On Monday, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports engaged in one of his yearly rituals: ranking the NFL’s head coaches. And once again, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Big Red lands at the top of his list.
1. Andy Reid
2024 Rank: 1
Season: 13th with Chiefs, 26th as coach
Career record: 258-144-1
Playoffs: 26-16 (3-2 in Super Bowls)Did his lauded offensive strategies overcome the Chiefs’ utter lack of trench stability in their last Super Bowl effort? No way. But “last” is the key word there; Kansas City has still advanced to five of the last six championship contests under his watch. That’s ridiculous, no matter how you slice it. Once the chief of football’s most colorful big-play machine, Reid’s units have since adapted to win on the margins, with Patrick Mahomes in particular excelling as more of a situational artist alongside makeshift lineups. Is he perfect? No. Is he aging? Yes. But every roster he fields respects his warm, familial and proven leadership. And every winter, with Mahomes by his side, he’s registered as Mr. Inevitable, pushing the Chiefs the extra yard whenever they most need it.
My take
To me, it couldn’t be clearer that Reid is the league’s top head coach. I’ll be honest: I’d never fully appreciated his skill during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles. But after his first season in Kansas City — when he and new general manager John Dorsey took the league’s worst team to the playoffs in a single year — I started to appreciate what he had done in Philadelphia, too.
Then in 2015, the team rebounded from a 1-5 start with 10 consecutive victories to close the regular season — and then won its first playoff game since 1993 in a 30-0 romp over the Houston Texans. Two years later — when quarterback Patrick Mahomes started his first game in the season finale against the Denver Broncos — it was obvious that with his new quarterback, Reid was on the cusp of something truly special. Everything that’s happened since then has proved that to be true.
Even in his first season with the Chiefs, we could see that his special touch for leading young players was a big part of his success. I believe his experience as the Eagles’ general manager — a responsibility he chose to leave behind when he arrived in Kansas City — has allowed him to forge an effective partnership with Dorsey and his successor Brett Veach, which is also a significant part of what has led to the team’s current success.
During his 12 years with the Chiefs, no NFL team has a better regular-season record — and it’s not even close. (Kansas City has won 20 more games than the Seattle Seahawks during that time). In the postseason, the Chiefs’ record is second only to the New England Patriots — and if the team claims another Super Bowl win in 2025, it will top that list, too.
Unfortunately, the Associated Press Coach of the Year award has become something a coach can win only with a dramatic turnaround. Reid won it in 2002 with the Eagles — and probably deserved it in 2013 and 2015, too. If he doesn’t claim the honor again before his retirement, the award will truly be unworthy of its name.
But there’s no doubt that Reid will someday wear the gold jacket of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That may have to be enough.
