Chiefs vs. Jaguars Presents Andy Reid With a Great Opportunity

Kansas City's head coach can grow his legend against former assistants on Saturday.

When the Kansas City Chiefs take the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs on Saturday, they'll be doing so with an AFC Championship Game berth hanging in the balance. An underrated storyline for the matchup, however, ties back to head coach Andy Reid.

Everyone throughout the football world is familiar with Reid's success as a coach in the NFL. A resume that consists of 18 trips to the postseason, 13 division titles, three conference championships and a Super Bowl speaks for itself. For a coach with that much triumph in his career, it's expected that his philosophies will be absorbed by others. Coaching and teaching go hand-in-hand, after all. 

That doesn't always guarantee greatness, though, as the Bill Belichick coaching tree has plenty of leaves but not great overall health. Reid's tree, on the other hand, thrives in comparison. Pederson is a championship-winning member of that tree, but the student hasn't become the teacher just yet. 

Out of more than two dozen games against former assistants in his career, Reid has lost just eight times. That slate includes an undefeated postseason record, as well as a 2-0 record against Pederson overall. One of those wins came back in Week 2 of the 2017 campaign when Pederson was the head coach of the eventual Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles. The other occurred back in Week 10 of this season.

In that aforementioned in-season meeting, Kansas City came away with a 27-17 home victory behind 331 passing yards and four touchdowns from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Additionally, Steve Spagnuolo's defense tallied seven tackles for loss and sacked Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence five times. Jacksonville caught fire thereafter and finished the season on a 6-1 run to win the AFC South in improbable fashion, but the Chiefs may also be a better team now than they were then. Saturday could feature the best version of both squads.

If that's the case, then Kansas City has the advantage. The team put together an all-phases victory in the regular-season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders and has since had a week off to rest and prepare. Jacksonville, while impressive at times, can't reach the same heights as a firing-on-all-cylinders Chiefs bunch. 

The path to Pederson and company pulling off an upset contains some self-inflicted mistakes on behalf of the home team. That's always on the table when considering the Chiefs — especially when favored by at least a touchdown — but it's less likely come playoff time. With Reid facing a former coach of his and coming off a bye (he's 27-4 after a bye and 3-0 with a postseason bye with Mahomes), he has a unique opportunity to remind the Jaguars, the AFC and the NFL that the main root of the tree is still in charge.