AVENTURA, Fla. — Patrick Mahomes recalled a trip he took last year with Andy Reid to Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the Maxwell Football Club awards banquet. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said he was surprised by how much fans in the Philadelphia area loved Reid, the former Eagles coach.
“He’s a favorite usually everywhere we go,” Mahomes said Thursday as he, Reid and the rest of the Chiefs prepared for Super Bowl LIV. “Everywhere you go, the way he treats people, you can tell people love him and care about him.
“It’s his work ethic, the way he treats people. He’s a coach that’s won a lot of games. He’s had an amazing career. Obviously, we want to this game, the big Super Bowl, put that on his résumé. He’s someone who’s been successful from Day 1 and he’s still successful now.”
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Reid, who coached the Eagles for 14 seasons and the Chiefs for the past seven, is arguably the most accomplished coach of the Super Bowl era never to have won an NFL championship. He is seventh in career wins but has coached in just one Super Bowl, with the Eagles in February 2005. They lost to the New England Patriots.
So what he hasn’t achieved seems to be making him the sentimental favorite to win on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
“I’m humbled by it,” Reid said. “Very humbled by it. I have great guys here. Friends likewise around the league. Been doing it a long time. This is about this team, the guys that have worked so hard to get where they are. The players, the coaches, the organization. It’s a team effort even getting to this position. It’s not about one position. Right now, my complete focus is on making sure we as coaches do a good job, as players do a good job in the Super Bowl.”
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has an older brother, Jason, who played for Reid when he coached the Eagles.
“I had that mindset coming down here,” Kelce said of Reid being the sentimental favorite. “It’s cool that everyone appreciates Big Red as much as I do. It’s just been cool how many players that have played for him in years past that I’ve been able to make a connection with, have hit me up and said they’re rooting for me, not only for me but Big Red.”
Chiefs tackle Mitch Schwartz said, “It speaks to who he is as a person that everyone is rooting for him. He’s been in this for 20, 25 years as a head coach, and everyone he’s come in contact with loves him and wants the best for him. Usually, you can’t say that about people you work with, especially in a sport like this where there’s a lot of passion and there’s a lot of times where you can butt heads. But everybody loves the guy.”
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