Reid acting like a coach eyeing a three-peat

Chiefs coach Andy Reid is giving the rest of his staff about a week off after their Super Bowl victory parade through downtown Kansas City today, then he expects everyone to be back in the building to begin working on next season.

So much for down time. The Chiefs have a threepeat to think about.

Reid spoke to reporters Tuesday, two days after the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in Las Vegas for their second straight championship. There had been unsubstantiated reports that the 65-year-old coach might call it quits after the Super Bowl, and while Reid continually clapped back at such talk in the run-up to the big game, the sight of him in his office — and already talking about next year — should firmly put the notion to rest.

“To win one is tough. To win two, back to back, is really tough,” Reid said. “That’s not an easy thing to do, and to know the effort the guys put into it, the way they stuck together through the highs and lows ... that’s gratifying as a head coach.”

The only downside to making Super Bowl runs deep into February, which the Chiefs have done four of the last five years — with three victory parades to show for them — is that it soaks up any opportunity for coaches and staff to catch their breath.

After the Chiefs wind their way toward Union Station, where hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to greet them again, the players will get a break until offseason conditioning begins.

But the coaching staff, scouts and the rest of general manager Brett Veach’s staff will get right back to work with free agency, the scouting combine beginning Feb. 27, and the draft coming before the end of April.

RECORD VIEWERSHIP >> The longest Super Bowl game will also go down as the most-watched program in U.S. television history.

According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Chiefs’ victory over the Niners averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That shattered last year’s mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City’s last-play victory over Philadelphia and is a 7% increase.

Nielsen updated its numbers Tuesday after releasing an early figure of 123.4 million on Monday night.

The game was televised by CBS, Nickelodeon and Univision and streamed on Paramount+ as well as the NFL’S digital platforms.

Nielsen also said a record 202.4 million watched at least part of the game across all networks, a 10% jump over last year’s figure of 183.6 million.

The CBS broadcast averaged 120.3 million. The network’s previous mark for its most-watched Super Bowl was 112.34 million for the 2016 game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.

Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began including out-of-home viewers in its ratings in 2020, but only from 65% of the country.