Stay The Course: Rolling With Reid

Stay The Course:

Rolling With Reid

Ransom Hawthorne

As frustrating as it can be to watch the Chiefs flailing on the cusp of greatness every year, it‘s worth noting that at least they are close. The Chiefs have gone past the divisional round a grand total of once since 1970. They have lost in the divisional round six times in the same span. That’s right, in 46 years of football, the Chiefs have only made it as far as they did five other times. Does that take away the sting of the loss? Not really, if anything, it makes it worse, but Chiefs fans — of any fanbase — should have a clear understanding of just what it takes to even reach the divisional round. The NFL is a tough league, and even with Chiefs horrific performance on offense, the game still turned on a few penalties and drops… any one of which could have turned the tide. In the pain of a close loss, Chiefs fans have been somewhat blinded to the best course of action: rolling with Reid.

Snakebites and Possibilities

Whether you are a believer in Alex Smith or not, I think we can all agree that — at most — he is a quarterback you CAN win a championship with… and not the quarterback you WANT to win a championship with. Yet the Chiefs were able to win the division with him and a slew of injuries on defense. K.C. entered the year with an extremely young secondary and finished the year with a brand new starter on the outside who’d spent more time on multiple teams‘ practice squads than he had starting. By the end of the year, the Chiefs defensive line consisted of two new starters and a worn out veteran. They somehow — kinda-sorta — got away with two sixth round picks starting at G and two low-key free agents at RB. If a team with these limitations can get to 12-4, you have to wonder what this coaching staff could do with a little bit of lady luck’s help. The Chiefs always seem to be snake-bit, catching bad calls, or losing great players at the worst possible time. This year was no exception with Derrick Johnson missing the playoffs. In the end, I have to believe K.C. will have a year where they reach the post-season with all their starters. If they can do that, they can beat anybody. That doesn’t mean they will, but they certainly can.

The Super Bowl: Breaking Through

As fans, we often forget just how tough it is to get to the Super Bowl, let alone win it. Most teams are lucky to even reach the game once in a decade, let alone win it. Some really great coaches, who are well respected within the league, will coach for years with a couple appearances in the Super Bowl and a single win. This was the case for Bill Cower, who reached the game twice and won it once in his 15 years with the Steelers. Dick Vermeil yielded the same results in same number of years, but coaching three different teams. While Andy Reid has coached for more seasons than either already, he’s only been with the Chiefs for four. He already has the Super Bowl loss out of the way with the Eagles so… he has a solid chance of netting his win with the Chiefs.

The Greener Grass

Even if you accept the notion that Reid has problems that cannot be fixed, we all know that the grass is rarely greener on the other side of the fence. It’s easy to say go out and get this coach, or that coach, but who wants to coach a team with a better than average QB that fired the last coach after winning every season and going to the playoffs 3 out of 4 of his first years. If you want to know what happens to teams who fire really good coaches for not being quite good enough, or for being just a little too annoying, look at the 49ers. That team went from a serial contender to a cereal box photo seeking missing talent so fast it’d make your head spin.

Rolling With Reid

Andy Reid isn’t Bill Belichick… but he’s top 10 in wins all time for a coach. Until it becomes painfully obvious that it’s never going to work, I’m sticking with Andy Reid. If you want to know what the rest of the league thinks of the Chiefs situation, consider the fact that the Chiefs have lost multiple coaches in back to back years. When other teams want to emulate your model, it’s seems like it must be a pretty good model. If you’re asking how long I’m going to give Reid a chance, the answer is: until he has back to back losing seasons… or has been in KC 10 years without reaching the AFC Championship game. Maybe I’m cutting him too much slack, but I started watching the Chiefs at the tail end of the Herm Edwards era. I’ve stuck with them through Todd Hayley and Romeo Crennel, and I’m done looking for greener pastures. Chiefs are the best they’ve been in years, that’s something to celebrate and, for now, I’m all in on Andy Reid.

Bonus Thought

Toub is safe for this year, but the Chiefs better get him a good assistant. He’s not going to get passed up forever. I suspect that Chuck Pagano, over in Indy, helps Ballard adjust for the first two years, after that, if the Colts need a new HC, you can be pretty sure Toub is the first guy Ballard interviews. K.C. has a chance to get a young coach early in his career who could be a great one. Jay Harbaugh is the TEs/STs coach at Michigan. He’s also the son of Jim Harbaugh. If Jay is willing to get out of his father’s shadow, he could learn under Toub’s wing and follow the path blazed by his Dad and uncle to a head coach job in a decade or two.