‘Andy Reid effect’ proves to be a winner in Kansas City
Mahomes and Kelce may be the names most seen on the back of Chiefs fans' jerseys, but there's one man who may be more popular than either of them: Coach Andy Reid.
The early days of Chiefs football, led by Hall of Fame head coach Hank Stram, were filled with winning, but fans at the time didn’t know the good times wouldn't last. Stram left the Chiefs following the 1974 season with a Super Bowl win, but it would take 50 years for Kansas City to reach the mountaintop of the NFL again.
From 1999 to 2012, the organization cycled through five coaches, none of whom could muster a playoff win for the franchise. Then, following the firing of Romeo Crennel in 2012, a candidate emerged to bring stability and vision back to the franchise.
The Chiefs hired Reid in January of 2013 after being fired by the Eagles despite having led Philadelphia to five NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl appearance. Even though Reid had no Super Bowl championships on his resume like he does now, the Chiefs knew what they were getting.
“Clearly, when you’re not successful in the National Football League, it’s a certainty that change is coming,” Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said during Reid’s introductory press conference in 2013. “In Andy, we’ve already got our first victory.”
It wasn't necessarily championships in the early years of Reid, but consistent trips to the postseason became the foundation for what was to come for Kansas City.
In his introductory press conference, Reid said he needed to find his Len Dawson, a quarterback who complimented the vision of the Super Bowl-winning Stram.
In 2017, the team found a quarterback to compliment the prowess of Reid, and the rest is history that is continuing to be written.
The 2017 NFL Draft was a draft that wasn't considered to have a class of top-tier quarterback talent, but within it was a signal caller from Texas Tech with the talent and leadership the Chiefs and Reid felt could be the answer to its years of playoff shortcomings. The team traded up with the Buffalo Bills from pick 26 to pick 10 to select quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes knew from the day he was drafted, the impact a coach like Reid would have on his professional success.
“It’s awesome. Just to get a guy that’s going to develop you, that’s all I’ve ever wanted was a coach that’s going to coach me hard and just get the best out of me. And that's what I'm going to get in Kansas City and I'm excited about it,” Mahomes said back in 2017 the night he was drafted by the Chiefs.
Together, Mahomes and Reid have become the gold standard of success for today’s NFL. The two have captured three Super Bowl titles in five years, with a chance at a fourth Super Bowl on Feb. 9.
