From vicious cycle to ‘virtuous circle,’ Chiefs driving toward dynasty around Andy Reid
As Chiefs owner Clark Hunt spoke Monday about newly minted contract extensions for coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach expected to keep them here six more years, he dropped a term I’d never heard before.
“I think there’s a virtuous circle that you get there when you have the right people at the top, and certainly that all started with hiring Andy eight years ago,” Hunt said.
Unsure whether “virtuous circle” was a term Hunt had just coined or if it was one I just didn’t know, I looked it up. Merriam-Webster.com describes it as “a chain of events in which one desirable occurrence leads to another (that) further promotes the first occurrence and so on resulting in a continuous process of improvement.”
That sounds about right when it comes to what it meant to hire Reid, now the fifth-winningest coach in NFL history. Last season, he guided the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl triumph in 50 years. Through his harmonic melding with Veach and superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Reid has the franchise poised to repeat and perhaps to become a rare dynasty.
No one can know how that will play out yet, of course, as the Chiefs (8-1) focus this week only on avenging their lone loss of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders.
But at a time that term of Hunt’s speaks to anticipating a promising future, it also harkens to what it took to get here from where it all was: in the throes of the opposite in the so-called feedback loop, a “vicious circle,” or cycle.
From the time Lamar Hunt died in December 2006 until the Chiefs hired Reid in early 2013, the Chiefs mustered one winning season, suffered double-digit losses four times and had extended their postseason winless streak to nearly two decades. In 2012, the franchise was in crisis mode on its way to a 2-14 season — and reeling all the more after linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered girlfriend Kasi Perkins and killed himself at the Chiefs training complex eight years ago next month.
Then … everything changed.
At the core of this was the now-fabled first interview between Hunt and Reid, who had just been fired after going 4-12 in his 14th season in Philadelphia. In a 2019 column delving into the courtship, my man Sam Mellinger reported a certain charmed tone for all that was to come during their meeting on Jan. 2, 2013, at Philadelphia International Airport.
As the scheduled hours passed, Reid grew more intrigued by the potential of an organization he had long admired. So much so that he decided not to board a plane the Cardinals had sent for a scheduled interview in Arizona and canceled an interview with the Chargers.
Asked Monday what he thought he might have said or done that day to compel Reid to come to Kansas City, Hunt said it probably was a better question for Reid.
But he smiled as he recounted laughing with Reid about it last week, noting that they had met for nine hours.
“What I would say from my standpoint is the chemistry was fantastic just right away,” Hunt said. “We could tell we really had a rapport, and as best you can in a first interview, it seemed like the two of us would work well together. And certainly that’s played out over the last eight years.
“Andy is a tremendous person to work with. He’s very strong-willed, very strong-minded, but he’s somebody who’s always putting the best interests of the team ahead of his own.”
Hunt laughed when he was asked how he’s changed as an owner since hiring Reid, saying, “Well, the short answer is I smile a whole lot more.” But the truth is that along with president Mark Donovan, Hunt is a subtle but essential part of the circle that broke the cycle.
For starters, he had to convey something impressive to Reid given the circumstances at the time and Reid’s other options. And while he’s not one to grandstand, he acknowledged Monday that he had “many, many conversations” with Veach about audacious contracts to secure Mahomes and Chris Jones to long-term deals over the summer.
Now, it’s the contract extensions for Reid and Veach that further suggest an optimal foreseeable future.
At 42 years old, Veach became the second-youngest general manager to mold a Super Bowl winner. He’s worked with Reid since starting his NFL career as his personal assistant in Philadelphia, a key element of the trust between them.
“That dynamic is really great: A lot of times you can have tension between your GM and head coach, but the two of them really work together hand-in-hand,” Hunt said, later noting Veach’s keen eye for talent and ability to be “always thinking ahead (and be) proactive finding solutions before the problems emerge.”
Meanwhile, though, hiring Reid was the solution when the problems were at their worst. Times have changed so much, including an abiding sense now of plenty more to come, that the turnaround might feel inevitable in hindsight.
But it bears appreciating that it was all against gravity and from a wretched cycle that seemed entrenched.
Now, it’s a cycle of hope that figures only to gain momentum.
“The turnaround with Andy was almost immediate, going 9-0 his first season in Kansas City,” Hunt said. “And to his credit, he’s done nothing but get better …
“I’m excited to look to the future, because I don’t think there’s been any change in his energy level, and just the way the players respond to him. They’re excited to come to practice every day, excited to play for him and fully on board with our goals to win world championships.”