“When things are grim, be the grim reaper.” Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, loves saying this to his team in the toughest of playoff games. Going into this weekend’s playoff games, Reid was ranked 4th all time in playoff wins with a record of 18-15, one win behind Coach Don Shula’s 19-17 record. The result of Sunday’s memorable playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills changed all of that.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, and current broadcaster Tony Romo, got so caught up in the “helter skelter” nature of Sunday night’s AFC Divisional playoffs that he emotionally declared it was the best single-game showing from two quarterbacks in postseason history. Legendary broadcaster, Chris Berman, followed suit and stated it was one of the best games he had ever watched.
Andy Reid owns historic moment thanks to epic AFC nail-biter
Sunday’s battle of two offensive juggernauts included four different lead changes in the last two minutes. The epic showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills went to overtime at Arrowhead Stadium. Throughout the mayhem, few people realized that a highly-important stat hung in the balance.
The game was not without historical ramifications. Andy Reid, who had amassed an impressive win total with his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, has now secured four consecutive AFC championship berths. Going into Sunday’s game, he showcased 18 playoff wins and 15 losses, trailing Don Shula’s total career playoff total by only one game.
All of that changed Sunday evening when the Chiefs wrapped up a highly-contested overtime win. The 42-36 victory against the Bills put Coach Reid at 19 career playoff wins. Coach Shula was the head coach of the Colts when they were the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1969 and the Dolphins from 1970 to 1995.
Catching up to the legendary Don Shula
Football fans mourned the loss of a class act and the winningest coach of all time when Don Shula passed away in May of 2020. Shula obtained 348 total wins and 327 regular season wins. His 1972 season leading the Super Bowl-winning Dolphins is still the only perfect, undefeated season in NFL history. Reid and Shula have something else in common: they are now in the books as hurdlers of another impressive milestone. Both Reid and Shula garnered over 100 wins with two different teams. Andy Reid has posted 100 wins with two different teams. Shula has over 300 wins with the Dolphins and 71 with the Colts.
If there was a Mount Rushmore of coaches, Shula and Reid would certainly be on it. When it comes to the most successful playoff coaches, Bill Belichick has 31 playoff wins and Tom Landry has 20. Shula and Reid are next. The two have already shared headlines this year for having coached their teams to a Super Bowl in three different decades. Shula’s teams appeared in the Super Bowl in 1968, in 1972 when they played their perfect season, (and three more times in the 1970s) as well as in 1983 and 1984. Reid coached his Eagles team to the Super Bowls in 2004 and the Chiefs to Super Bowls of their own in the past two seasons.
While still riding the wave of adrenaline that comes with playoff competition, it is unlikely that Andy Reid can appreciate the significance of his win total. He has a chance to surpass Don Shula and move into third all-time on the playoff win list if the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals next weekend.
(Featured image by Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)