Andy Reid Has Sterling Record Against Defending Super Bowl Champs

When an NFL head coach has a combined 312 regular-season and playoff wins, it's obvious that he's good at his job - and Kansas City Chiefs' mentor Andy Reid is definitely that.

Coaching 442 games in 28 seasons also means that Reid has been able to fashion lengthy records in some rather esoteric game categories.

In two such examples, Reid is 17-2 in games played indoors by the Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback, a record he has already added to this season with Week 4's 30-27 defeat of the Las Vegas Raiders in the enclosed Allegiant Stadium. He followed that up with Sunday's 22-6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, which gives him a 23-5 record in post-bye games while leading the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Reid's next attempt to add to a somewhat obscure, "What is his record in games played against [insert specific situation]?" comes on Sunday night when the Chiefs travel to face the Seattle Seahawks (7:20 p.m. CT on NBC).

That impending trip has sent writers (or at least one) scrambling to see what Reid's record in games against defending Super Bowl champions might be.

You won't be surprised to hear that it's actually quite good.

Since his head-coaching career began in 1999 in Philadelphia, Reid has led his teams into 18 games against the defending champions and has an overall 11-7 record, 10-5 in the regular season and 1-2 in the playoffs.

The most extreme example of this phenomenon came in the 2008 season when Reid was in Philly. In three games against the defending champion New York Giants, the Eagles went 2-1, splitting two regular-season games (36-31 home loss and 20-14 road win) before Philly went to New York for an NFC Divisional contest and emerged with a 23-11 victory. They then fell 32-25 to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game.

Since joining the Chiefs in 2013, Reid's record against the previous season's Super Bowl winner has been even better: 6-1 in seven games, with Kansas City's only loss in that scenario coming last season courtesy of a 20-17 home setback against the Eagles.

Reid's first win against a defending champ, ironically, came in 2014 when the Chiefs took down the Seahawks 24-20 courtesy of a 4-yard Knile Davis touchdown run with 14:31 left to play. For those you interested in other way-back machine numbers from that contest, Jamaal Charles ran wild with 159 yards and two TDs, Alex Smith went 11-for-16 for 108 yards, and Tamba Hali and Dontari Poe each had a sack of Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson.

After that, the Chiefs reeled off five more wins against defending titlists, including a 30-27 and 33-10 sweep of the Denver Broncos in 2016. That was followed by two wins over the New England Patriots, 42-27 in 2017 and 23-16 in 2019, before a 26-10 defeat of the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.

Whether or not this has anything to do with how the game in Seattle will play out on Sunday is debatable, but it does provide food for thought, mainly along the lines that Andy Reid seems to have a knack - and the on-field talent - that allows his teams to rise to the occasion in big games more often than not.