Deadspin | Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes driving Chiefs’ historic run

There was a time Andy Reid was a sympathetic figure, a champion of the regular season seemingly destined to be an all-time bridesmaid on the NFL sideline.

Through 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, Reid reached one Super Bowl (2004) and lost the NFC Championship Game four times. It’s why owner Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles decided another voice was necessary and fired the coach with the most wins in franchise history.

Reid, 66, was reborn in Kansas City, where he — eventually — became synonymous with the Super Bowl and became the all-time wins leader of a second franchise.

The Chiefs didn’t reach the AFC title game until Reid’s sixth season in Kansas City, and since the Chiefs turned that corner, they have not looked back. They’ve won the AFC West division nine consecutive years and Reid hasn’t lost a postseason game since the 2021 AFC Championship to the Bengals.

There was a chance meeting along the way — Reid and a gunslinger from Texas Tech, quarterback Patrick Mahomes — that didn’t hurt the evolution of the Chiefs from doormat to dynasty. The pair won their first Super Bowl after the 2019 season.

That’s not top of mind for Reid this week, according to Mahomes. He said Reid has tunnel vision. A hot topic during the open week before heading to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and a chance at a third Super Bowl victory in a row? Perfecting their snap cadence.

“That’s the stuff he focuses on,” Mahomes said. “I think the only time I’ve heard (Andy Reid) say [three-peat] is to the media whenever you all ask him about it.”

Come Monday and the start of the big-game festivities in New Orleans — a backdrop for the Chiefs’ bid to become the first team in league history to win three consecutive Super Bowls — the questions will start fast and furious. Reid will be seeking that historic win against his former team, the Eagles, on Feb. 9.

And Reid, now with 301 victories combined between the regular season and playoffs, and Mahomes — 17-3 in the playoffs and bidding for his fourth Super Bowl ring — are on the verge of adding to their shimmering legacies. A fourth Super Bowl ring for Mahomes would put him in a three-way tie for second-most all-time with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw.

It would also be over halfway to Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl wins.

“I think you always want to leave a legacy and make your imprint on history, but more than anything, you just want to accomplish a goal that you have with your teammates,” Mahomes said. “When you start (training camp) in St. Joe, your goal is to win the Super Bowl. We know it’s a hard process, we know it’s a hard week in and week out, but I’m proud of how our guys have went about that process. We know it’s not going to be easy, this team we’re playing is a really good football team, but we’re going to go out there and put our best effort out there and play as a team. Hopefully, that’s enough to get a win.”

Before the season and while wading through questions and rumors about retirement, Reid signed a new pact that runs through 2029 and made him the league’s highest-paid coach. With win No. 18 of the season this week, Reid could be just 22 shy of George Halas (324) for third on the NFL’s all-time wins list.

And by Sunday night, Reid could have four Super Bowl wins as a head coach, tying Steelers coach Chuck Noll for second on the all-time list and two shy of Bill Belichick’s record six rings. Belichick won two more as an assistant coach and has 333 victories as a head coach, second to Don Shula (347).

“We all know that’s out there but what matters is how you take care of business,” Reid said of the historic ramifications of another Super Bowl win in an interview with Rich Eisen of the NFL Network this week. “What’s going to help you is that you focus in and take care or business today while we’re doing our practices or in the meetings we have today. Take care of that and everything else you let the chips fall where they may.”

–Field Level Media