Last year at this time, many NFL fans and analysts wondered if Andy Reid would ever win the big game. This year, they’re wondering just how many more he could win.
A Super Bowl title and a third straight trip to the AFC Championship will do that for you.
“To do that with a young quarterback – go to three straight AFC Championships and a Super Bowl win – he has to go down as one of the top three head coaches when he finishes with Patrick [Mahomes],” former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb said on Tiki & Tierney. “Top three or two head coaches to ever coach in the NFL.”
Reid is the only coach in NFL history to reach three straight conference championship games with two different organizations. Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills marks his eighth conference championship appearance.
Reid is 91-37 in eight seasons with the Chiefs and went 130-93-1 in 14 seasons with the Eagles. His 221 regular-season wins rank sixth all-time, and his 16 postseason wins are tied for fifth all-time.
“If he’s Patrick Mahomes’ [coach] for the next seven years, I guarantee Patrick Mahomes will be in the running for the greatest quarterback of all time,” said McNabb, who played for Reid from 1999 to 2009 in Philadelphia. “The problem is going to be the contract. The problem is going to be you can't hold Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce. You can’t hold those guys. So now it goes back into what [general manager] Brett Veach brings to the table. That’s drafting guys to be able to spill into those spots to get you back to the AFC Championship.”
Mahomes is 5-1 in the playoffs with 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. The Chiefs have averaged 33.5 points in those games.
McNabb believes that Reid, 62, could reach another four or five AFC Championship games with the Chiefs. If he does, McNabb says, it's a wrap.
“I don’t care if he wins one more Super Bowl or none,” McNabb said. “You can’t tell me he’s the second-greatest coach of all time.”