KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs are 15-1 for the first time in franchise history, and they looked every bit the part on Christmas Day in Pittsburgh. In a week, they could become the second team in NFL history to win 16 games in one season, even if they would have to do it with backups in Denver.
And, well, can the coach of this historic team get some love?
Not in narrative.
In actual hardware.
Andy Reid should be a slam-dunk, runaway winner for the NFL Coach of the Year honor.
Yet as of this writing, in the Vegas sportsbooks, he sits third in the betting market, a distant 6-to-1 shot and trailing the favorite, Washington coach Dan Quinn, and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell.
Quick question, if you don’t mind: How?
Those coaches have been terrific. So have plenty of others in the league.
But what, exactly, is the requirement for Reid to win this thing for once? Is it literal perfection? Or would 17-0 even be enough?
Reid has never won the NFL’s coach of the year award during his tenure in Kansas City, and I’ll remind you he has three Super Bowls for a franchise that spanned a half-century without one. I can guarantee you he does not care about any of this.
But if we’re going to have the award at all, maybe we ought to take it seriously. If Reid cannot win this year — 15-1 with his starters and whatever happens next weekend in Denver with Carson Wentz almost certainly getting the start — you’re essentially saying he is ineligible. You’re saying that he is disqualified before the year even begins — that the best coach of the last decade cannot possibly be the best coach of the year, too.
The record should put him in the conversation. How the Chiefs have obtained it should end the rest of the conversation.
Recognizing every team must sidestep injuries during the regular season, this one has sure sidestepped a lot of important ones, and they escaped them all unscathed in the standings.
Before the season began, the Chiefs lost wide receiver Hollywood Brown, second on their depth chart, to a 15-week clavicle injury. In Week 2, they lost starting running back Isiah Pacheco for a couple of months. Two weeks later, they lost top wideout Rashee Rice for the season. Rice was leading the league in receptions, second in yards, through three weeks.
The Chiefs have started four left tackles, asking a rookie, a second-year mid-round pick, a free agent signed off the street at the holidays and a natural left guard to protect the most valuable commodity in football.
