Andy Reid had more coaching wins than any NFL coach without a Super Bowl championship. (Chris O'Meara/ AP)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
The nice guy finished first.
Andy Reid, whose 221 victories were the most for any NFL coach in history without a championship, won his first major at the age of 61.
Perhaps the most beloved coach in the NFL, Reid earned the ultimate Gatorade shower when his Kansas City Chiefs pulled away from the San Francisco 49ers for a 31-20 victory in Super Bowl 54 in Hard Rock Stadium.
“He’s one of the best coaches of all time, but we wanted to get that trophy because he deserved it,” said quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “He’s someone that works harder than anyone I’ve ever known. He deserved it.”
Reid watched Doug Pederson, one of his coaching proteges, win the Super Bowl two years ago with the Philadelphia Eagles, his former team. But in 14 seasons with the Eagles and six with the Chiefs, Reid couldn't win the big one -- until Sunday.
Reid was typically humble after winning his first championship, crediting the Hunt family ownership and giving credit to his players.
“I told them I’d coach another 20 years if I could have that bunch. I’m so proud of them,” he said.
So the 100th anniversary season of the NFL concluded with the Chiefs winning their first Super Bowl in 50 years.
This one was for former franchise icons who fell short of the Super Bowl, like coach Marty Schottenheimer and Hall of Famers Derrick Thomas, Will Shields and Tony Gonzalez. And for Joe Delaney, the running back who lost his life trying to rescue three drowning children two years after winning the AFC rookie-of-the-year award in 1981.
Mahomes (26 of 42, 286 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) became the second-youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl and also was named MVP for leading the Chiefs to three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to erase a 20-10 deficit.
The Chiefs are the first team to win the Super Bowl by coming back from deficits of 10 points or more in each of their post-season games. They beat Houston after losing by 24 and Tennessee after losing by 10.
The Chiefs trailed, 20-10, heading into the fourth quarter. They closed it to 20-17 on a 1-yard Mahomes touchdown pass to Travis Kelce with 6:17 left, and went up, 24-20, on a 5-yard pass to Damien Williams with 2:50 to go.
The game came down to San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo having a chance to emulate Tom Brady, his mentor with the New England Patriots, with a championship game-winning drive. He took over at the 49ers’ 15-yard line after the kickoff and had all three timeouts available. But Garoppolo couldn’t do it.
He moved his team to the Chiefs’ 49. But on third-and-10, Garoppolo overthrew Emmanuel Sanders breaking behind the Kansas City secondary on a post route. Garoppolo then was sacked on fourth down.
“Those are the moments you dream of,” said Garoppolo (20 of 31, 219 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions). “We got off on a right note, but couldn’t finish it off. We didn’t make some of the plays we ordinarily make. It’s a tough one.”
It was particularly tough for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
He was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons when they led the Patriots, 28-3 at halftime, and 28-12, with 9:48 to play in Super Bowl 51. The Patriots came back to win, 34-28 in overtime.
Shanahan will be criticized for not using his timeouts at the end of the first half when the Chiefs had to punt just after the two-minute warning. Shanahan preferred to sit on a 10-10 tie because the 49ers owned first possession to start the second half.
The Kansas City victory earned a ring for Cleveland Heights native Kelce and Glenville High School star Frank Clark, and former Browns Mitchell Schwartz, Cam Erving, Austin Reiter and Emmanuel Ogbah.
But it wasn’t a victory that could be shared by John Dorsey, who was the GM who joined Reid in Kansas City in 2013 when this team was first assembled. Dorsey was fired in June of 2017, and then joined the Browns as GM seven months later.
Dorsey then left the Browns on New Year’s Eve of 2019.