This year’s Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks isn’t about two elite quarterbacks going to war. It’s a coaching battle. On New England’s side, Mike Vrabel reversed last season’s 4-13 record and helped turn Drake “Drake Maye” Maye into a star in his second year. For Seattle, Mike Macdonald finally capitalized on Sam Darnold’s untapped potential to get the Seahawks back to the big game for the first time in over a decade. Star players and highlight-reel catches are fun, but you don’t get them without great coaching.

EA understood that all the way back in 2006. As its ever-popular Madden series was reaching new heights in the PS2 generation, EA created a spinoff entirely dedicated to the art of coaching. The result was NFL Head Coach, a failed attempt to turn Madden’s Franchise Mode into a hyper-specific strategy game built for the most hardcore of fans. It was complicated, ruthlessly boring, and so committed to its painstaking business simulation that you can’t help but respect it. The world wasn’t ready for it in 2006, but it might just be now.

In NFL Head Coach, you play the role of a coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who is riding high after the team’s Super Bowl victory over the Seahawks. Every team in the league is interested in........

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