The winning coach of two of the last four Super Bowls has already had a reputation for cold feet. In the terminology used in US sports, he would be a “loser”.
Andy Reid, 64, led the Kansas City Chiefs to the NFL title, the professional American football league, with a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday (12). This occurred even with their main player, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, experiencing ankle pain. There was also help from a contested free kick called in the dying seconds.
It was Reid’s second win at Kansas. He had previously lifted the trophy in the 2019 season.
Disputes arose because he was the coach of the same Eagles that he now helped hit. He managed the team from 1999 to 2012 without getting the final victory. Between 2001 and 2004, he made the conference decision four times. He lost three. The only time he advanced to the Super Bowl, in 2004, he fell to the New England Patriots.
The NFL’s 32 teams are divided into two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The winners of each face off in the Super Bowl, the biggest sporting event in the United States.
Despite having accumulated positions of “head coach” (the main coach) and “general manager” (a leader who plans the team’s assembly and decides on exchanges, dismissals and hiring), Reid was unable to lead Philadelphia to the most desired achievement.
This caused jokes to surround his career. They ranged from his ability to command, tactical knowledge and even the assertion that he always found a way to lose important matches. Especially the setback to Tom Brady’s Patriots, by three points, in the last play of the game, punished him in the press and among the fans.
“When things started to go wrong, everybody pointed the finger at Andy. That was wrong. Andy accepted that and stood up. I don’t think it bothers him, but it bothers me,” said quarterback Donovan McNabb, who played for the Eagles under the coach’s command and was selected by him in the “draft”, the system of selections for players who leave universities.
Reid is used to shrugging off this and other criticisms, even those that come off as off-color jokes.
Former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw, now a Fox commentator, wanted to interview Reid in the midst of Sunday’s Chiefs championship celebration.
When asking the trainer to approach, he used slang that indicates the duck’s walk, swinging the body from side to side. “Have a cheeseburger for me”, Bradshaw would later ask, referring to the interviewee’s weight.
The former player was immediately attacked on social media. Reid didn’t say anything.
Nor did Reid want to talk about the future. In what may be the best moment of his career, he hinted at the possibility of retirement, but no one took him too seriously.
“I look in the mirror and I’m old. But my heart is young. I still have a young quarterback and I have a decision to make. I still enjoy what I do,” he said.
The “young quarterback” is Patrick Mahomes, 27, an athlete he selected in the 2017 draft. Kansas City’s Super Bowl wins, their second this year despite the injury.
As he had done with McNabb, Reid mentored yet another elite player. In the most recent case, the best current name in the league.
With his calm manner, of someone who doesn’t care too much about what the players do, avoiding the so-called “micromanagement”, he also made friends within the Eagles, despite the criticism that came with the defeats.
“I had amazing years there. I loved each one so much. It’s a great organization, and I’m close to people in Philadelphia. It’s great to see the kids we drafted there who are now seniors. Before the final, we hugged, and then each other went his way,” Reid said.
Between 2010 and 2012, he selected players who faced him last Sunday: defensive end Brandon Graham, center Jason Kelce and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
The victory over the Eagles made the former cold foot become the 14th coach in history to win more than one Super Bowl and the fourth to do so with more than 200 wins in the regular season (the others were Bill Belichick, Tom Landry and Don Shula). His cumulative playoff record, 24 wins, 16 losses, is second best in NFL history, trailing only Belichick with the New England Patriots.
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