The numbers add up: A case for Andy Reid among the NFL’s all-time great coaches
Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Paul Brown, Bill Belichick …
And Andy Reid?
Attempting to list the greatest coaches in NFL history is a bit of a fool’s errand. Different eras, playoff structures, schedules, rules …much has changed over the league’s century of existence. So how can these men really be compared to one another?
We’re going to give it a shot anyway. Every team has had a coach, and whether they wore hats or headsets or pandemic facemasks, it’s fair game to take their measure and see who belongs in the select inner circle of true coaching legends.
Here, through four questions and answers, is the case for Reid’s inclusion as a member of that august group.
What makes a coach great?
Victories, of course.
Yes, the NFL has increased the number of games by season through the years, from 12 to 14 to 16. And now it is looking to add another one for this fall, the 2021 regular season.
Playoff brackets have expanded, as well. But it’s cool that that the top four on the career victory list stretch across the entire history of the NFL.
Miami’s Shula is first with 347 victories. He was a head coach from 1963-95. Next is George “Papa Bear” Halas, who served as a player-coach for a decade starting in 1920 and coached his final game with the Chicago Bears in 1967. Halas won 324 games.
Third is New England’s Belichick (311 victories from 1994-present). Dallas icon Tom Landry (270 from 1960-88) is fourth. Reid ranks fifth.
The Chiefs’ triumph over the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Divisional Round last week put Reid, who started his head-coaching career in 1999, at 237 wins.
Right behind him are Green Bay’s Curley Lambeau at 229 and Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll with 209.
But regular-season victories are just one part of this equation. If that wasn’t the case, coaches like Marty Schottenheimer, Dan Reeves and Chuck Knox would be held in higher historic esteem. They own the most lifetime victories — all in the top 10 — for coaches not in the Pro Football Hall Fame.
Championship game and playoff victories also carry great importance, and that’s why Reid’s triumph in Super Bowl LIV elevated his status.
A Super Bowl victory was the biggest item missing from Reid’s career resume. Now that box is checked, and as he prepares the Chiefs for the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, the opportunity to claim another trophy awaits.
How about the playoffs?
Reid has taken 16 of his 22 teams in Philadelphia and Kansas City to the postseason. Only Shula (19), Belichick (18) and Landry (18) have, or had, more playoff seasons.
Reid’s 16 playoff victories tie Noll for fifth all-time.
If the Chiefs win Super Bowl LV Reid will stand alone in fourth, and with Landry’s 20 ranking second on the list to Belichick’s 31, it’s not a stretch to soon find Reid standing only behind the Patriots’ current head coach.
Influence and innovation?
Longevity as a head coach means you’ve been around long enough to create a successful system that others likely have copied — especially those who have served as your assistants.
Coaches like Sid Gilman and Don Coryell pioneered modern offensive football and influenced Super Bowl-winning coaches like Noll, John Madden, Dick Vermeil, Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh.
Reid is part of this coaching tree, with offensive concepts partly shaped during his years as a Green Bay Packers assistant under Mike Holmgren, who worked under Walsh with the San Francisco 49ers.
Reid, in turn, has created a successful coaching tree of his own, with Super Bowl trophies won by Doug Pederson with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 and John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012. Ron Rivera, another former Reid assistant, took the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl in 2015.
Bills coach Sean McDermott is a former Reid assistant, too, in Philadelphia.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Harbaugh said last week as the Ravens prepared to meet the Bills. “I think it really speaks highly of Andy, the kind of coach he is. We all learned so much from him. ... Andy is a good scout for coaches.”
Another factor: Coaches are primarily hired to fix problems. Bill Parcells was the master of this, turning the loser Giants, Patriots, Jets and Cowboys into winners. Reid did the same thing with the Eagles and Chiefs. And in KC, he did it immediately.
So where does Reid rank?
Victories in the regular season and playoffs alone make Reid a top 10 coach. But some men with fewer career victories and more Super Bowl hardware complicate the order of those 10.
Reid has 28 more victories than Noll, 66 more than Gibbs and 135 more than Walsh. But a CBSSports.com story posted in May — after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl — included those other three, and not Reid, on a top 10 list of greatest coaches ever.
There’s no shortage of such “greatest coaches” lists, of course, and Reid has moved up the charts on most of them in recent years.
Remaining on that trajectory seems like a good bet. Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have transformed the Chiefs from a winning franchise to a championship club. With one of the game’s most accomplished young quarterbacks, the Chiefs are poised for more success in years to come.
Also, Reid has created an environment that attracts top talent. The Chiefs were among a handful of teams that wanted running back Le’Veon Bell after he was released by the New York Jets in September. He chose Kansas City.
“Andy Reid is a unique breed,” CBS studio analyst and Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Cowher said last Sunday. “I think that’s why players play for him. That’s why they love him.”
So career victories and postseason records say Reid ranks with the greatest head coaches of all-time. Another Super Bowl victory would all but assure him a top 10 spot. Sunday marks his seventh conference championship game appearance, and when Mahomes signed a 10-year contract extension with the Chiefs in July, Reid didn’t rule out coaching him through the duration of his deal.
“I love doing what I’m doing,” Reid said. “One of the great things about this job is when you look forward to coming to work (to see) the players and coaches. I’m lucky enough to be around good players and coaches. ...
“We always talk about, ‘The great quarterbacks make everybody around them greater,’ and he (Mahomes) has the unique ability to do that with his teammates. ... If it takes me into my 70s, let’s roll. Doggone it, I’m ready to go.”
NFL top-five coaching victories (all games):
Don Shula: 347
George Halas: 324
Bill Belichick: 311
Tom Landry: 270
Andy Reid: 237
Top five playoff victories:
Bill Belichick: 31
Tom Landry: 20
Don Shula: 19
Joe Gibbs: 17
Chuck Noll, Andy Reid: 16