Former players root for Andy Reid to win a Super Bowl
A powerful postgame scene took place at Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 19 to advance to Super Bowl 54.
“Kansas City, are you ready to go back to the Super Bowl?” CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz asked the cheering crowd. A boisterous ovation followed.
Hall of Famer and Chiefs great Bobby Bell then presented the Lamar Hunt Trophy to Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and Norma Hunt, Clark’s mother and the wife of the late founder of the franchise, Lamar Hunt. The crowd showered the Hunt family with adoration.
Attention then shifted to Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who led the stadium in a roaring “How about those Chiefs?!” — the phrase he has made popular during the team’s postgame lockerroom celebrations.
Nantz began his interview with Reid on the stage by pointing out the admiration and respect the 21-year NFL coach commands around the league, and a thunderous chant of “Andy! Andy! Andy!” filled the stadium.
Former NFL tight end Chad Lewis, who attended the game as Reid’s guest, stood on the field with Chiefs special-teams coordinator Dave Toub, soaking in the moment before being overcome with emotion.
“When the crowd starting chanting his name, it was too much for me,” Lewis, who played for Reid during Reid’s years with the Philadelphia Eagles, told The Kansas City Star in a telephone interview. “It broke me up because I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of his accomplishments and the way he treats people, the way he’s done it.”
That Lewis experienced such intense feelings about the moment isn’t surprising. He possesses first-hand knowledge of the Chiefs’ head coach, having played nine seasons under Reid in Philly (1997-2005). Lewis, a second-team All-Pro selection in 2000 and three-time Pro Bowler (2000-02), is now an associate athletic director at Brigham Young University, Reid’s alma mater.
Their ties run deep. And Lewis appreciates what the Chiefs’ win represents.
Not only have the Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years, Reid has another opportunity to win something that has eluded him over his decorated career as one of the NFL’s all-time best coaches.
“I hugged Dave Toub and told him congratulations,” Lewis said after the Chiefs won the game. “The first thing he said was, ‘I’m so happy for Andy.’ That feeling is ubiquitous. We want to do it for Andy.”
SECOND CHANCE
Lewis once affectionately called Reid, “The coach of second chances” because of Reid’s long history of providing opportunities to players who didn’t work out elsewhere.
But in this instance, the term of endearment applies to Reid, who gets another shot at a championship 15 years after his Eagles played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 39.
“He’s a guy that’s going to give you a second chance in whatever you’ve got going on, whether it’s on the field or off the field,” former Eagles wide receiver Todd Pinkston said in a telephone interview. “Now, he’s got a chance to get a second crack at winning the Super Bowl, so that kind of fits the description of what kind of person he is right now.”
The Patriots defeated the Eagles 24-21 in Reid’s first chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
Philadelphia appeared in three straight NFC Championship games but lost all of them before breaking through in 2004. The Eagles entered the Super Bowl against the Patriots with confidence and played them close before losing.
The memory of that bitter loss has stayed with former Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon, who played five seasons for Reid (2000-04).
“To get so close and not walk out of there with a championship, it’s something that takes a long time to get over,” Simon said. “I still haven’t gotten over it. If you ask Andy, he probably still hasn’t gotten over it.”
Told of Simon’s comments, Reid pointed out that it’s easy to remember all the losses. The coach then said he has learned to move on by continuing to coach.
“Every loss should hurt because you should be exhausting yourself to get ready for that game,” Reid said. “It should be that way with a regular-season game.
“This is an emotional sport, and an exhausting sport in that way. You put your heart into it. If you do it right, you should feel it. It should last, to a point. You’re not going to jump off of a bridge because you lost, but you’re going to feel it. You have to handle that.”
Reid has an opportunity to alter a national narrative — that he can’t win the biggest game — in the Chiefs’ Sunday showdown against the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl 54 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
In making it this far, he has joined an exclusive club of coaches who have taken two franchises to the Super Bowl: Hall of Famers Bill Parcells (New York Giants and Patriots) and Don Shula (Baltimore Colts Jets and Miami Dolphins); Reid’s mentor, Mike Holmgren (Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks); former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil (Eagles, St. Louis Rams); John Fox (Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos); and Dan Reeves (Broncos, Atlanta Falcons).
Of that group, only Parcells, Fox, Reeves, and Reid have taken teams from different conferences to the league championship.
The historic significance isn’t lost on Lewis.
“It’s incredible because he’s taking another organization, another team in another conference, to the Super Bowl,” Lewis said. “Very few people have had that distinction, to take a team in the NFC and a team in the AFC to the Super Bowl.”
Simon agreed.
“I think when you look at all that he’s accomplished — take away not winning a Super Bowl — all that he’s accomplished in the NFC, the AFC, all of the championships that he’s been to, everybody looks at him as the Dan Marino of the NFL coaching world,” Simon said. “To see him get another chance after everything that happened in Philadelphia to getting this opportunity, it’s like this is the second-best thing to winning it all is seeing Andy succeed.”
Reid coached the Eagles for 14 seasons (1999-2012) before joining the Chiefs in 2013. And in both jobs, Reid has proven a master of turning around struggling franchises.
When Reid was hired by the Eagles, he inherited a team that had endured a 9-22-1 record from 1997-98. Reid went on to post a 13093-1 record in Philadelphia, taking the Eagles to the postseason nine times.
In 2013, Reid led Kansas City to an 11-5 record in his first season, which marked the franchise’s greatest single-season turnaround: The Chiefs had posted a 2-14 mark in 2012.
Since his arrival, the Chiefs have made the playoffs in six of seven seasons, winning the AFC West four consecutive seasons. Reid also holds a remarkable 27-3 record against divisional foes since 2015.
His 207 regular-season wins ranks seventh on the NFL’s all-time coaching list, and his 14 postseason victories rank sixth.
Lewis pointed to Reid’s ability to produce a winning culture as a key hallmark of an excellent coach.
“If you recall, the Eagles were not in great shape when he took them over,”
Lewis said. “And it’s widely noted that the Chiefs were in disarray when he took over there, so it’s impressive to see his mark on an organization that he’s able to bring in stability, consistency, success from the top down. People believing in each other, playing for each other, and that’s why he’s a Hall of Fame coach.”
Former Eagles tight end L.J. Smith, who caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl 39, agreed.
“He’s the coach everybody wants to play for,” Smith told The Star. “Sometimes when you’re a coach everybody wants to play for, the guys that get to experience you, they really appreciate you.
“It can go either way. In college, I had a so-called ‘player’s coach,’ and it kind of went against him. But Coach Reid has the perfect balance of being a player’s coach but also having authority behind stuff that he says.”
Whether in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Reid’s knack for winning over his players is a proven recipe for success.
Players form deep bonds with Reid based on trust and mutual affection, and that helps explain why so many former Eagles continue to provide unwavering support from afar in Reid’s quest to finally earn a Super Bowl ring.
“I’m just so anxious because I think he deserves it,” said Pinkston, who now serves as an assistant football coach at at Stockbridge High School in Georgia.
“He gave me a chance to be a part of something special up there in Philadelphia when I got drafted in the second round. Now, I see his success is coming true. I’m just happy for him and pulling for him.”
Former Eagles quarterback Koy Detmer, now the head coach at Mission High School in Mission, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, echoed Pinkston’s assessment.
“Nobody deserves it more, in my opinion, than him right now of guys that are coaching,” Detmer said. “All that he’s accomplished and been through, all the things he’s done for players along the way . ... He’s a great coach, obviously, but even more importantly a great person and does things the right way. He really deserves to win this Super Bowl.”
THE MESSAGE
Experience matters in the NFL, and former Eagles who played for Reid in his last Super Bowl run have some advice to the Chiefs players now so close to a championship.
To a man, Lewis, Simon, Detmer, Smith, and Pinkston reinforced Reid’s message, shared in Kansas City during the past week, of sticking to a structured routine leading up to the Super Bowl.
“I would say keep a low profile, if you can, the week of [the Super Bowl],” Smith said. “Don’t let people graduate you before you won the game. Family is going to be there after the game, as well, so see them early in the week. But that Thursday and Friday, man, I would say definitely get in yourself to making those plays, then just go out there and be loose.”
Pinkston said players can still be themselves without deviating from the norm.
“Don’t try and go out there to do something you haven’t done,” Pinkston said. “My biggest thing is just be yourself and be who you are. Always go back to what Andy Reid instills in you: Let your personality show.”
Former Eagles and Chiefs wide receiver Jason Avant said he’ll forever view himself as an Eagle, but he’ll be in Miami Gardens wearing Chiefs red, a Chiefs hat and an Andy Reid shirt to support the Chiefs.
“I want it for the city of Kansas City, as well,” said Avant, who spent two seasons with the Chiefs (201415). “They were so comforting to me and my family. I view myself as an Eagle, but I also have a special respect for the [K.C.] fans.”
As for the game, Avant wants to see Reid take his place among that most elite group of Super Bowl-winning head coaches.
“I’m looking forward to it and I’ll probably cry tears once I see it, because I always wanted to be there to experience it with Coach Reid,” Avant said. “He’s a good friend of mine. I still talk to him. … He has a special place in my heart.”
Smith added: “I hope that he gets to experience holding up that Super Bowl trophy.”