Ranking the top five Kansas City Chiefs coaches of all time

1. Andy Reid

It would probably be fair to accuse me of recency bias in picking Andy Reid as the Kansas City Chiefs best coach of all time. It’s true that I didn’t get to watch Hank Stram coach at all. Meanwhile, we all just watched Reid lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in 50 years. However, I think Reid’s resume in K.C. backs up this pick.

Reid has coached five less seasons in K.C. than Stram did, but already has matched him in Super Bowl wins and passed him in division titles. In fact, there may not be a more convincing stat in Reid’s favor than the fact that Reid has won the AFC West in four of his seven seasons and made the playoffs in six of the seven. Stram won the division just three times in 12 seasons and made the playoffs just four times.

Reid’s winning percentage is far and away the best in team history at this point. In fact, he could go 2-14 this coming season and still have a better overall winning percentage in K.C. than Stram did. If Andy Reid were to coach three more seasons at his current winning rate, he would surpass Marty for most wins in team history. Plus he now has the Super Bowl ring to go with it.

Just in case anyone wants to make the argument that Reid benefited from having Patrick Mahomes and an incredibly talented overall roster that helped him win his Super Bowl, I’ll remind you that Stram’s Super Bowl team was one of the most stacked teams in terms of Hall of Fame players ever. There are already eight players from that team in the Hall of Fame (Len Dawson, Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp, Emmitt Thomas, Johnny Robinson, and Jan Stenerud) and ten more players that are in the Chiefs Ring of Honor (Fred Arbanas, E.J. Holub, Jim Tyrer, Mike Garrett, Otis Taylor, Ed Budde, Jerrel Wilson, Ed Podolak, Jim Lynch, and Dave Hill). That’s 18 players that are in either the Hall of Fame or the Ring of Honor.

So yes, Andy Reid has a great team to work with, but you can argue that Stram’s Super Bowl roster was even more stacked. In the end, I’m picking Reid because of how consistently great he has been over his seven seasons in Kansas City and is one of the greatest (and most influential coaches) of this era. However both he and Stram are absolutely worthy of being in the discussion.

So there you have it Chiefs fans, that’s my list of the five greatest coaches in Kansas City Chiefs history. What do you think? Do you think I’m insane for putting Todd Haley at number five? Would you have put Andy Reid at number one as well? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.