If I were to ask you who are some of the all-time greatest coaches in the vast history of the NFL, I’m willing to bet I could guess a few of the names that come to mind.
Bill Belichick, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh and Don Shula, among many others, are names that come to mind. One thing those men all have in common is this: they’ve won Super Bowls.
In the sports, championships are the top priority. In any debate about an athlete or coach, the ring argument is brought up. In the ranks of the NFL, Andy Reid may well be the best coach in the Super Bowl era without a ring on his finger. Winning the biggest game of his career Sunday could solidify Reid as a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Reid’s coaching career has been nothing but successful in the regular season. He’s been a head coach for 21 years, and in those 21 seasons, his teams have posted just three losing records. In those 21 years, he’s won double-digit games for his franchises 14 times. He’s been a division champion ten times.
The postseason has been a different story for Reid. Reid is a mere 14-14 in his 28 playoff games. Many fans and members of the media are highly critical of the work Reid does once the calendar flips to January.
The criticism isn’t entirely unwarranted. From the 2001-04 seasons, Reid led the Eagles to four straight NFC title games, coming away with just one win in the championship, which led to a heart-breaking Super Bowl loss to New England.
Fast forward to Reid’s highly successful tenure in Kansas City, where he’s won four division titles in seven seasons. Once he got his team to the NFL’s final twelve teams, either the elite offenses stalled out, or his leaky defenses cost the teams a chance to extend their seasons by another week or two.
In 2013, for example, Reid’s Chiefs led a lifeless Indianapolis Colts team 31-10 at halftime and ended up losing,45-44. Another instance happened last year, when the Chiefs nearly made the Super Bowl, but a crucial defensive penalty by Dee Ford stopped the Chiefs march to the Lombardi at their own stadium.
This Super Bowl is so crucial for Reid. Making it back isn’t guaranteed, even with a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes running Reid’s creative offense. After all, Dan Marino never made it back to the big stage after his first try.
Fair or not, Reid even receives criticism for the coaches who have learned under him. Reid has produced a few successful coaches from his coaching tree. A prime example of a coach who learned under Reid is Doug Pederson.
Pederson ran the Chiefs offense for three seasons before getting hired by Reid’s last employer, the Eagles. In only his second year, Pederson did what Reid never could; win the Super Bowl. Among those who studied under Reid for some time are John Harbaugh, Ron Rivera, Matt Nagy, and Sean McDermott. Harbaugh has a ring, Rivera came awfully close to grabbing one in Carolina, and Nagy has won the coveted Coach of the Year award.
With a win on Sunday, Reid will have coached an all-time great offense while on their run to the title. He will finally match his contemporaries, like Sean Payton, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carrol and a few others, each with one Super Bowl win.
Next season, if the Chiefs win seven games, Reid will surpass Paul Brown on the all-time wins list. Then, he’ll likely pass Curly Lambeau within the next two to three years and become the fifth winningest coach of all time. But without a Super Bowl ring, Reid’s resume will have a gaping hole that many will be unable to overlook.
At the end of the day, whenever Reid decides to retire, he’ll leave a legacy. He will always be remembered as a great innovator on the offensive side of the ball. He’ll be remembered as a great leader, and a steady hand for each franchise he’s worked with.
But the one thing he needs most, as a head coach, to be remembered as a winner is the big game.
No matter how many games you win from August to December, the only win people will remember is the one in February. If Reid can finally achieve that this Sunday, his legacy as a winner will be cemented forever.