Dear Clark Hunt,
I’m a long time Kansas City Chiefs fan, since the 1960s, and can see a problem arising with the team, that won’t go away by ignoring it. Andy Reid needs to take a personal respite and sit for the remainder of this season. While that may not seem like a statement to be taken seriously, I’m being 100% genuine.
Andy Reid is a good guy. A great coach. Reid has also often been called, “a player’s coach” and while I’m sure that’s true, the extent to which he can realistically reach out to his players is greatly diminished right now. It has to be. You don’t just wake up one day and say” “Now, I’m healed.” Life just doesn’t work that way.
The “reset” that Andy Reid got from changing cities — Philly to K.C. — helped him re-focus while not doing all that could be done to heal from the loss of his first son Garrett Reid in late 2012, and also gave him no respite, nor curative answers. Now Reid is not even getting that kind of “reset” so, the only real solution appears to be his removal from the team for the remainder of the 2021 season and focusing on his own trauma and recovery.
If he doesn’t do that, he endangers every person and player he comes into contact with because, how can he “be there” for them when he can’t be here for himself, or be there for his own family.
You see, Andy Reid is someone who is compromised right now and only a person close to him, who has his ear, will be able to convince him to get help. You may be thinking, isn’t that Tammy Reid and Andy’s family’s responsibility? Perhaps, but she may also be in he same emotional inner whirlwind he’s in and it can only happen when someone who has power over him can step in and make him see that this is a necessity.
Reid is still in the middle of dealing with his youngest son facing jail time as this coming April 18, 2022, Britt Reid will face the strong possibility that he’ll be convicted of a DWI charge.
His actions nearly caused the death of 5-year old, Ariel Young. Britt Reid’s blood alcohol content was .113 (drivers are considered legally drunk when their blood alcohol level is .08 or more). Plus, according to Police he was driving 82 miles per hour in a 65 MPH zone. Britt Reid also had a prescription for Adderall, which is meant to treat ADHD. The AmericanAddictionsCenter.com says:
“Adderall generally increases the availability of norepinephrine and dopamine. Alcohol acts to inhibit the function of the excitatory neurotransmitter N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) while at the same time enhancing functioning of the inhibitory neurotransmitters gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine… physicians strongly advise against using any prescription medication in conjunction with alcohol.”
It’s important to know this as Reid lost his oldest son, Garrett Reid, to drugs in August of 2012 as the result of a heroin overdose. That same year, the Philadelphia Eagles, the team Reid was the head coach of at that time, finished 4-and-12 and he wasn’t offered a new contract. The Eagles finished their season on December 30 in 2012 and five days later you hired him.
Garrett’s death, and the Eagles 2021 record are connected and the Chiefs are looking at a similar result this year, unless someone steps in to help Andy Reid. Sometimes all it takes is someone stepping in to insist that a compromised person gets the help they need. I have personally dealt with a family member who was coming off of two plus decades of Alcohol dependence and I’m fundamentally aware as to how drugs can effect me and my family and it’s not something an individual just gets over in a week, a month, or even a year.
I may have a degree in Psychology, but it’s difficult for me to imagine what it’s like to have your oldest son die, then have another son abuse drugs and alcohol to the point that he puts a little girl’s life in danger. Andy Reid needs help, if he isn’t already getting it. If we’re really looking for legitimate “reasons,” and not just “excuses,” for why this 2021 Kansa City Chiefs season is going south, look no further than the life of the person at the top.
Reid says the exact same thing after each loss, “It’s my fault for not preparing the team.” Isn’t it time you take him seriously? It’s disturbing, on a football level, to hear Andy Reid say: “I’m seeing things I haven’t seen before,“ referring to plays in the Titans game that he’d just coached, or when Reid said, “I didn’t see this coming,“ following the Bills game.
It’s even more unnerving when you consider that he’s not able to focus on his job and there are legitimate reasons he’s not able to do that. We should never diminish the personal health (especially mental health) of those who make up the Kansas City Chiefs… off the field. When you hire a person to do a job, you’re hiring the whole person and their overall health is optimal. What I’m suggesting here is that Andy Reid isn’t completely healthy… mentally. The Mayo Clinic says:
“Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function.”
When I taught school – as I did for 39 years — the most difficult students to teach were those who didn’t want to learn. While I’m sure we’re never going to get a Chiefs reporter to ask the tough questions of coach Reid about his personal life… to hold him accountable… if he is reluctant to get counseling or the help he needs to appropriately cope with these deep seeded issues, he may never end up dealing with the personal pain he’s in right now. You can also be sure that’s effecting his ability to coach, and coach well.
Andy Reid has seemingly been this way forever. Dating back to his days with the Green Bay Packers, even his old head coach Mike Holmgren wrote Reid off as excessive for staying at their facility, saying: “This is crazy.” From a piece by the Washington Post:
Joe Banner, the Eagles’ former president, says that when the team was designing its new practice facility before construction began in 2001, one point of emphasis was that Reid’s office be spacious enough for a bed. “His passion and competitiveness is a strength,” Banner says now. “But at the same time, if it becomes too much, it can become a weakness.”
Does Andy Reid have a form of PTSD? That’s a possibility, but since we’re not his personal therapist, we can’t know for sure. What we can say is, Reid has been retraumatized by his youngest son, Britt Reid’s accident. Here’s what Bright Quest Treatment Center — a mental health treatment facility — has to say about someone who is retraumatized:
Retraumatizing events replicate important elements of the original trauma (i.e., feelings of a loss of power, control, or personal safety) without replicating the actual events themselves... Experiences that retraumatize may involve some degree of physical or emotional suffering. But it is their capacity to remind men and women with PTSD of times they’d rather forget that gives them their potency.”
Do we even know if Andy Reid has been “retraumatized?” It’s hard to see why he wouldn’t have been, and the Super Bowl LV result as well as the team’s lack of focus this year seems to reflect his own inability to keep his attention on what has been his mastery: football knowledge. This very well could be a protracted reality for Andy Reid and taking no action this year means many more years of the same kinds of performances. After the lopsided loss to the Titans, Reid said: “Guys that I’ve seen perform did not do certain things…. We have to fix that” but sometimes, “fixing” means letting go. David Akers spent a dozen seasons as Reid’s kicker in Philadelphia and has said to him,
“If you go to the grave and it just says,
“Fantastic Coach” [on his gravestone]
I just think there’s more to life.”
Yes, I’m a long time Chiefs fan so I’m not suggesting this in any way to reduce the team’s chances for success this year. I’m making this plea as a call for help, for another human being, as there are things more important than a game. Is it having an effect on the Chiefs 2021 season? Absolutely. A more important question: is it having an effect on Andy Reid’s life? What do you think?
.
Sincerely, Laddie Morse
ArrowheadOne
.
If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/open-letter-to-clark-hunt-please-sit-andy-reid/#disqus_thread)
.