2024 Super Bowl Tip Sheet: Why Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Won’t Retire Yet

Kansas City’s head coach points to something his parents told him as a young boy amid speculation that Sunday’s game could be his last.

Four days until Super Bowl LVIII kicks off, and the focus is shifting to football …

• With speculation, again, running rampant that Andy Reid could walk away after 11 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs (25 as an NFL head coach including the Philadelphia Eagles, and 42 seasons in coaching), Reid was asked about the prospect of retirement during his news conference Wednesday. In response, he relayed advice he got from his mom and dad when they were working: He’d know when the time was right to walk away.

“That’s what they would tell me when I was young,” Reid said. “I was an inquisitive kid and so that’s the way I look [at it]. Somewhere you’re going to know when it’s time. Today’s not the day.”

Reid on retirement: "Somewhere you’re going to know when it’s time. Today’s not the day.” :: Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY Sports

And while people who work with Reid haven’t been told anything about that one way or the other, the people I’ve talked to don’t see him walking away after this season. One mentioned to me that regardless of how early you get to work, or how late you leave, it’s rare that you’ll pull into or out of the Chiefs’ parking lot and not see Reid’s car—a sign that his passion for the job hasn’t waned in the least.

Nonetheless, there is an expectation in some corners that he could take a week or two after the season to let things cool off before making anything final.

---

• All the rumblings from the San Francisco 49ers’ defense over the past week or so have followed a pattern. How the unit played against the Detroit Lions was, to use veteran safety Tashaun Gipson Sr.’s words, “unacceptable.” Last week, coordinator Steve Wilks used the same word to describe it, calling the effort “embarrassing.”

So where’s the issue?

Going back through the season, the one consistent thing that’s come up with other teams assessing the 49ers is how an enormously physically gifted defensive line hasn’t played to its accustomed standard—and how the team could really take off if that group flipped a switch. It’s something to pay attention to with the Chiefs having gotten an up-and-down year from their tackles, and facing the likelihood all-world guard Joe Thuney (pec injury) won’t be able to play Sunday.

---

• Hiring Jesse Minter as defensive coordinator Tuesday was a massive step for Jim Harbaugh in building his staff. Minter comes over with the Los Angeles Chargers coach from Ann Arbor, and his system is one NFL teams really wanted—so if Minter wasn’t set on joining Harbaugh, he would have certainly had options elsewhere.

As it is, Minter gives the Chargers a defensive wizard, a known commodity for the head coach and someone who’ll understand what’s needed from him in games, simply because of the way he coaches.

“Jesse’s a stud,” said Wink Martindale via text, who Minter worked under with the Baltimore Ravens. “Wherever he is, they play great defense—and that was with us in 2018, ’19 and ’20. He has a great feel for the game and calls it like a head coach.”

Which is to say Minter will call the game with Harbaugh’s bigger picture in mind, a bigger picture that he, obviously, did a really nice job helping draw over the past two years.

---

• The Dallas Cowboys are very clearly looking for an experienced defensive coordinator, with Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera and Mike Zimmer all having met with the team about its opening. No one should be surprised.

Here’s a complete list of Dallas’s defensive coordinators under Jerry Jones since he fired Wade Phillips, who was his last defensive-minded head coach: Rob Ryan, Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan and Dan Quinn. Three of the five had been head coaches before. All five had a wealth of experience calling defenses. So Jones wanting Mike McCarthy to look for a “head coach of the defense” should come as no surprise.

---

• With so many college coaches trying to come up to the pro level—even if it means a demotion by title—the opposite is happening with some members of Bill Belichick’s final New England Patriots staff. Bill O’Brien is at Ohio State as offensive coordinator (and maybe soon Boston College as head coach). Steve Belichick is at the University of Washington as defensive coordinator. And others, such as Joe Judge and Troy Brown, remain in limbo.

It’s enough to have one former staffer say it felt like they were being blackballed. That’s probably a little strong. But it’s definitely a reflection of how the league saw last year’s Patriots, beyond just the fact that the roster was so stripped down.

As for those still in New England, former Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns exec Eliot Wolf has been positioned atop the scouting department, and that influence is certainly evident in the three Green Bay alums (OC Alex Van Pelt, senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo and DL coach Jerry Montgomery) being added to the staff. Wolf’s close friend and long-time staffmate Alonzo Highsmith was also added as a personnel hire.

---

• The Athletic’s Dianna Russini’s description of why Mike Vrabel didn’t land a job in this cycle, which came via an NFL exec, was pretty funny, and may have sounded a little wild. But there’s a lot of truth in it. My feeling is that, of late, owners have become obsessed with how to structure their football operations, even over who they hire to fill them.

How do powerful, self-assured coaches such as Belichick and Vrabel fit into that? That’s the question. And, well, I’m not sure how well it reflects on anyone that the idea of who should report to who, or how the front office works, is keeping those two from coaching.

---

Could Fields be Pickett's competition in Pittsburgh?  :: Jamie Sabau/USA TODAY Sports

• The Pittsburgh Steelers keep talking like they’re planning to add more than nominal competition for Kenny Pickett in the offseason. “We’re not closing the door on anything,” owner Art Rooney said. Could that mean bringing in, say, Justin Fields to compete?

I wouldn’t close the door on that, especially with the powers that be in Pittsburgh having a good bond with the folks at Ohio State, where Fields starred in 2019 and ’20.

---

• It was at least interesting that the 49ers didn’t have Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle or Christian McCaffrey available to media Tuesday, putting guys such as Gipson and Jake Brendel out there instead. Especially since that happened in the immediate aftermath of the team’s practice-field turf war with the league. Perhaps the 49ers are making a point, in not cooperating as much with the NFL’s Super Bowl circus.