Football is the ultimate team sport.  With that said, the quarterback is not only the most important position in the game, but in all of sports.  What makes a great quarterback work well is usually the relationship he has with his head coach, even if the coach knows just to leave his star alone.

To get you fully prepared for the NFL season we are continuing our countdown series as we move to the best head coach/quarterback combinations.

In our first volume, we ranked the worst head coach/quarterback combinations entering the 2015 season.

We moved up the list just a bit in volume two, and we move up further in this volume.

22. Cincinnati Bengals- Marvin Lewis/Andy Dalton

It’s difficult to imagine a team that goes to the playoffs every year this far down on the list.  Well it’s possible when you have a well-rounded team that carries its quarterback all the way to January disappointment.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis is yet to win his first playoff game….after 11 seasons as head coach.  Andy Dalton has been just effective enough to lead his team to the postseason right up until he falls flat on his face.

The Bengals are in the worst kind of quarterback purgatory.  The win just enough to keep thinking “next year is the year” while the results are extremely predictable.

Would Cincinnati be better off without Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton?  Maybe, maybe not, but they’ll never win a title with the pair in their current positions and they’re wasting the prime of great players like Geno Atkins and A.J. Green.

21. St. Louis Rams- Jeff Fisher/Nick Foles

The St. Louis Rams just inked quarterback Nick Foles to a two-year contract extension before he’s taken his first regular season snap as a member of the team.  Head coach Jeff Fisher is hoping first and foremost that Foles can stay healthy, something his previous quarterback Sam Bradford was unable to do.

Nick Foles’ success in Philadelphia as a member of the Eagles was largely a bi-product of Chip Kelly’s system, and if he was a legitimate franchise quarterback Philadelphia wouldn’t have traded him away.  When there was more tape on Foles last season, he struggled with turnovers against some of the league’s worst defenses.

In Fisher’s three seasons as head coach of the Rams, he’s yet to navigate the team to a winning record.  The only reason Fisher and Foles get the nod over Lewis and Dalton, is because Fisher has actually won five playoff games in his career.

20. San Francisco 49ers- Jim Tomsula/Colin Kaepernick

New San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula takes over the cataclysmic mess which was the Niners offseason.  San Francisco lost every star on the defense with the exception of Navarro Bowman, and a team that was in the Super Bowl just a few years ago is expected to finish in last place.

Tomsula is holding this ranking down more than Kaepernick, as we simply don’t know what to expect from a first-time head coach.  With all of the issues on defense, Colin Kaepernick should be better in 2015.  He has an improved set of weapons, although the offensive line shouldn’t be as good without Mike Iupati.

Although the 49ers likely won’t win a lot of games, Kaepernick should be better than many believe.

19. Minnesota Vikings- Mike Zimmer/Teddy Bridgewater

The arrow seems to be pointing up for the Minnesota Vikings in the current Zimmer/Bridgewater administration.  The Vikings were competitive last season and they will have future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson back for the 2015 season.

Last season, the game really seemed to slow down for Teddy Bridgewater during December, as he completed 72.5 percent of his passes over the final five games.  Bridgewater has more weapons with Mike Wallace and Peterson, and he should be better this year.

18. Carolina Panthers- Ron Rivera/Cam Newton

The combination of Ron Rivera and Cam Newton will always give the Panthers a “puncher’s chance” at winning any game.

But can they win three playoff games in a row?

It takes a little more than “a lucky punch” for that.

Riverboat Ron went from being ultra conservative to a head coaching daredevil, but when the chips are on the line does anyone really believe in him?

Cam Newton is perhaps the most dynamic athlete in the NFL, and he can singlehandedly win any game against any opponent.  Unfortunately, he still struggles with mechanics and thus he’s struggled with accuracy.  Newton will have to be a more accurate passer if the Panthers are going to be playoff fixtures and a legitimate threat to win when they get there.