Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has a chance to truly place himself among the all-time great head coaches this weekend.
If Reid and the Chiefs beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in their divisional round game on Saturday, it would give Reid his 20th career postseason win and move him into a tie for second place on the all-time list with Dallas Cowboys legend Tom Landry. Reid enters the weekend in a tie with Don Shula for third place with 19 career playoff wins.
Current New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is the NFL’s all-time leader with 31 career playoff wins.
The question now becomes is there a chance that he could eventually catch Belichick on the all-time list?
It seems like a stretch, especially given how difficult winning in the playoffs on a consistent basis can be, but he might have an outside shot at it. At the very least he can close the gap dramatically over the next few years, especially as long as he remains in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback.
Belichick’s career has slowed down without Tom Brady as his quarterback, while Reid has been stacking up wins with eight of his career playoff wins coming over just the previous four years. If the Chiefs make a few more runs to the conference championship or the Super Bowl.
Even if he does not catch Belichick it is still an incredible career for Reid with some amazing playoff success.
Just for some perspective, he has only coached one year longer (24 years) than Chuck Noll has and he already has three more playoff wins than the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach (16). He can increase that lead significantly this postseason.
He has coached seven years less than Shula and can pass him on Saturday.
Landry coached for 28 years and Reid is already set to tie him.
Dan Reeves coached for 23 years and Reid has nearly doubled his playoff win total (11).
Even with all of his success, Reid was at times a punch line among NFL fans because of his perceived flaws with clock management and the number of conference championship games he lost before finally getting his first Super Bowl ring in 2019.
But there is a lot to be said for sustained success in a league where sustained success is not supposed to happen. The salary cap and free agency are designed to knock down the top teams and build up the bottom teams very quickly. The coaches that are able to overcome that every year are truly special, and Reid is one of them whether it results in another championship or not.
