Long known for losing big games, Kansas City coach Andy Reid has a chance to shed that label with a Super Bowl win.
Andy Reid won one of the biggest games of his coaching career Sunday. But it wasn’t enough to fully validate him as a great coach.
Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs brought an end to a 50-year streak between Super Bowl appearances (we’re talking 800 games between regular season and postseason) with a 35-24 win against the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game. For Reid, 61, it ranks as no worse than the second biggest win in a head coaching career that began in 1999.
The only other win that compares was when Reid was in Philadelphia and beat the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game to advance to Super Bowl XXXIX, a game the Eagles lost to New England. But Reid has lost five conference championship games.
Although he has a .618 winning percentage in the regular season in time with Philadelphia and Kansas City. That’s very solid. But Reid is now 14-14 in the postseason. That’s not that good.
The league and fans are aware of Reid’s postseason woes and that’s why he’s viewed as a coach who chokes in the big games. That can’t be denied. It’s fact. Reid never has won the biggest of all games.
Maybe he made some mistakes along the way. Maybe he just ran into better teams. Or maybe it was a combination of both.
I say this was the biggest win of Reid’s career.
“It’s not done,’’ Reid said after the game.
Reid’s exactly right. It’s not done. He needs to win the upcoming Super Bowl to fully get the respect he should. If he loses, the “choker’’ label will stay and grow. If he wins, he’ll go down as one of the greatest coaches of his generation.
Tony Dungy used to carry the same reputation for not winning the big game, until he won it. His winning percentage wasn’t all that much better than Reid’s. But Dungy finally won a Super Bowl and that got him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Reid can do the same thing – and more. Let’s be real honest. Reid has a chance to win more than one Super Bowl. He has a chance to create a dynasty. He has a team that can win multiple Super Bowls.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
With apologies to the good Philadelphia teams Reid coached, the current Chiefs are the best team he’s ever coached. With apologies to Donovan McNabb, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback Reid has ever coached. Mahomes is in only his third year. The Chiefs are going to be a good team for a long time.
Reid already has a reputation as a good coach. Now, with a Super Bowl win (maybe wins), he’s got a chance to be considered as one of the best coaches in history.
Pat Yasinskas has covered the NFL since 1993. He has worked for The Tampa Tribune, The Charlotte Observer and ESPN.com and writes for numerous national magazines and websites. He also has served as a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Andy Reid headed to the Super Bowl after Chiefs win over Titans
Andy Reid is headed back to the Super Bowl after his Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Tennessee Titans 35-24 in the AFC Championship game at Arrow Head Stadium.
Reid is going back to the Super Bowl for the 1st time since taking the 2004 Eagles to the SB some 15 years ago when they faced the New England Patriots.
Kansas City advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in the last 50 years.
Expect the coaching of Reid and Vrabel to dictate the AFC Championship Game.
In the NFL, coaching is everything and Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs features two of the best head coaches in the league.
The Titans are led by one of the league’s best young coaches, Mike Vrabel, while the Chiefs are coached by future Hall of Famer Andy Reid — long thought to be one of the top offensive minds in the game.
Vrabel owns an 18-14 record and has guided Tennessee to its first AFC Championship game since 2002 in the midst of his second season as the team’s head coach.
Reid is in year 21 as a head coach and is in his seventh season with Kansas City. The first 14 years of Reid’s head coaching career were in Philadelphia, and the Eagles went 130-93-1 over that stretch.
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Philadelphia won the NFC East six times, made the NFC Championship Game five times and appeared in Super Bowl XXXIX under Reid.
While wildly successful in the regular season, the postseason has been a different story for Reid’s teams.
Though his Eagles made five NFC title games, they lost four of them, and the one year Philadelphia advanced to the Super Bowl, they lost 24-21 to New England.
In that game, Vrabel, then a linebacker for New England, caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to give the Patriots a 14-7 lead.
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Reid was let go in 2012 after the Eagles had a disappointing 4-12 season. But he was immediately picked up by Kansas City, and in the seven seasons there, the team has made the playoffs six times.
The Chiefs are 77-35 under Reid and have won the AFC West the past four seasons.
Kansas City made the AFC Championship against New England last season and nearly advanced to Super Bowl LIII, but an offsides penalty on Dee Ford nullified what would have been a game-ending interception.
The Patriots used that second chance to force overtime and win the game.
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The AFC Championship will be a battle of conflicting styles.
The Chiefs are led by one of the game’s most senior coaches, who will undoubtedly have a bust in Canton, while the Titans are coached by a relative newcomer looking to make his mark on the league.
Kansas City has one of the game’s best offenses quarterbacked by the electrifying Patrick Mahomes, but Tennessee has the league’s rushing champion Derrick Henry, who is on a historic pace.
The Chiefs were expected to be in the AFC Championship, and came into the year as one of the odds on favorites to win the Super Bowl. The Titans were Super Bowl long-shots, with 40-1 odds to hoist the Lombardi.
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Regardless of who came into the year as a Super Bowl favorite, the Titans and Chiefs are on the precipice of advancing to Miami.
Expect the coaching of Reid and Vrabel to dictate the AFC Championship Game.
Touchdown Wire ranks (from worst to best) the four coaches remaining in the NFL’s postseason.
If you did a ranking of the league’s head coaches at any other time, New England’s Bill Belichick would top the list. After all, the man has won six Super Bowls.
But, in this case, we’re talking only about the here and now. Belichick doesn’t even qualify for this list. That’s because we’re ranking only the four coaches whose teams will be playing in the conference championship games.
We’re ranking only Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur, Kansas City’s Andy Reid, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan and Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel. This is a unique crew of coaches. Reid is the well-known veteran while the other three are in the early years of their careers.
With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Touchdown Wire provides a scouting report and ranking of each of the four head coaches remaining. We go from worst to best.
4. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
This is Shanahan’s first winning season in his three years as a head coach. The 49ers have been outstanding in most areas. But I think it’s still a little too early to classify Shanahan as a great head coach. He certainly may get there and it may be soon. But, for now, I see him as a great offensive coordinator. That’s his background and he holds the coordinator and play-calling duties with the 49ers. Shanahn is a master out of running and passing out of the same personnel groups and formations. Wisely, he’s not really involved on defense. He leaves that at up to coordinator Robert Saleh, who is one of the best in the business.
All four NFL conference championship coaches deserve credit for getting their team to this point. Kyle Shanahan turned around the Niners after finally getting his franchise quarterback in place and a defense built to carry the team. Andy Reid has …
All four NFL conference championship coaches deserve credit for getting their team to this point. Kyle Shanahan turned around the Niners after finally getting his franchise quarterback in place and a defense built to carry the team. Andy Reid has been a staple in the playoffs for most of his career. Matt LaFleur and Mike Vrabel are young, up-and-coming coaches who led their teams to heights few predicted in 2019. So let’s do the obvious thing and rank them.
Someone that’s been linked to the Bears as an offensive coordinator candidate is an Andy Reid disciple: Chiefs QBs coach Mike Kafka.
The Bears have taken their time searching for their next offensive coordinator. Perhaps they’re doing their due diligence. Or perhaps they’re waiting for someone currently on a playoff team.
Kafka has ties to Bears coach Matt Nagy, as both worked on Reid’s coaching staff in 2017, where Nagy served as offensive coordinator and Kafka as an offensive quality control coach. Before that, Kafka played as a backup quarterback with the Eagles during Nagy’s time as an offensive assistant in Philadelphia with Reid.
Kafka is an option that makes the most sense, especially now with Shurmur off the market. The Chiefs can deny the Bears the ability to interview Kafka, but Reid is someone that tends to encourage his guys to move up the ranks.
While Kafka was expected to be promoted to Chiefs offensive coordinator after Eric Bieniemy got a head coaching gig, that didn’t go as planned. Bieniemy will remain with the Chiefs next season.
Two years ago, Kafka joined Reid’s staff in Kansas City, where he quickly rose up the ranks. Many believe that Kafka could wind up with a head coaching gig within the next two years.
Then there’s the hometown element. Kafka is from Chicago and played for and coached at Northwestern, which you have to figure would make Chicago an attractive option.
The Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs meet for the AFC divisional. Here are facts about the Chiefs’ coach as well as referee Shawn Hochuli.
The Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs face off in the AFC divisional playoffs. Next up, we take a look at facts surrounding Kansas City coach Andy Reid as well as the referee, Shawn Hochuli, who refereed the game from Week 6 at Arrowhead Stadium.
51. Reid is 12-14 in the playoffs with a 7-7 record at home.
52. Reid is 6-4 in the divisional round of the playoffs with a 4-1 record at home.
53. Reid has only been a one-and-done after posting 12-plus regular season wins 1/5 times. That lone instance was the 2016 AFC divisional versus the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium.
54. Reid is 7-2 against the Texans with a 3-1 record at home.
55. Reid’s 7-2 career record against the Texans is the best he’s compiled against an AFC South opponent:
Texans: 7-2
Jaguars: 5-2
Colts: 3-6
Titans: 1-8
56. Reid is currently tied with Marty Schottenheimer for the second-most AFC/AFL Championship Game appearances in team history with one.
57. A win would make Reid the first Chiefs coach in club history to reach two consecutive conference title games.
58. A win would tie Reid with Schottenheimer for the second-most postseason wins in Chiefs history with three. Hank Stram has the most with four.
59. Reid has the third-most consecutive winning seasons in Chiefs history with seven. Schottenheimer and Stram are tied for the most with nine apiece.
60. Reid is 58/124 on challenges for his career with a 3/7 rate in 2019.
61. Reid was 0/3 on pass interference challenges in 2019.
62. Reid is 4/7 on postseason challenges for his career.
63. The Chiefs finished with the 15th-fewest penalties in the NFL with 107.
The Kansas City Chiefs traded away Carlos Hyde to the Houston Texans. Despite so, Andy Reid says he enjoyed coaching the veteran tailback.
Carlos Hyde thought he’d be a member of the Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason, not the Houston Texans.
The running back signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs in the offseason, with the presumption that he’d play a large role in their running back by committee.
However, that wasn’t the case. Hyde quickly fell on the Chiefs’ depth chart. They traded him to the Texans on Aug. 31 for backup guard Martinas Rankin.
Hyde proceeded to enjoy the best year of his career after the trade. With the Texans, he rushed for 1,070 yards and six touchdowns while going to the postseason for the first time as a professional.
Despite trading him and watching the Texans reap the benefits, Chiefs coach Andy Reid is nothing but complimentary of Hyde, saying he enjoyed coaching him.
“I enjoyed having Carlos here, number one, during training camp and in the offseason,” Reid said on Wednesday in a conference call. “I thought he was a heck of a guy and a good player. I’m happy for him. He was one of those guys that if you had to move on, then you’re hoping good things would happen to him. So, I’m glad it’s worked out for him. I think he’s had a heck of a year. He’s a great kid.”
On Sunday, Hyde will face the Chiefs for the second time in 2019, marking revenge game 2.0. The last time he did so in Week 6, he rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown in a Texans win.
“He’s a guy that runs behind his pads, tough runner, good out of the backfield in the passing game, good pass protector,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said of Hyde on Wednesday.
The Texans will look to get Hyde going again against the Chiefs in the division round. In Houston’s 22-19 overtime wild card win over the Buffalo Bills, he tallied 48 rushing yards on 16 attempts and one five-yard touchdown reception.
When the Chiefs signed defensive back Tyrann Mathieu in the offseason, they hoped Mathieu would help the defense. He’s done more than that.
Through the first half of the 2019 season, it looked like the Chiefs were going to have to take the same trip to the postseason they had in 2018 — riding Patrick Mahomes all the way, and hoping their defense didn’t blow it all up. The last straw for Andy Reid and the Chiefs’ front office for ex-defensive coordiantor Bob Sutton was Kansas City’s loss to the Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship game, when the Chiefs never got the ball in overtime, and New England marched down the field on a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Sutton’s defense was helpless to stop it, and things had to change.
To replace Sutton, the Chiefs hired Steve Spagnuolo, the architect of the 2007 Giants defense that stunned the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Spagnuolo’s multiple fronts and aggressive coverages provided a different template than Sutton’s far more passive approach, and though it took a while for everything to gel, the Chiefs now have a championship-caliber defense at exactly the right time.
Through the season’s first nine weeks, Kansas City allowed 14 touchdowns and had just six interceptions, though their seven dropped interceptions (tied with Cincinnati for the league lead) was a precursor of better things to come. Kansas City allowed 7.02 yards per attempt, and an opposing QBR of 90.50. Not the worst in the league in any of these departments, but hardly the kind of defense Spagnuolo or Reid wanted. Their opponent completion rate of 62.96% ranked 11th-best in the league.
Rex Burkhead’s game-winning touchdown run in the 2019 AFC Championship game spelled the end of Bob Sutton’s tenure. (Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports)
But from Weeks 10-17, the change has been remarkable. The Chiefs are tied with the Ravens for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed with seven, and have picked off 10 passes — tied with the Falcons, Browns, Colts, Saints, and Dolphins for the most in that span. They also have seven dropped picks in the second half of the season Only the Steelers, Packers, and Ravens have allowed a lower completion percentage than Kansas City’s 57.36%.
The Chiefs have allowed 6.22 yards per attempt — only the Ravens, 49ers, and Steelers have been better, and only the Steelers have allowed a lower QBR than Kansas City’s 68.72. The Chiefs’ defensive Positive Play Rate (the percentage of plays in which an opposing offense has Expected Points Added over zero) has dropped from 46% to 42%.
Perhaps most importantly for their playoff prospects, the Chiefs have become the kind of team that can beat other postseason entrants without a superhuman effort from Mahomes — or even with Mahomes in the game. Playing through injuries as he has, Mahomes saw a drastic dip in production from his 2018 MVP season, but the Chiefs beat the Vikings, 26-23 in Week 9 with Mahomes on the bench and Matt Moore throwing for 275 yards and a touchdown. They lost a close one, 31-24, to the Packers the week before with Moore as their quarterback. They beat the Patriots, 23-16 in Week 14, with Mahomes challenged by New England’s top pass defense, managing 283 yards and a touchdown. And now, they have a revenge match on Sunday in the divisional round against the Texans, who beat them 31-24 in Week 6, back when this defense wasn’t what it would become.
Players such as cornerback Charvarius Ward and defensive back Tyrann Mathieu have thrived this season under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The unquestionable key to this turnaround, besides everyone getting on the same page with Spagnuolo’s more aggressive man and match concepts, has been defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, the former Cardinals and Texans star who signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs in March. As has been the case through his career, Mathieu is a game-changer from every possible position. This season, he’s played 1,080 snaps — 82 at the defensive line, 315 as a box safety or nickel/dime linebacker, 483 as a slot cornerback, 27 as an outside cornerback, and 173 as a free safety.
“He wears a lot of hats,” defensive backs coach Sam Madison recently said, via ESPN’s Adam Teicher. “Early in the year, we just wanted to put guys in situations to be comfortable. He understands the defense. … Since he’s been at LSU, he’s played all over the place. It was just a natural fit for him. He’s taken to it very well. I talked to him a few weeks ago, telling him just to be patient and try not to go out there and find the plays [but] let them come to him. That’s what he’s been doing.”
Mathieu’s transformation in Spagnuolo’s schemes mirrors the overall defensive improvement.
“He’s the glue,” Spagnuolo has said of Mathieu. “He’s the guy that can get in the huddle in practice and say, ‘Hey, we need to step it up.’ You need guys like that. That stuff, I value as a coordinator. It makes my job a lot easier.”
As a slot defender through the first half of the season, he allowed 16 receptions on 21 targets for 132 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 107.6. From Week 10 on, he increased his efficiency with 17 catches allowed on 27 slot targets for 110 yards, no touchdowns, and an opponent passer rating of 40.2.
As a safety, his coverage improvement has been similarly transformative. In the first half of the season as a box or deep safety, he allowed 23 catches on 34 targets for 221 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 92.9. In the second half of the season, he allowed 28 completions on 42 targets for 193 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 47.0.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid knows his safeties — he had Eric Berry from 2013 through 2018 in Kansas City, and Hall-of-Famer Brian Dawkins in Philadelphia from 1999 through 2008. As far as Reid is concerned, Mathieu belongs in that discussion.
“This organization was blessed to have Eric Berry… a great leader, tough, all those things. Before that I was with Brian Dawkins. I’ve been lucky to be around some really good safeties. They’re all different in their own way but they’re all great football players with great instincts and good leaders. They lead a different way. This kid here, he’s a special kid. He’s not the biggest guy. You’re not looking at one of those huge safeties but, man, is he a good football player. He just gets it.”
Leadership is one thing. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Mathieu also brings top-tier athleticism, field awareness, and the ability to read a play and snuff it right out — from anywhere on the field.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid sees some similarities between Donovan McNabb’s play and that of Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid doesn’t like to make comparisons, but sometimes the similarities are too glaring to ignore.
For Reid, he sees some comparisons between Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and Donovan McNabb, who Reid coached with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2009.
What stands out to Reid about McNabb and Watson is their strength.
“Donovan was phenomenal and did it for so long, but both are strong and make things happen,” said Reid. “They’re strong mentally and physically. You can add that all up together. They all do it their own way and that’s the neat thing to watch.”
Watson displayed his strength in the 22-19 overtime win against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild-card on Jan. 4. The two-time Pro Bowler shook off two Bills defenders who had him dead to rights and made teammate Justin Reid’s heart sink.
However, Watson took the hit, kept upright, and hit running back Taiwan Jones for a 34-yard gain to setup Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 28-yard field goal.
The Chiefs weren’t able to neutralize Watson enough when Houston beat Kansas City 31-24 in Week 6 at Arrowhead Stadium. Watson completed 30-of-42 for 280 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.
