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Every coach, regardless of the sport, dreams of guiding his or her team to the championship. On Sunday, though, Andy Reid must have felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. His Kansas City Chiefs took the field in the NFL Divisional Round and promptly laid an egg.

Eventually, though, the Chiefs managed to right the ship and pull off a historic comeback. All the while, though, Andy Reid was giving his team one simple message.

The Kansas City Chiefs wild Sunday afternoon

With the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens out of the way, it seemed like fate had gifted the Kansas City Chiefs a trip to the Super Bowl. On Sunday, however, they almost threw that gift in the trash.

Texans head coach Bill O’Brien chose to receive the opening kick-off, and his decision paid off; the Texans jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the Kansas City secondary blew an assignment. Things quickly went from bad to worse for the Chiefs. The Texans blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown. Tyreek Hill muffed a punt, gifting Houston another six points. Before anyone knew what happened, the Chiefs were down 24-0.

The game, of course, didn’t end there. Patrick Mahomes started leading his team up and down the field. They scored one touchdown. A few minutes later, they found the end zone again; then, the snowball started rolling downhill. The Chiefs went on to score 41 unanswered points, escaping the Divisional Round with a 51-31 win.

Andy Reid’s message on the sidelines

For all of his regular season success, Andy Reid has never been able to get over the hump and win the Super Bowl. Despite seeing everything crumble around him on Sunday, the veteran head coach didn’t lose his cool. “It was about settling down and calming the storm,” Reid explained. “No need to panic, just fix the problems.”

“He can’t just stand there and say, ‘We got it, we got it,” offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. “What he said was, ‘You got to keep playing, and keep battling it out.”

“Honestly, I don’t think there was anything bad going through his mind,” defensive tackle Khalen Saunders added. “He’s a veteran coach and one of the greatest coaches of all time. If he was thinking something bad, then I don’t know what the rest of us would have been thinking. His head didn’t waver at all. I know he’s confident in this team because he’s the one who put it together.”

Can Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs finally win a Super Bowl?

Both Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs could use a Super Bowl title. The coach has won just about everything except the big game, while the franchise hasn’t won a championship since 1969. This year, however, might be their chance.

On paper, the Chiefs are the favorite to lift the Lombardi Trophy. The road to Miami, though, won’t be easy. Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans are capable of running through any defense, let alone the Chiefs’, and both the 49ers and Packers are capable squads. At the same time, though, it’s tough to bet against the Chiefs offense, especially after Sunday.

While Kansas City is far from an underdog, they will be motivated by their head coach, who, despite his calm demeanor, leads them through thick and thin.

“I think everyone who has an understanding of him over the past 20 years understands there’s one thing he hasn’t done,” Schwartz said. “It would be really special to be able to do that.”

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Senior Writer, Programmer

Joe Kozlowski

Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sportscasting, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he’s a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie.

Growing up loving Shaquille O’Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he’s continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives.

As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He’s barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe’s big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level.

Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.