Super Bowl LIX: Does a Chiefs Win Push Andy Reid Past Bill Belichick?

• Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid is going for his fourth Super Bowl win and a threepeat
• He would still trail former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick by two Super Bowl wins
• But could Reid pass Belichick on the “greatest coaches” list with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles?

The term “best ever” is thrown around cavalierly in sports. It’s generally impossible to quantify due to the myriad factors contributing to an individual’s or a team’s success. However, it’s always an interesting debate, particularly in the NFL. With Andy Reid trying to win his fourth Super Bowl and the Chiefs vying for the first-ever threepeat, it’s reasonable to ask if a win pushes Reid past Bill Belichick. Reid vs Belichick goes beyond the simple act of counting how many Super Bowls they have won.

The Chiefs are 1-point favorites over the Eagles to win Super Bowl LIX and complete the threepeat.

Super Bowl Wins and Appearances

This is the number people remember. On that basis, Belichick wins outright. He has won six Super Bowls and been to nine. He won two more as an assistant for Bill Parcells with the Giants. Reid has won three and been to two others, losing as head coach of the Eagles — to Belichick — in 2004. He won a ring as an assistant to Mike Holmgren with the Packers in 1996. That Green Bay team beat…New England where Belichick was Parcells’ assistant head coach.

Despite the bottom line result, there is an ongoing debate about how much credit Belichick should get for those Super Bowls and if Tom Brady was the key. Of course, Reid has Patrick Mahomes. The debate of Mahomes vs Brady is also trending.

Getting to one Super Bowl could be chalked up as a fluky accident of circumstances. But getting to nine for Belichick and five for Reid? That’s coaching skill, experience, and wisdom. Regardless of the quarterbacks and the competition, math is math.

Edge: Belichick

Coaching History

While Reid’s Super Bowl wins have come with Mahomes under center, he had notable success with other quarterbacks. When coaching the Eagles, he had Donovan McNabb. McNabb has a Pro Football Hall of Fame case. But Reid also made the playoffs in Philly with Michael Vick. When he took over the Chiefs, he had Alex Smith at QB for five years with four playoff appearances.

Belichick made the playoffs once — and only had one winning season — coaching the Browns and did it with Vinny Testaverde at QB. After splitting with Brady, he had three losing seasons out of four and Bob Kraft essentially fired him. His Patriots made the playoffs once with Mac Jones at QB and the Bills obliterated them.

As great a football mind as Belichick is, there’s no dressing up his 84-103 head coaching record without Brady.

To make matters worse for Belichick, he wants to coach and to break Don Shula’s NFL record for coaching wins, but in the last cycle, no team wanted him. He took the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina just to get back on the sideline plagued with the same lingering questions:

• Can he win without Brady?
• Is he worth the aggravation with his miserable persona?
• Will he demand full control over football ops?

If Reid were somehow available to coach another team, he’d be out of work for five seconds.

Edge: Reid

Coaching Trees

A head coach is not responsible for how his former assistants and acolytes do when they fly off on their own. However, it is a reflection on their philosophy and how they have prepared their assistants if they succeed or fail elsewhere.

Belichick is frequently looked upon negatively because his coaching assistants have done next-to-nothing when they left him. Josh McDaniels got fired after 28 games with the Broncos because of his obnoxious behavior and overbearing arrogance. Then he got another chance with the Raiders 12 years later and got fired after 25 games for basically the same reasons.

Matt Patricia was a disaster with the Lions. Bill O’Brien was mediocre in seven years coaching the Texans with personnel authority. Eric Mangini had brief success with the Jets, but was shut out of Belichick’s world because he left for New York when Belichick told him not to and he was deemed responsible for exposing Spygate.

Nick Saban was a Belichick assistant in Cleveland, so that’s a win.

His former scouting assistants and executives Thomas Dimitroff, Scott Pioli, Bob Quinn, Nick Caserio, Jon Robinson, and Jason Licht have had more success than his past assistant coaches.

Reid’s coaching tree has two Super Bowl winners in John Harbaugh and Doug Pederson. Sean McDermott was also a Reid assistant. Matt Nagy and Brad Childress had up and down careers on their own.

How to explain this?

Andy Reid’s people do not act like Andy Reid like they were in a cult.

Belichick might not see it as his responsibility to train his assistants to compete against him and potentially deprive him of a Super Bowl in the future. It could be that the Belichick way is so insular and controlled that they are unable to break free of those constraints, believing that the grunting, mumbling, uncommunicative, bullying attitude (as the Matt Patricia clip shows) is the only way to run a team.

The players and media will take it from Belichick. From McDaniels or Patricia? No.

Edge: Reid

How Would You Judge Reid vs Belichick?

There is no right answer in Reid vs Belichick. They’re different coaches and different personalities. But if Reid wins another Super Bowl to get within two of Belichick with the likelihood of continued championship contention with Mahomes and completes a threepeat, there’s justification to say it’s Andy Reid.

Who do you have? Belichick or Reid?

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