The regular season awards for the 2023-24 season have been announced. While there were significant surprises in terms of the actual recipients of the awards, the voting patterns, however, raised a few eyebrows as one of the most successful coaches of the contemporary era and regarded as one of the best coaches of all time, Andy Reid, experienced a surprising snub as he did not receive a single vote for the Coach of the Year.
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Despite the Chief’s struggles during the regular season, they will be competing in their 4th SB in six years under Andy Reid. Throughout his career, transitioning from a top-level offensive coach to the Head Coach for two different teams, the Chiefs HC has won Coach of the Year only once.
Since initiating his HC career in 1999 with the Eagles, Reid has guided his teams to 5 SBs and 12 Conference Championship games. His squads have reached the playoffs 19 times, in twenty winning seasons. Remarkably, despite notching six 12-win seasons and two 14-win seasons, Reid has consistently been overlooked for yearly honours.
Reid clinched his first SB in 2019 with the Chiefs, bringing the Lombardy trophy back to Kansas City after a half-century drought. However, he was snubbed for the Coach of the Year title in favour of John Harbaugh whose Ravens despite winning the AFC conference were eliminated in the divisional rounds. Reid didn’t even make the top six in the voting. The following year, despite leading the Chiefs to another SB, he was snubbed in favour of Kevin Stefanski. In 2022, after securing a 14-3 season and another SB win, Reid was once again denied the award, this time in favor of the Giant’s Brian Daboll.
Despite orchestrating multiple SB-winning seasons, Reid has only been honoured as the Coach of the Year once and that recognition came over two decades ago during his early seasons as an HC with the Eagles.
Has Andy Reid Ever Won Coach Of the Year in the NFL?
Despite coaching for the past 25 seasons, Reid has won Coach of the Year once and that honour came in 2002 when he led the Eagles to a division title with a 12-4 record and took them to the NFC Championship game, losing out to eventual SB champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, lack of multiple Coach of the Year awards, won’t define his marvelous coaching career. It is the ability to get the best out of his team that will cement his legacy as one of the greatest coaches in the NFL. Reid will be managing his fifth SB, 4th with the Chiefs. Having managed only 402 matches, Reid is fourth on the list for most wins with 258, only behind Don Shula, George Halas and Bill Belichick and 2nd in postseason wins with 25 behind the former Patriots coach as per CBS News.
If he outsmarts Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers for 2nd time in SB, he will cement his legacy and a dynasty for the Chiefs and in doing so, he would become the 5th most successful coach in the SB era in terms of Lombardy wins. His three SBs would put him only behind Belichick, Chuck Knoll, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs. There has been chatter about his retirement after this season if he wins his 3rd SB. If he does retire, he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
The Chiefs will go into the SB as the underdogs for the first time. They have been doubted and criticized for their offensive struggles throughout the season. And despite struggling during certain phases of the season, the Chiefs stepped up when the heat was on and proved why they and Andy Reid have been to six consecutive AFC Championships. Can Andy Reid work his magic once again and deliver the NFL the third dynasty of this century?
