Super Bowl 2023: Andy Reid of the Chiefs is one of the NFL coaches of all time with multiple Super Bowl appearances

When Andy Reid led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl for the first time at the end of the 2019 NFL season, it was the first time Big Red had attended a major game in 15 years. He’s already made two more trips since then, meaning he’s made four separate championship appearances when Kansas City steps onto the field for Super Bowl LVII against the Eagles.

Reid is the 24th coach in NFL history to have contested for a Lombardi Trophy more than once and has long been regarded as one of the best in the business. The 64-year-old has been named Coach of the Year nine times by four different media outlets since rising to his first top job with the Eagles in 1999. He has earned playoff spots in 18 of 24 seasons. And 10 of his teams have qualified for the conference championship game, including five in a row with today’s Chiefs.

But while he’s trying to earn his second ring by going up against his old team, where does Reid actually rank among the select few to have spearheaded multiple Super Bowl appearances?

Let’s start with just the active head coaches in this group. There are only five in total:

1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: 9 SB appearances (6-3)
2. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs: 3 SB appearances (1-2)*
3. Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks: 2 SB appearances (1-1)
4. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: 2 SB appearances (1-1)
5. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams: 2 SB appearances (1-1)

Note: * = Reid will be performing for the fourth time this year.

Belichick is obviously the clear leader of the pack thanks to his record six titles, but if you had to choose between Reid and the bottom three, you’d be hard pressed not to race with Reid. Here’s how they stack up in terms of career wins, playoff appearances, playoff wins, and win percentage:

Reid is simply the clear winner in every category: yes, he’s been doing it longer, but that makes his performances just as impressive, if not more so. For example, Tomlin’s win percentage is comparable, but his teams have made the playoffs nearly 10% fewer, and when they reach the postseason he has lost more games than he has won; Since losing to the Packers in the Super Bowl in 2010, the Steelers are only 3-7 in the playoffs. McVay is at record pace with the Rams, but after a 5-12 season in 2022 and repeated flirtation with an early retirement, he just doesn’t have the track record to take on Reid at this point.

Outside of this crop, only the Packers’ Matt LaFleur has a better win ratio (.712) than Reid, but he’s only been the head coach for four seasons and has yet to make a Super Bowl appearance. The Bills’ Sean McDermott, a product of Reid’s coaching tree, is just behind Reid in terms of win ratio (.639), but he too has yet to overcome a conference championship. In terms of overall wins and playoff appearances, the closest would be the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay but has since gone 6-8 in the playoffs.

In other words, if you place Reid strictly among today’s head coaches, you probably don’t take anyone above him, considering even the famous Belichick has only coached two playoff games in the last four seasons — and lost both. Recording a 25-26 record, including playoffs, since Tom Brady departed after the 2019 campaign.

But what about the all-timers? Where does Reid rank among them?

Here is the list of the most successful coaches by names other than Andy Reid, both active and retired:

1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots: 9 SB appearances (6-3)
2. Don Shula, Baltimore Colts/Miami Dolphins: 6 SB appearances (2-4)
3. Tom Landry, Dallas Cowboys: 5 SB appearances (2-3)
4. Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh Steelers: 4 SB appearances (4-0)
5. Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins: 4 SB appearances (3-1)
6. Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills: 4 SB appearances (0-4)
7. Bud Grant, Minnesota Vikings: 4 SB appearances (0-4)
8. Dan Reeves, Atlanta Falcons/Denver Broncos: 4 SB appearances (0-4)
9. Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers: 3 SB appearances (3-0)
10. Bill Parcells, New York Giants/New England Patriots: 3 SB appearances (2-1)
11. Mike Holmgren, Green Bay Packers/Seattle Seahawks: 3 SB appearances (1-2)
12. Thirteen different coaches with 2 SB appearances

Upfront, we can state that Reid deserves higher billing than Marv Levy, who was slightly better than Reid in playoff win percentage (.579) but significantly worse in overall win percentage. (Like Reeves, Levy has played in the Super Bowl four different times, which isn’t great.) Keep in mind that after Super Bowl LVII, Reid will have four different Super Bowl appearances with Levy, Grant, and Reeves, and he already has a victory under his belt.

Belichick, Noll, Walsh and Gibbs should all be among the top 5 castles for their outstanding Super Bowl records. Additionally, it’s difficult to put someone behind Reid who has actually secured a ring. There are 35 different coaches — active or retired — who rank ahead of Reid in terms of career playoff-win percentage, but if you narrow it down to those on this list of repeat Super Bowl contenders, he’s back among those Top 10. He also ranks fourth in overall wins for all trainers on the list, behind only Shula (328) and Belichick (298), absolute legends of the game. Even including coaches who won pre-Super Bowl and NFL championships, Reid ranks fifth in league history with his 247 career wins – beating Noll, Gibbs, Parcells, Bill Cowher, Paul Brown, Curly Lambeau, Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin and countless others.

If we had to cite a number, Reid probably ranks just outside the top five, just behind Gibbs, regardless of how his Chiefs fare against the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. A win would tie him with nine others who have collected two rings, while a loss counters with his extensive track record of making – or nearly making – the big game.