Just D-Andy! gets Super Bowl title

Sunday night, Reid answered the critics. He completed his resume. Andy Reid no longer needs to do a better job.

Just dandy, Andy.

Andy Reid won a lot of football games in the 13 years he spent as the head coach of the Eagles.

He continued to win games when he moved on and took over the Kansas City Chiefs. But he never won THE game. Not anymore.

Fueled by his all-everything young QB Patrick Homes, Reid and the Chiefs rallied in the fourth quarter, scored 21 straight points to erase a 2010 deficit and win going away, 31-20.

It ended a long pursuit for Reid, who entered the game with the ignominy of being known as the NFL coach with the most wins, but without a Super Bowl championship as a head coach. Yes, Reid was the quarterbacks coach on a Packers team that won a Super Bowl title, but never as a head coach.

Of course that road started right here in Philadelphia in 1999.

Next to no one knew the man who would become known as “Big Red” when he arrived 20 years ago. But Reid showed up for his interview with Eagles owner Jeff Lurie and dazzled the Birds’ brass with a binder that detailed preparation for every minute aspect of the game, from practice schedules to the importance of the long snapper.

The Eagles selected Donovan McNabb, a quarterback out of Syracuse, and the duo reeled off the most successful era in Eagles football history.

Over the next 14 years, Reid led a juggernaut Eagles team to six NFC East titles. His Eagles teams won 120 games, and 10 playoff games. They went to five NFC Championship games. Unfortunately, he only won one of them.

In 2004, the Eagles blitzed to a 13-1 mark and finally got over the hump in the NFC title game, beating the Atlanta Falcons and heading to the 2009 Super Bowl.

But the Eagles came up short to the Patriots. Reid would take considerable heat for a fourth-quarter performance in which the Eagles seemed to be running the clock out on themselves. Down by two scores, McNabb led the team on a methodical march down the field, consuming far too much time. At one point, cameras caught Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick wondering if he was reading the scoreboard correctly, so puzzled was he at the Eagles’ lack of urgency.

The game embellished what was quickly becoming Reid’s trademark, a very good coach who could not win the big game.

There were bitter playoff losses. In 2008 the Eagles fell to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC title game after entering the game as a favorite.

The next year they got blown out by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round.

In 2010, it was more of the same, with Reid’s team dropping a Wild Card test to the Packers.

In 2011, Reid’s team failed to reach the playoffs. It got worse in 2012, with the Eagles struggling to a 4-12 mark. On New Year’s Eve, Lurie decided to jettison the winningest coach in team history.

As the playoff losses mounted, Reid developed a strained relationship with the Eagles’ rabid fan base, which remained frustrated at the lack of a Super Bowl title.

He would be mocked for some of his post-game trademarks, including his plea, despite the circumstances, that he “had to do a better job” or that he “needed to put players in position to make plays.”

Reid opened every postgame press conference the same way, with a quick review of injuries, then noting to the assembled press: Time’s yours.

Reid, still just 61 years old, has now been a head coach in the NFL for 21 years. In more than two decades, his teams had a losing record just three times. Together the Eagles and Chiefs under his reign compiled 10 division titles and made the playoffs 15 times.

These are the coaches who stand above Reid on the list of most victories in NFL history: Paul Brown, Curly Lambeau, Tom Landry, Belichick, George Halas and Don Shula.

Pretty illustrious company. Hall of Fame company.

But Reid always had to stare at that asterisk next to his name. He had not win a Super Bowl as a head coach. Two years ago he watched as one of his extensive list of former assistants who have gone on to head coaching jobs, hoisted a Lombardi Trophy. It was Doug Pederson who won a championship with the Eagles, not Big Red.

Sunday night, Reid answered all the critics. He completed his sterling resume. Andy Reid no longer needs to do a better job.

Time’s yours, coach. Enjoy every second of it.