What Teams Did Andy Reid Coach?

Many things have to fall into place for an NFL franchise to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of a grueling season's hard work. It is the players on the field who make the ultimate difference between winning or losing. But from the sidelines, the coaches are the ones who run the show. They are the ones calling out the plays and what they think will work best in any given scenario. It’s not an easy job, but when you look at Andy Reid, the current coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, you get a sense that everything is always under control.

The Chiefs' decade-long head coach is one of the finest coaches to have been part of this extraordinary league. Starting out as an assistant to Mike Holmgren in Green Bay, he made his way up the ladder and earned his first head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles. The success of Reid can be immediately felt as the first-time head coach impacted the Eagles so much that he had a long and fruitful association with the team.

After his time in Philadelphia came to an end, he was immediately signed by the Chiefs without wasting any time. Proving himself as a winner with the Eagles, Reid once again had a difficult situation on his hands with the struggling AFC West team. However, the competitor in Reid ensured that he would come out as a winner here also and that is exactly what he has done.

When did Andy Reid coach the Eagles?

Andy Reid joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999 as the new head coach. Before the '99 NFL season, Reid worked with the Packers as a quarterback coach. The Eagles were struggling to get back to winning ways having finished near the bottom of their division a few years before Reid’s arrival.

It took about one year for Reid to turn things around but from the 2000 NFL season, the team went on a strong run of 5 consecutive postseasons and 4 consecutive NFC Championship Games. Unfortunately, Reid and the Eagles could only manage to advance to 1 Super Bowl, and then too they couldn’t bring home the Lombardi Trophy as they lost to the mighty New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.

Overall though, Reid had an impressive run with his first franchise as a head coach. In 14 years he managed to lead the team to nine postseasons, won six division titles, and played in five NFC Championship Games while making the lone Super Bowl appearance. When he left, an era came to an end in Philadelphia, but Reid had already planted the seeds for the future.

Andy Reid with the Chiefs

Once Reid’s contract was not renewed with the Eagles, the Chiefs swooped in and landed their man. Just like with the Eagles 14 years prior, the Chiefs were sailing in a similar boat having missed many postseasons in the past few seasons. And once again the former Eagles head coach had a job on his hand.

In Kansas City, Reid found success immediately making the playoffs in his first season in charge in 2013 before missing out the following year. However, since then he has transformed the franchise into a perennial postseason team having made 8 straight playoffs. Adding more talent and drafting well in the initial years allowed him to build a Championship contending team.

And in the 2017 NFL Draft, he added the final piece in Patrick Mahomes. After allowing Mahomes to learn from the veteran Alex Smith for the 2017 year, he handed over the reins to the youngster from Texas and the Chiefs exploded onto the scene. In five years as a starter, Reid and Mahomes have led the team to 6 consecutive AFC Championship Games, and 4 Super Bowl appearances while winning 3 of them.

The way things are going at the moment, Chiefs fans and the Chiefs Kingdom as a whole must be pinching themselves to realize that they are not living in a dream. Having turned two struggling franchises into outright winners is no easy task. But with the dedication that Andy Reid has, nothing is impossible.