LAS VEGAS — Andy Reid ran into Chris Jones, the defensive cornerstone of his three Super Bowl-winning teams.
Jones was sprawled out on the field, physically spent and reveling in that new dynasty feeling after the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. Reid joined Jones on the grass, climbing onto his hands and shaking his player’s shoulder pads vigorously.
“What do you think, huh?” Reed yelled at Jones as confetti fell around them. Reed lowered his face closer to Jones, then repeated for effect. “What do you think?!”
That playground was a rare display of emotion for the veteran Chiefs coach. Reid’s bushy eyebrows and mustache and small, round glasses give him a distinctive look and also have the effect of hiding his true feelings.
ALL THE FEELINGS pic.twitter.com/yd1ByK7VPw
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 12, 2024
“He never shows any emotion,” cornerback L’Jarius Sneed said after the game. “He is like a snake, ah! He’s coming to get you. That’s what I love about him, like a little rattle.”
Rattlesnake Reid sunk his fangs into the Niners on Sunday in Las Vegas as wide receiver Mecole Hardman scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime. It was the debut of the new overtime playoff rules, inspired by the Chiefs’ 2021 overtime playoff victory over the Bills. Kansas City didn’t win the toss this time, but the Chiefs couldn’t be stopped.
The 25-22 win is Reid’s third Super Bowl in his fifth attempt. He is now the fifth coach to win at least three, joining Bill Belichick (six), Chuck Noll (four), Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs (three), and the seventh coach to win it all in back-to-back years.
“It’s a little surreal,” Reid said in the postgame press conference. “Back-to-back is rare air for this football team and this organization. I don’t know what a dynasty is. You have the treasure, you can understand it. It’s a big win because I know how hard it is to do. I know how difficult the season was, the ups and downs of the season.”
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Reid’s captains were a bit more definitive in their summation of the season — and their coach’s.
“Dynasty, I think we did all the qualifying for this,” wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling said in the locker room after the game. “If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best to ever do it.”
“Check the stats, check the numbers,” Sneed said. “He’s legendary.”
“He’s one of the greatest kids in football and that makes him one of the best coaches,” Chiefs assistant running backs coach Porter Ellett said. “Now it’s getting harder and harder to argue against him being in the top two or three of all time.”
“He was already a Hall of Fame coach before tonight,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “But adding the third Super Bowl trophy in five years, I think it really solidifies his status as one of the all-time greats.”
“I wouldn’t want to play for another coach,” center Krid Humphrey said. “He’s the best coach in the game right now.”
At halftime, with Kansas City trailing 10-3, Reed didn’t panic. The offense was stopping. Mahomes was constantly under pressure, sacked twice, and Isiah Pacheco derailed the Chiefs’ most promising drive. But Reid’s message to the players and staff was the same: Keep going.
“When you’re in the Super Bowl and you’re down seven points, it’s like 20,” Reid said. “And so you just keep calm – we’re there, we get the ball to start the second half and everybody just sticks together – and good things can happen.”
“When you’re down 10 in a big game like that, a lot of coaches can’t handle it well and start throwing things at the wall and hope they stick,” Humphrey said. “But he stuck to the game plan. And he had a great game for us. He did a great job, a masterful job of coaching.”
“As good as he is as a coach, he never changes,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. “It stays the course. He is a leader of men and is one hell of a teacher. And he doesn’t just teach his players, he teaches his coaches how to be good leaders. And then you stick together and go make things happen.”
The two players who scored touchdowns for Kansas City on Sunday are direct evidence of the quality that coaches say makes Reed special. Valdes-Scantling, who scored the first touchdown Sunday, has struggled with costly drops all season. Hardman returned to the Chiefs in a trade after being waived by the Jets midseason and struggled this postseason, most notably running out of the end zone in Buffalo before scoring the game-winner.
“Coach Reed is one of those guys that stays the course no matter what,” Valdes-Scantling said. “We’re all here for a reason and we all make plays, and we all have the special skill set that we have, and for him to be able to continue that and stay on track with us was good.”
Ellett is in his seventh season on the Kansas City staff. He injured his right hand in an accident when he was 4 years old and was later amputated. He never played football and ended up hooking up with Reid when he landed a job as Reid’s assistant. Reid has since taught him how to coach.
“He never gives up on a guy,” Ellett said. “He has great faith in people. And if you reward loyalty, then he continues to trust you. I mean, I’m a good example of that. People don’t hire one-handed football coaches who didn’t play football.”
Because he is 65 years old, there is increasing speculation about Reid’s future. How much longer will he train? How many more rings will this budding dynasty get? Asked after Sunday’s win if he would return as Kansas City’s coach next season, Reed was nonchalant: “Yeah, I haven’t had time to think about it, but yeah, definitely.”
Chiefs players don’t hear any of that noise.
“There’s a lot left in the tank,” Humphrey said.
“We won two Super Bowls back to back,” Valdez-Scantling said. “We’re trying to go for another one.”
What’s more, the boss is confident that Reed will be around for a while longer.
“I know Andy is full of energy and loves what he does,” Hunt said. “I definitely expect him to come back next year to defend our title.”
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(Photo: Timothy A. Clary/ AFP via Getty Images)