it to the second round. However, the Falcons lost to the Eagles in the divisional round, which ended up being Quinn's last playoff game for Atlanta.

While Quinn's tenure with the Falcons was solid, it didn't end well as Atlanta fired him in 2020 after losing five straight games to begin the season.

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