Ask any NFL analyst to name the best head coaches in the league, and Andy Reid is one of the first names you’ll hear. Unfortunately for Reid, he has never won a Super Bowl. Even worse, his critics point out, he’s coached in six conference championship games and only won one.
Is the criticism of Reid fair?
“I think it’s totally unfair,” Solomon Wilcots said on The DA Show. “Winning that thing is so very hard. It’s so very difficult. Just putting together an organization and a franchise that can compete every single year is nearly impossible, but he’s done that everywhere he’s gone. Before he went to the Eagles, you and I both know that was a dysfunctional franchise. He brought to that franchise stability for Jeffrey Lurie, an organizational sort of mindset that now has put them near the top of one of the best franchises in the National Football League. He’s done the same thing for Clark Hunt in Kansas City, and he took an average quarterback in Alex Smith and made him a very good quarterback. Now he’s got a kid who, I think, is on the edge of greatness.”
Patrick Mahomes threw for 5,000+ yards and 50 touchdowns in his first year as a starter, winning NFL MVP in the process. In his second year as a starter, he is one game away from the Super Bowl. Again.
“That’s what Andy Reid does,” Wilcots said. “He develops players at the right positions, he builds organizations and then he allows you to compete year in and year out for [a] Super Bowl title.”
Reid has won double-digit games in six of his seven seasons in Kansas City. He just needs to win one more to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2004, when he was coaching the Eagles.
The Chiefs host the Titans this Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET. Wilcots believes the Chiefs will advance to their first Super Bowl since 1969.
“I think they looked over the edge into the abyss last week when they were down 24-0, and that team caught fire,” Wilcots said. “I think they developed a certain mettle that I think could propel them toward a Super Bowl title. I think they win this game on Sunday. It’s not going to be easy, but Andy Reid is going to Miami. We’ll just have to see who they’re going to face.”