Two years ago, on the eve of another Super Bowl appearance, rumors began to swirl in the Arizona desert. They centered on the future of Andy Reid, the Kansas City Chiefs head coach since 2013. Last week, Reid told Sports Illustrated that he believes he can trace their origins: to himself and his honesty, in interviews conducted earlier in ’22. In them, Reid says he tried to do nothing more than lay out the parameters in play.
He was 64 in the month of Super Bowl LVII and would turn 65 in March. He didn’t expect to retire after clashing with his former team for another Lombardi Trophy. Didn’t want to. Didn’t need to. Wasn’t being asked to. Reid also understood that many people retire at 65, a notion he saw as “kind of the thing to do.” But he had also asked his parents when they retired how they knew.
“You’ll know when you know,” they told him.
In relaying those factors for a decision Reid knew he wasn’t ready to make yet, he believes he unintentionally set that mill, the rumor one, in motion. Even at the team’s hotel two days before Super Bowl LVII’s kickoff, many who loved Reid, who adored him and would have chained him to the offensive meeting room if that meant he wouldn’t leave, were considering the same things as all the articles and news segments were asking. Three told SI then that they wondered—legitimately, wondered—whether Reid was closer to retiring than he was letting on. Two other sources inside that Chiefs team said they firmly believed him. Point is, concerns over Reid’s future in football, appeared at least … plausible?
“That’s not where I was going,” he says now, a few days before his sixth Super Bowl appearance as a head coach. “I love it here, and that’s not where I’m at. I mean, I’m in the latter part of my career. I got all that. I know today I’m not ready, but, you know, if it’s one of those things, [where] all of a sudden you wake up and go, ‘Whoa,’ you know? But that’s not where I’m at … at all. I’m enjoying what I’m doing. But I’m a realist, too. I’m not getting any younger, so I get that.”
The better question, then and now, is antithetical to the typical ones lobbed Reid’s way in this regard. Why leave? That’s the better question.
Hall of Fame-bound quarterback, special even among quarterbacks already in the Hall of Fame, and only 29 … check.
Supportive ownership group … check.
Handpicked general manager who continues to rank among pro football’s most deft, adept and adaptable executives … check.
Full control of the organization and the Chiefs’ prolific offense … check.
A tally of career wins (301 after the latest AFC championship triumph), just one shy of Bill Belichick’s tally, only 16 behind George Halas and 45 behind Don Shula, who is the winningest coach in football history with 347.
If Reid coaches, say, three more seasons and the Chiefs average, say, 13 wins each year (regular season and playoffs combined) he’ll come very close to the all-time wins mark for head coaches. And that’s a conservative estimate. In the past three seasons, Kansas City has averaged 13.3 wins in the regular season and 16.7 wins overall. Take that overall average and extend into 2025—he’d have 318 or 319 career victories—’26 (between 334 and 336) and ’27 (between 350 and 353).
Why not make a run at immortality?
Friend and former colleague Brad Childress told SI last week that no coach deserves that record more than Reid. “One thousand percent,” he says. “No matter how hard I tried—getting in at 4:30 [a.m.] or 4:45, I’d never beat him into the office. Six [a.m.] was late. There was never one time, whether it was the Vet, Lincoln Financial or the complex in Kansas City where his car wasn’t in his space, and he wasn’t already inside.”
Patrick Mahomes on Chiefs’ health, talented young receivers
Patrick Mahomes says the Chiefs have never been healthier in his days as a starter for a playoff run. He says this while fully aware of the spate of injuries endured in the first quarter of the 2024 season. He doesn’t say that everyone came back. That’s not true. One injury still hurts.
“No one really will talk about it,” he tells SI. “Losing Rashee Rice is still devastating. [Him being out] was huge for us during the year—[and not in a good way]. He’s got the chance to be one of the best receivers in the NFL when he comes back next year.”
Of Rice, Mahomes adds: “Just the consistency Rashee has; he has everything you need to be a No. 1 receiver in this league. And I think we’re gonna have a good problem in the future where we have a couple good receivers who are young and can play, and that includes Hollywood [Marquise Brown] as well. We’re going to have more than one No. 1 receiver, but all those guys get along well, and it’s gonna be a good problem to have.”
Mahomes pauses. Let’s out a small laugh. “Let’s go win the Super Bowl now, first,” he says. “And then we’ll deal with that later.”
Tell me a story: Chris Jones
In reference to the AFC championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2023. On why that day meant so much to him. “Well, the year before they put us out and went on to play the Rams in the Super Bowl. [The next year] was a full circle moment for me. Because in that game, I missed two critical checks where I had him [Joe Burrow] wrapped up, and he slipped out. I felt like it was my fault we lost that game. That weighed on me, personally, the whole offseason. We got to face him again, and when it came down to that third-down play, it was just one of those feelings. Like this was destined to happen.”
Then to now: Reid’s Eagles vs. Reid’s Chiefs
In 14 seasons as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach, Reid won 140 games and made the playoffs in nine seasons. He even led Philadelphia to Super Bowl XXXIX, which New England won by three points. Those Eagles teams finished with a 10–9 mark in the postseason. Many franchises would be elated with such numbers. In Kansas City, after nearly 12 full seasons, Reid has already won more games (143) and holds a 16–6 record in the postseason. More importantly, he has won the game he supposedly could never win while in Philadelphia three times—with an opportunity to add to that total on Sunday.
The difference? Not much beyond the narratives. “It’s really, different chapter, same book,” Childress says. “I don’t see him having changed that much. He [has] always been steady. And it didn’t make any difference whether we were on a USO trip to Afghanistan or just got our asses beat. Same game and all positive.”
On background: Brandon Graham’s status
At Eagles media availability last week, there was much-guarded optimism over Brandon Graham’s return to practice after he tore his triceps in Week 12. It’s too early to read too deeply into whether he’ll play in Super Bowl LIX, how often, or how well. That said, should he play, nobody in that organization would be surprised. Not at this point.
Quote without context:
“I think I have a different impact on the game than other people.”
Context:
That’s Saquon Barkley, to the great Ben Baskin, who penned a memorable profile on Barkley before the NFL draft in 2018. The piece focused on Barkley’s blueprint for professional football greatness. The path to now was, shall we say, scenic. But the blueprint Barkley enacted all those years ago is also pretty much what happened, with a few twists along the way.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Super Bowl LIX Newsletter: Andy Reid’s Retirement Talk Was Unintentional .
