Reid-Mahomes are successors to throne left by Belichick-Brady
San Diegans may be sick of hearing about the greatness of coach Andy Reid, who was very hard on the final four San Diego Chargers teams after the rival Kansas City Chiefs hired him in 2013.
The Patrick Mahomes hoopla can get rather thick, too.
But now that the problemsolving coach and playmaking quarterback have won two Super Bowls together, both of them via second-half comebacks from 10 points down versus highly ranked defenses, know this:
The Reid-Mahomes Chiefs are the NFL’s best successor yet to the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady Patriots dynasty that collected six trophies.
And, unfortunately for the Chargers and other Chiefs rivals, Kansas City’s 38-35 victory Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles apparently won’t persuade Reid, 64, to leave while he’s on top.
“No, no,” Reid said after clutching the Lombardi Trophy, when Fox TV’s Terry Bradshaw asked if he might now choose to ride off into the sunset. “I’m going to enjoy his one right here.”
The Chiefs trailed 24-14 at halftime. Then they figured out a few things.
Here’s their offense’s second half: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown and a 66-yard drive for a game-winning field goal.
There was a San Diego connection to that offensive brilliance.
“Eric Bieniemy did a great job,” Reid said of his longtime offensive coordinator who was a running back on the only San Diego team to reach a Super Bowl.
Doing Bieniemy proud, Chiefs rookie running back Isiah Pacheco fueled a second-half ground surge that pumped 49 yards into the opening TD drive of 75 yards.
Reid and Bieniemy were just warming up.
On the next two TDs, Chiefs
receivers ran uncovered for easy short receptions. The Eagles looked liked someone had de-pantsed them.
Mahomes being Mahomes, as it turned out, was enough to complete the comeback.
His signature play of the night was a 26-yard run that led to Harrison Butker’s 27-yard field goal with eight seconds left, breaking the 35-35 tie.
Mahomes is not a fast sprinter by NFL standards. His 4.8-second 40-yard dash place him in the 56-percentile of his QB draft class.
But he is as fast as he needs to be. He’s uncanny that way, reminiscent of Joe Montana. Though his amazing throws rate first mention, his mobility underscored both of his Super Bowl victories, this time despite the high ankle sprained he sustained three weeks ago.
“MVP Pat!” hollered Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who collected a Mahomes floater for a 24-yard TD pass to tie it, 7-7, after the first-drive play design isolated him against a safety.
“This is guy is as close to Superman as you can get,” said Reid.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt paid top dollar for Reid.
He’s been worth tens of millions of dollars more than his salary.
The Chiefs had won one Super Bowl before Reid took over. They’ve since gone to three Super Bowls, winning two.
Reid hired Bieniemy and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who used four rookies in his secondary this year. Reid drafted future All-Pros in Kelce, defensive tackle Chris Jones and Tyreek Hill, whose deep-ball catch against the 49ers was pivotal in the Super Bowl win three years ago and who brought back five draft picks in the March trade with Miami.
And it was Reid and GM Brett Veach, the Eagles scout who followed him from Philadelphia, who identified Mahomes as a future star and moved up 17 spots in the 2017 draft to get him 10th overall.
The Chargers were still in San Diego when Reid came to the AFC West, and they conducted their 2017 draft from their San Diego offices.
They haven’t figured out how to stop Reid. A whole bunch of other NFL teams can relate.