FanPost

How Long Does He Coach? What Motivates Him?

I'm actually talking about two different people. Andy Reid and Bill Belichick.

Because Belichick has been a great coach for the Patriots. If he retires within the next few years, he will retire as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. I know lots of people call him the GOAT for coaches, but there was this guy called Lombardi...

...anyway, he's certainly been the greatest coach in the Super Bowl era.

But if he retires within 1-2 years of Tom Brady retiring, there's always going to be the argument that his accomplishments were only because he had Tom Brady as his QB. Tom Brady was clutch in so many big games...how many Super Bowls would Belichick have even coached in if the Patriots had taken Todd Husack instead of Tom Brady in 2000? Or if Bledsoe hadn't gotten injured and Tom Brady never had the chance to start most of a season, and the replacement for Bledsoe after a few years of futility were someone like Kyle Boller or Patrick Ramsey?

So maybe he decides to keep coaching after Brady leaves to prove he's a great coach, but never makes it to the AFC Championship Game again. Does he hang it up after five years? Or is he so into coaching football that he keeps coaching as long as someone wants him?

Because honestly, if he wants to retire as the greatest coach in the modern era, he only needs to find a decent QB once. Or if the Patriots get tired of him, he just needs to go to a team with a decent QB situation.

Because even if there are whispers he only won the Super Bowl so many times because of Brady, it can't be denied that the Patriots only reached the Super Bowl because of Belichick's ability to game-plan on defense (winning a Super Bowl once with third-string cornerbacks) and innovating on the offensive side of the ball. The Patriots have kept winning despite all sorts of turnover at all the skill positions except QB. My impression is that the Patriots are rarely among the leaders for Pro Bowl selections.

So does he hang up his hat when Tom Brady retires, or does he keep trying to add to his legacy?

Because when he retires, and why, and how, impacts what I think is the more important question:

How long does Andy Reid keep coaching?

Let's say we win the Super Bowl this year. Does Reid retire, now that a Super Bowl win cements his place in the NFL Hall of Fame?

Or does he love football enough that he coaches for another decade?

Does he want to show that he is actually a better coach than Belichick?

To do that, it would have helped if he'd beaten the Patriots last year, and gone on to win the Super Bowl last year. Because that would have meant a victory over the Brady-Belichick combo while Brady was still a Top 5 QB, and in Mahomes' first year as a starter. Moreover, for Reid to eclipse Belichick as the GOAT of the Super Bowl era, he's going to have to win the Super Bowl at least six times. Since that's never easy, having the one from last year would have not only already put one in Reid's win column, but would have also lowered the goal to 5.

At this point, even if the Reid-Mahomes juggernaut wins 6 Super Bowls, people are going to whisper that it took Brady's decline to do it, that Reid-Mahomes couldn't do it when the Brady-Belichick team was at their height. And people will also still whisper that it isn't Reid winning those Super Bowls, but the once-in-a-lifetime talent of Patrick Mahomes II. And there is a solid argument for that: Belichick was a defensive coach who found and mentored a phenomenal QB, and was able to set the standard for both NFL offenses and defenses, as well as handling the salary cap, free agency, and player development. Reid is an offensive whiz; he's apparently hands-off on the defense.

So to surpass Belichick on the list of great coaches, Reid and Mahomes will have to win at least seven Super Bowls to be able to definitively lay claim to being a better coach than Belichick. And even winning seven Super Bowls might not be enough, as the Patriots also reached the Super Bowl three other times and made it to the AFC Championship game for eight straight seasons. In 18 years, they've won 6 Super Bowls, which, if I can take the risk of doing math in public, means they've won fully 1/3 of the Super Bowls for nearly two decades. They've won the AFC in half the seasons. They've made it to the AFC Championship Game thirteen times in those 18 years. They've won the AFC East in 16 of those seasons. They've never had a losing season, and have had double-digit wins for 17 of the last 18 years.

Does Reid have the drive to keep coaching that many years?

Andy Reid has double digit wins with the Chiefs for 5 of the last 6 years, and have won the AFC West for 3 years straight.

Let's say the Chiefs are better this year than the last: Mahomes is better, the defense is better, and the offense has more weapons, so the Chiefs win the Super Bowl with a historically-good offense.

Would Reid retire?

He would have a Super Bowl win. It would be a win with a young QB that he mentored to excellence, that some weren't sure would even develop into a solid starter, much less a generational talent.

But he would always be second to Belichick. Maybe not even second...because Don Shula has 2 wins, Tom Landry has 2 wins. Jimmy Johnson has 2, George Seifert has 2, Bill Parcells has 2, Tom Flores has 2, Mike Shanahan has 2, even Tom Coughlin has two Super Bowl wins. Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh have 3 Super Bowl wins. Chuck Noll has 4.. To even be considered second best in the Super Bowl era, Reid would need to either be the first coach in the NFL to three-peat, or win at least four.

While also hoping that his protege Pederson doesn't win 3 more, or his other coaching tree coaches don't start winning a bunch.

Sure, not much chance of that, because it is difficult to dominate for years like Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots did.

And that's the point. It's difficult. Even with Patrick Mahomes II as your starting QB.

If Reid wants to be considered the greatest coach of the modern era, he needs to win Super Bowls at a pace that overcomes any suspicion Mahomes could do the same with another coach.

A perfect season capped with a Super Bowl win might be enough.

A three-peat Super Bowl win might be enough.

A four-peat Super Bowl win would certainly be enough, even though the total Super Bowl wins would be fewer than Belichick won, because that level of mastery, that streak of overcoming everything that can go wrong with injuries, teams game-planning against you, chemistry, superstar departures, etc., would demonstrate Reid is the best coach, even aside from who his starting QB is. It would establish the argument that Reid had always been better, he just was making mediocre QBs look almost good enough to win Super Bowls.

Why do I care if Reid retires as the best of all time?

Why not?

I want to win Super Bowls. I want the Chiefs to be considered the greatest dynasty of the modern era. Because we are all stupid and think the franchise's successes and failures somehow reflect on us as individuals. If the team wins, we feel like winners.

And I want to stick it to the Chargers, the Raiders, and most especially, the Broncos. I want them to curse their luck for not hiring Andy Reid. I want them to rue the day they didn't package draft picks to make an offer someone couldn't refuse to draft Patrick Mahomes II. I want them to lose any hope of winning the AFC West for more than a decade. I want them to consider it a victory to just hold a lead over us in a game they eventually lose. I want them to consider a rare victory over the Chiefs to be worth celebrating like a Super Bowl win. I want the AFC West and the entire NFL to dedicate themselves to trying to figure out how to slow down the Chiefs. I want most of the United States to hate the Chiefs and openly complain they are tired of the Chiefs winning all the time.

I will not become as arrogant and whiny as the Patriots fans are, I promise.

I guess maybe the best way to explain it is I want to experience something special. I want to be the fan of a team that so dominates that it becomes legend, talked about in hushed tones for lifetimes. The way the Lombardi Packers are discussed. The way the Dolphins Perfect Record is revered. The way the Steelers dominant years are respected. The way the Belichick-Brady Patriots will be talked about if we don't eclipse them.

I think with Patrick Mahomes II and Andy Reid, and Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and the superstars to come, we have a team that can do it.

...if Andy Reid sticks around long enough.


Thoughts?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.