City suffered their second league defeat in succession as bottom of the table Norwich grabbed all three points at Carrow Road.
Goals either side of half-time from Luke Chadwick and Jamie Cureton did the damage to earn new manager Glenn Roeder a first win in charge of the Canaries.
The Sky Blues, without strikers Michael Mifsud and Leon Best through suspension and injury respectively, turned in a workmanlike display but despite late efforts from substitutes Wayne Andrews and Julian Gray, never really tested home goalkeeper David Marshall.
David McNamee and Kevin Kyle returned to Iain Dowie's side and Dele Adebola glanced a header wide from a teasing Michael Doyle free-kick early on.
But the home side enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and City goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos got down well to hold Darel Russell's daisy cutter in the sixth minute before reacting quickly to cut out Russell's dangerous cross as striker Jamie Cureton lurked nearby.
Norwich thought they'd scored on the half-hour when Konstantopoulos failed to hold Matty Pattison's free-kick and Russell's volley across goal hit Deon Dublin on the back and bounced into the net.
But the former Sky Blues ace, who had his back to goal as the ball struck him, was stood in an offside position.
However, the Canaries were not to be denied minutes later as Chadwick steered a left-footed shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box following a quick breakaway which came after City made a mess of a free-kick at the other end of the pitch.
Adebola went closest to an equaliser in first-half stoppage time when his back-post header was comfortably saved by Marshall.
The City striker then crossed for Kevin Kyle to head wide shortly after the break before Kyle was replaced by Ellery Cairo after limping from the field with an injury.
Norwich then had a decent shout for a penalty denied by referee Andy D'Urso when Jon Otsemobor's cross appeared to hit the arm of Ben Turner.
The introduction of Wayne Andrews just after the hour mark injected a much needed pace into the Sky Blues' attack and the former Crystal Palace man went close in the 67th minute when his header from a Cairo cross flashed wide of the far post.
But Norwich continued to edge possession with Cureton firing wide before a powerful header from Dublin flew narrowly over.
And they got their reward in the 77th minute when another quick counter-attack resulted in Pattison crossing for Cureton to apply the finish at the back-post.
Andrews should have grabbed a consolation with six minutes left to play when he beat Marshall to a loose back-pass only for the 'keeper to recover in time to block the striker's shot.
Substitute Julian Gray went even closer in stoppage-time when his ambitious curler took Marshall by surprise and hit the outside of the post.
But it was not to be for Iain Dowie's men, who will go into a midweek clash against Scunthorpe at the Ricoh Arena looking for a much improved display.
Norwich City: Marshall, Otsemobor, Shackell (c), Taylor, Camara, Chadwick (Croft, 73), Russell, Pattison, Fotheringham, Cureton, Dublin (Brown, 90). Subs: Arnold (GK), Doherty, Evans.
Goals: Chadwick (34), Cureton (77)
Booked: Pattison (foul)
Coventry City: Konstantopoulos, McNamee, De Zeeuw, Turner, Hall, Osbourne (Gray, 76), Doyle (c), S Hughes (Andrews, 66), Tabb, Adebola, Kyle (Cairo, 53). Subs: Marshall (GK), Ward.
Goals: None
Booked: None
