As a part of our countdown to the 2012 NFL schedule, we here at Bankroll Sports are making our Top 10 list for the best head coaches in all of football. Join us as we break down the men that issue that X’s and O’s on a weekly basis on the sidelines of your favorite pro football teams!

1: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: How can we argue with “The Hoodie?” He has won at least nine games in 11 consecutive seasons with the Patriots, winning three Super Bowls and getting to two more. He came up just short of becoming the first coach to lead his team to a 19-0 mark, and he has a whopping 17 career victories in his postseason career. There’s no doubt that those terms are all good enough to make Belichick the top coach in our countdown of the Top 10 head coaches in the NFL.

2: Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers: Okay, maybe we should be giving Harbaugh a bit more time before calling him one of the best head coaches in the NFL, but we love what he did with the Niners last year. This was a man that pushed all of the right buttons at Stanford to take the Cardinal from a team that was a doormat in the Pac-12 to the verge of a National Championship, and now in just one year, he took the 49ers from a team that had a lot of talent but was never able to put it together to a team that was a play or two away from the Super Bowl. If Harbaugh isn’t the second best coach in the league right now, the argument could be made that he is right there in the discussion.

3: John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens: Oh, the sibling rivalry… This Harbaugh has had his Ravens in the playoffs just about every season since taking over, and that’s quite the task in the AFC North, where the games are brutal, and the competition is always fierce. QB Joe Flacco isn’t all that special of a quarterback, and to be able to win games with him as the quarterback of the team speaks volumes to what Harbaugh has been able to do with this team.

4: Tom Coughlin, New York Giants: We know that Coughlin isn’t liked amongst all of his players, but he has a pair of Super Bowl rings now, and that can’t go overlooked. Every time it seems like the G-Men are down and out of it, Coughlin figures out some way to get their heads to get back in the game, and the runs that these two Super Bowl teams have been able to go on have been epic. Remember that Coughlin not only beat the 18-0 Patriots, but he also beat the 15-1 Packers en route to his two rings. That has to put him in the Top 5 of our head coaches list.

5: Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers: McCarthy inherited a team on the rise and took it to prominence, winning the Super Bowl virtually right away. He was smart enough to surround himself with great assistants, and it is a real testament to his work that Joe Philbin is now with the Miami Dolphins and Dom Capers is considered one of the top candidates for a head coaching job for 2013. Again, this is a man with a Super Bowl ring, and there aren’t many out there that can say that.

6: John Fox, Denver Broncos: Any man that can figure out how to win a playoff game with QB Tim Tebow under center is a great coach in our eyes. Remember that this is also the man that brought the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme under center. Fox is one of the brightest coaches in the game, and he was smart enough to take a pass happy team and make it a running club with the triple option quickly last year when the ship was sinking. Now, he has a new quarterback in Peyton Manning, and he has been able to make yet another philosophical shift. Fox is probably the most underrated coach in the NFL.

7: Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: Tomlin probably isn’t the greatest coach in the world, but what he definitely is, is a smart man. He kept his offensive philosophies intact at the beginning of his coaching tenure, taking over for the departed Bill Cowher, and he also retained DC Dick LeBeau. His next bright move? Getting rid of former OC Bruce Arians and replacing him with new OC Todd Haley. We really like what Tomlin has built here in Pittsburgh, and though the Steelers’ window of opportunity might be closing, there is no doubting that Tomlin is one of the Top 10 coaches in the NFL.

8: Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles: Reid might have never brought a Super Bowl to the City of Brotherly Love, and he very well could be fired at the end of this season, but we still think that he is valuable enough to be called one of the Top 10 coaches in the NFL. He has won at least 10 games eight times in 12 seasons, and he has been to the playoffs in nine of the 12 campaigns, going 10-9 in that stretch. Not everyone can win a Super Bowl, and of the coaches that haven’t that have been in this game for a long time, Reid is probably the best of the bunch.

9: Jeff Fisher, St. Louis Rams: Fisher put together a lot of mediocre seasons with the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans, but he also took a team that didn’t have much in the way of resources and turned it into a contender quite often. There is a reason that Fisher was one of the most highly sought after coaches in the league in the offseason, and it will show in due time in St. Louis.

10: Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers: It’s true that Rivera is just a 6-10 lifetime head coach, but he turned a god awful club into one of respectability last year. Now, the longtime assistant has a team that could make the playoffs behind the growing QB Cam Newton. There’s something brewing in Carolina, and whatever comes of it, we have to remember that it is Rivera that is behind it.

The hot seat. Every coach finds himself on it at some point in his career. Some persevere, while others fold under the pressure. This year in the NFL, there are a number of coaches that are facing potential do or die situations. Check out who those coaches are, why they’re in trouble, what we can expect of them this year, and their odds to win the Super Bowl.

Chan Gailey, Buffalo Bills (+10000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): Bottom line: When you’re not a good coaching hire in the first place, you’re always on the hot seat. Gailey was an awful coach at virtually every stop along the way in his career, and this is probably going to be no exception. It looks like he has decided that QB Trent Edwards is the man to try to take his team from the ranks of the worst in the league to respectability. No chance. Edwards is, at best, the fifth best quarterback in this division, and he is clearly not the answer. Gailey will probably survive regardless, but this year has the potential to be a bloody one. We’ve seen coaches dismissed after one year before. Gailey might be the next in line.

Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans (+3000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): Playoffs or bust. That’s the ultimatum that has been handed down from owner Bob McNair to Kubiak this year for the Texans. This is the only franchise in the NFL that has never tasted the playoffs, and by now, the fourth year of his rule in Houston, the Texans should be making the playoffs, particularly with the type of talent that the team has. The only problem is that the schedule is an absolute nightmare this year. Houston has also already lost its second round draft pick and projected starting RB Ben Tate, which really only leaves RBs Arian Foster and Steve Slaton. This could be a bad situation if Foster doesn’t pan out. Still, the top rated passing attack in the NFL from last year is only getting better with every pass that QB Matt Schaub throws. Every year this team gets better and better. Last year was the squad’s first season above .500. This should be the year that the playoffs are reached.

Jack Del Rio, Jacksonville Jaguars (+10000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): Here’s a man that probably should have already been fired. Jacksonville has drafted poorly in recent years, and it is really catching up. The team simply isn’t that great. The decision to make QB David Garrard the starter a few years ago paid off in the short term but has crippled the franchise now that it really needs its boost, as the Jags are threatening to move to Los Angeles if ticket sales don’t pick up. Unless RB Maurice Jones-Drew intends on having a year like Chris Johnson did last season in Tennessee, don’t expect Del Rio to be heading anywhere but the unemployment line once the year is out.

Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles (+3000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): It’s hard to think that the Eagles would part ways with Reid after all of the playoff years that this franchise has had, but this is the same team that just dumped QB Donovan McNabb unceremoniously to a divisional rival in exchange for a bag of peanuts and a box of footballs. Reid needs to at least finish .500 this year with new QB Kevin Kolb, or he might be out the door. The Eagles are searching for a new direction, and the fact that Reid only brought the team to one Super Bowl and never won the big one could ultimately cost him. If the standard of his job is going to be measured on the playoffs, the City of Brotherly Love will be watching the last season of Reid on the sidelines in green.

Lovie Smith, Chicago Bears (+5000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): The Bears made the biggest splash of the offseason last year when they acquired QB Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos. Cutler failed miserably, and the team flat out stunk last season. Now, Chicago was back at it again this year, picking up DE Julius Peppers, the best free agent that the open market has seen in years in the NFL. An 0-3 start to the preseason with just 36 total points scored isn’t a good start if you’re looking to put good mojo into your team for your make or break season. Somehow, Smith, just like Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, finds a way to keep saving his job with one good year every so often. This could be that “every so often” year in the Windy City… but if it isn’t, it is high time that Smith goes.

John Fox, Carolina Panthers (+6000 to win Super Bowl XLV at JustBet Sportsbook): The Panthers know that this is probably going to be a down year, but Fox is just as much putting them on the hot seat as they are putting him there. The team did go out and dump QB Jake Delhomme after so many failed seasons, and they even brought in his eventual successor, QB Jimmy Clausen in the NFL Draft. However, Fox doesn’t want to wait for some rookie to groom. He wants to win and win now. The rushing attack is great with both RBs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart capable of rushing for 1,000+ yards. However, the defense lost the aforementioned Peppers and has a lot of work to do to return to respectability. The Panthers are clearly the third best team in this division, and the end result could be a long, long season in which Fox either gets fired before its conclusion, or tells the team that he is not renewing his contract at season’s end.