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Coming off of their bye week, the Kansas City Chiefs will begin a stretch of home games against some of their biggest challengers. While the next challenger is not within the AFC, the Philadelphia Eagles are one of the most highly anticipated matchups on KC’s schedule. After defeating the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII just nine months ago, the Chiefs are atop of their conference at 7-2. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is 8-1 atop their own conference, while holding the best record in the entire NFL.
There is one person who is no stranger to these heightened matchups. Of course, that would be Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Now in his 11th season in Kansas City, Reid is hoping that he can achieve his third Super Bowl win as a head coach. At this point, there is still a great chance that we could see both Kansas City and Philadelphia meet again in this upcoming Super Bowl. Time will tell as the regular season winds down and the postseason begins.
As the Chiefs get set to host the Eagles on Monday Night Football, Andy Reid has a rare opportunity to rewrite history. Can his wisdom and leadership be the difference between a Kansas City win or loss, once again? Let’s kick it off.
A Shot At Franchise, League History
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Andy Reid has numerous achievements and accolades to his name as a head coach in the NFL. He is known for his offensive genius. He is known for developing a plethora of quarterbacks. Elsewhere, Reid is known as one of the most successful head coaches, when it comes to winning football games. If you combine both the regular season and the playoffs, this coach has tallied 276 victories. His 22 postseason wins trail only Bill Belichick (31) among head coaches all-time.
There is a major opportunity for Andy Reid to achieve more Chiefs franchise history against the team he used to coach. As far as league history goes, another win provides him with an accomplishment that is truly baffling, when you begin to truly think about it. Reid will never get too high in the heat of the moment. But on Monday night, his legacy will grow further, if Kansas City can emerge victorious.
After defeating the Miami Dolphins in Germany before the bye week, Andy Reid now sits with 124 regular season wins as Chiefs head coach. Why is that number important? Overall, he is now tied with Hank Stram for most regular season wins in franchise history. So, one more victory would place Coach Reid alone atop this team’s leaderboard. Somehow, someway he has a shot to do that against the other team he used to be the head coach of.
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At the same time, Andy Reid can still achieve league history against Philadelphia this upcoming week. With one more victory, he will become the first head coach in NFL history to be the winningest head coach for two different franchises. Reid finished with 130 regular season victories in Philadelphia. In Eagles history, that is 67 more regular season wins than the next closest head coach. It is more than double of what Greasy Neale achieved in the 1940s (63 regular wins). Finally, Andy Reid only needs six more regular season wins with Kansas City to hit the number he finished with in Philadelphia. Could that still happen this year?
Looking To Remain Perfect Vs Old Team
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Monday will be the fifth time that Andy Reid will face the Eagles as Chiefs head coach. So far, he is 4-0 against his former squad. That includes last year’s Super Bowl LVII win, of course. All four of those meetings have been decided by 12 points or less. Super Bowl LVII was the closest matchup of that quartet, a three-point game. In Philadelphia’s only trip to Kansas City in that span, the Chiefs won by seven points.
Interestingly, when Andy Reid has been a head coach of either team in this head-to-head series, he and his team have been winners every time. Outside of his 4-0 mark against the Eagles as Chiefs head coach, he was 3-0 against Kansas City while with Philadelphia. Coach Reid led the Eagles to two victories at Arrowhead Stadium in both 2001 and 2005. He and the Eagles also beat the Chiefs by 20 points in Philadelphia in 2009.
Items To Watch Against Eagles
There are a few items to watch on Monday Night Football from Andy Reid. In order to set franchise and league history, as well as remain perfect against his old squad, offensive improvement must come. The Chiefs have been troubling in the red zone and on short yardage situations. Simply put, these issues have popped up in the past over the last few years. The way in which they are struggling in those areas seems to be prevalent more now than ever, however.
It will be fascinating to see how Reid designs plays in those areas against a fast and physical Philadelphia defense. Elsewhere, the use and reliance of the running game could be another area to monitor. It is not like the Chiefs need to be exactly split, 50-50. Yet, Kansas City has had more success when Isiah Pacheco can really get in a groove. We saw how well that worked out for the Chiefs in various points of last year’s Super Bowl victory. If Andy Reid can get his guys rolling in these specific areas, we may just see him accomplish more history on Monday Night Football.
Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.
– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.