'Mad scientist' Andy Reid keeps younger coaches on their toes

Brad Childress is 66 years old and pleasantly retired at an age when most humans would rather live without the endless grind that comes with coaching football. To hear him speak about his buddy Andy Reid, however, you'd swear Chilly was talking about one of those new-age, hyperactive, offensive-minded whiz kids who have taken the NFL's coaching ranks by storm.

"People ask me if I think Andy will retire if he wins on Sunday," said Childress, the former Vikings coach and longtime Reid assistant, referring to Reid's Chiefs playing the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz.

"I guess I could see it, but personally I think he's still having too much fun playing and experimenting with his new toy. I can see him going and having five more years of fun."

Reid is 64. His relatively new "toy" is 27-year-old quarterback Patrick Mahomes, now a two-time league MVP making his third trip to the Super Bowl after playing in his fifth home conference title game in five years as an NFL starter.

Retire? Now? Please.

The old dog loves today's young pups on his staff and 53-man roster. Even listens to them when they yelp about trying new things. Like the time against Las Vegas this season when they wanted to run a merry-go-round-like huddle before breaking into a funky formation in which running back Jerick McKinnon took a shotgun snap, threw to his right to Mahomes, who then threw to his left for a touchdown in a super-cool play that, unfortunately, was nullified by a holding penalty.

Kevin O'Connell, 37 and Reid's junior by nearly three decades, loved that play's creativity, as we all did. The Vikings head coach and offensive play-caller then laughed and said, "It's a testament to the credibility and respect and foundation Andy Reid has to be able to run that play because a lot of other coaches around the league, we're chuckling to ourselves and saying, 'Man, I'd get crushed if I tried something like that and it didn't work because of a penalty.'"

"He's a lot older than some of us, but one thing I really want for myself that Andy's done for so long and so consistently is I really want my players and coaches feeling connected to me as a head coach, to know I care about them," O'Connell said. "To hear how players talk about Andy Reid the man, the coach, the leader … that's what we're all striving for. That's the way you want people to talk about you one day."

Childress and Reid first coached together at Northern Arizona in 1986. Childress was the offensive coordinator. Reid was the offensive line coach.

They reunited with the Eagles in 1999 when Reid became a head coach and Childress the quarterbacks coach. Reid was a third-generation West Coast guy having worked under Mike Holmgren, who worked under the originator, Bill Walsh.

O'Connell notes that Reid's offense still flashes an occasional West Coast staple, like the shallow crossing routes, but, as Childress adds, "Andy's offense today is completely different than the West Coast scheme we started with in Philadelphia."

Recently, Childress was talking with Matt Nagy, who left Reid's staff in 2018, took the Bears head coaching job, won NFL Coach of the Year, got fired and returned to the Chiefs this season.

People bring Reid ideas and Reid sends the person to the whiteboard to sell his idea and how it's going to work with the Chiefs. If he likes it, the play goes on a 3-by-5 card and gets put in a drawer for just the right moment later on.

"Good Lord, Andy has fistfuls of those cards," Childress said.

O'Connell likes what Reid does when those plays make it into a game plan.

"He's a fantastic play-caller," O'Connell said. "The timing at which he does things. His sequencing and pace as a play-caller … you just see how it all develops and then comes to life for them."

Some have dubbed Sunday's game the Andy Reid Bowl. Reid coached the Eagles for 12 years and holds the franchise record for wins (140). Should he beat the Eagles and capture his second Super Bowl win in four years, his 10^th season as Chiefs coach would end with him tying Hank Stram for the franchise record for wins (129).

Last offseason, the Chiefs could no longer afford Tyreek Hill, the league's most electrifying non-quarterback. So they traded him to Miami for five draft picks, assembled the league's best draft class and came back even better offensively, leading the league in points, yards, passing yards and first downs.

And yet never once in Kansas City has Reid won NFL Coach of the Year.