Patrick Mahomes thinks Andy Reid will be remebered as a Chief, not an Eagle
Andy Reid notched his 100th win as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, making him the first in NFL history to hit the 100-win mark with two different teams. It’s a truly remarkable accomplishment for the Eagles legend, and it’s extremely fitting that he reached the milestone in the city where he began his head coaching career.
Reid reached 100 wins with the Chiefs just slightly faster than he did with the Eagles – 151 games in Philadelphia, 145 games in Kansas City – and is now in his 10th season with the Chiefs after spending 14 with the Eagles.
Many probably assumed the Philadelphia chapter of his coaching career would be the one that defined his legacy, but now that Reid has built the Chiefs into a superpower and has the best quarterback in the league… is Reid officially a Chief first?
To Eagles fans it might feel unthinkable, but Patrick Mahomes said after Sunday’s win that Reid is going to remembered primarily for what he’s doing right now, not for what he did in Philly:
“He kind of became Andy Reid, in a sense, in Philadelphia. To be able to go to Kansas City and build what he’s built here, to get that 100th win in Philadelphia, obviously he’s going to keep on going – he has a lot of dreams for this season – but he definitely will take in this moment, for a second at least.
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“I think when you look back on him, you’ll know him as a Kansas City Chief. The way he’s able to kind of build up this organization from Day 1 and win, and build up to where we won the Super Bowl, then got back to the Super Bowl, and now where we’re at now, he’s building something. He’s going to continue to build. We have a lot of young guys on this team who he gets the best out of every single day. No offense to Philly but I’m glad they let him go, and he’s here coaching us in Kansas City.”
Ouch.
I mean, there was really no objection to letting Andy go after 2012, when it seemed pretty clear that his time as head coach had run its course and both sides needed a fresh start. And five seasons later, the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, beating Reid to the punch by two seasons, so no hard feelings at all.
But it’s still probably a bummer for Eagles fans to entertain the idea that Big Red isn’t primarily our guy.
Is Mahomes right, though? Will Reid be remembered as a Chief first and foremost?
The Super Bowl is obviously a huge checkmark in the Kansas City column, but if you paused time right now, there would probably be a case to be made for either side.
Reid still has 37 more regular season wins with the Eagles, three more playoff wins with the Eagles, two more conference championship appearances with the Eagles, and one more division title with the Eagles.
Now, it doesn’t seem like Reid is going to slow down anytime soon, and Mahomes is going to be a monster for at least another decade. So unless Reid unexpectedly steps down within the next year or two, I think he is indeed going to be ultimately remembered as a Chief. His KC teams have just been consistently better than his Philly teams.
But that doesn’t mean his accomplishments with the Eagles have to be diminished. And, honestly, good for Andy. He learned from his time in Philly and became a better head coach for it. That rocks.
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