As Patrick Mahomes continues his early-season tear for the undefeated Chiefs, it's time to give props to one of the top quarterback whisperers of all time in Kansas City coach Andy Reid.
And as the Chiefs have raced off to an unexpected 4-0 start with their first-year starting QB, perhaps it's also long overdue to put Reid in the conversation of best NFL coaches of all time.
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Currently ranked ninth in all-time victories among NFL coaches with 198 (regular and postseason), Reid is rarely mentioned as a legendary coach when compared to the likes of Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick and Tom Landry. Like Rodney Dangerfield, Reid "can't get no respect" despite his great work with QBs and a coaching tree that has created 10 NFL head coaches, including Super Bowl winners John Harbaugh and Doug Pederson.
Some in Philadelphia and Kansas City will say that’s because of Reid's 11-13 record in postseason, including four conference title game losses and just one Super Bowl appearance in 19 seasons.
But as a former NFL executive whose teams won lots of early-round playoff games yet saw them go 2-4 in conference title games and lose the two Super Bowls in which they played, I know how tough it is to get to the biggest game and win it.
Even Shula was just 19-17 in the postseason and 8-7 in league or conference championships/Super Bowls. They can't all be Belichick, with his 28-11 playoff mark and five Super Bowl victories.
The difference for the coaches placed on the all-time greats pedestal, of course, is the fact that they did win Super Bowls. In his lone Super Bowl appearance, after the 2004 season with the Eagles, Reid fell to Belichick and the Patriots.
When I think of the best coaches in any sport, I look at performance and championships, but I also consider who are the best teachers and developers of talent, especially at the most critical positions. Reid takes a back seat to nobody in terms of identifying and developing star QBs.
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It started early in his coaching career in Green Bay, where he was an offensive assistant and later quarterbacks coach under Mike Holmgren. Reid helped bring along a young Brett Favre until the QB was an MVP and Super Bowl champ. Holmgren thought so much of Reid that he blocked his chance to become offensive coordinator in San Francisco in 1997, but Holmgren ultimately recommended Reid to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie for Philly’s head coaching job in 1999.
The second great QB Reid groomed was his first draft pick in Philadelphia — Donovan McNabb. The Reid-McNabb duo led the Eagles to four straight NFC title games from 2001-04, but they lost the first three, which created plenty of angst among the passionate Eagles fan base. Amid the criticism due to falling short of a championship, though, McNabb was selected to six Pro Bowls.
Reid coached the Eagles to four more playoff berths, plus an NFC championship game loss to the Cardinals in 2008. After a rare losing season in 2012, Lurie fired Reid, who was immediately hired by the Chiefs.
Naturally, one of the first moves Reid — along with his GM John Dorsey — made in Kansas City was to secure a quality QB in Alex Smith from the 49ers for just a second-round pick. The QB guru then went to work in rebuilding Smith's confidence after he had lost his starting job to Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco. Reid turned Smith into a Pro Bowler for the first time in the QB’s career (and ultimately a three-time Pro Bowler).
Which brings us to the past two seasons and a series of bold moves involving Reid’s signal callers. He and Dorsey first surprised the football world by trading up in the 2017 draft and selecting Mahomes with the 10th overall pick despite the fact that Smith had been a Pro Bowler the season before.
Reid and Dorsey were motivated not just by Mahomes’ talent, but by a home playoff loss to the Steelers after winning the AFC West in 2016. Another division title last year was followed by a playoff loss even more galling to the Chiefs faithful, a wild-card defeat to the Titans in which a 21-3 halftime lead turned into a 22-21 loss.
Smith was sent packing in a trade with Washington, and Reid anointed Mahomes the starter. Once again, Reid knew he had Mahomes ready, and the results so far this season have been spectacular.
The offense has exploded for a league-high 36.2 points per game, and Mahomes has thrown 14 touchdown passes with no interceptions (a 126.5 rating). The fact that the Chiefs have played three of their first four games on the road is no matter to Reid and his young protege QB.
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Things will get tougher over the next two weeks, with Jacksonville's stout defense coming to Kansas City and then the challenge of facing Belichick in Foxboro. As the season progresses, the pressure will be on Reid to produce a long playoff run and, finally, a Super Bowl winner.
Mahomes could be the ticket, and it would be Reid's ultimate masterpiece in his head-coaching tenure. Maybe then he would be viewed not only as a tremendous developer of QBs, but also high on the list of all-time great NFL coaches.
Jeff Diamond is a former president of the Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He makes speaking appearances to corporate/civic groups and college classes on Negotiation and Sports Business/Sports Management. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
