No one embodies the upcoming Super Bowl as much as Andy Reid – and not just because he coached the Philadelphia Eagles before becoming Chiefs coach.

When it comes to the upcoming Super Bowl 2023, people often talk about the “Kelce Bowl”.

Sure: With tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and centre Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles, two brothers will meet for the first time ever in the NFL’s big final.

But it could just as easily be about the “Andy Reid Bowl” on Sunday. After all, no one has shaped the fortunes of both franchises in recent decades as much as the man with the portly upper body and the distinctive moustache.

“Big Red”, as he is now also known, was head coach of the Eagles for 14 years before leaving for the red Chiefs in 2013.

He never won the Super Bowl with Philly. But even today, they still love the coach there who changed everything back then.

“He’s still a legend in Philadelphia, even though he’s not the coach of the Eagles anymore,” Brian Westbrook said on “ESPN.” The former running back played eight years under Reid and spoke what many in Philadelphia are thinking: “A lot of people appreciate him for what he brought to the city: a winning culture, a winning philosophy.”

The Eagles had lost 13 games in 1998 – more than they had ever lost in the franchise’s long history.

Reid changed Eagles history

Then came Reid – and with him, the turning point. Without Reid, “the decade that followed would have looked completely different,” said then Eagles president Joe Banner.

“Andy came to our interview with a huge book – they’re common now, they weren’t then. This book was five inches thick. In it he described everything in great detail about how he wanted to run the team,” Banner recalled.

Then he enumerated, “From how he runs training camp, to his top 10 candidates for every assistant coach position, to summaries of every opening speech of every coach he’s ever worked for.”

The obsession with detail is also what first comes to Doug Pederson’s mind when he thinks of Andy Reid. “I remember when I was a player. I was a quarterback in Green Bay, and he was the tight ends coach. One of the things he taught me and still teaches me today is the details of the job,” Pederson said in a tribute to Reid on “ESPN. “

Pederson was also an assistant coach with the Eeagles under Reid for a time and won the Super Bowl as head coach with Philly in 2017. He also reaped then the rewards that Reid had sown long before.

Reid led Eagles to Championship Game five times

Five times he led the Eagles to the NFC Championship Game, once also to the Super Bowl.

But attention to detail is only one of Reid’s many secrets to success. Another is his unerring sense of a quarterback’s potential.

In Philadelphia, he took quarterback Donovan McNabb at number two in the 1999 draft instead of the running back Ricky Williams that many fans had been clamouring for, despite fierce headwinds around him.

McNabb became a starter in his first season and was the face of the Eeagles for over ten years. His number five jersey has not been retired since his time in Philadelphia.

Reid was also responsible for Mahomes pick

A similar status could one day be attained by Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs. Already, the quarterback embodies the Kansas City team’s rise like no other.

The fact that he plays for the Chiefs at all is, in a way, also thanks to Reid and his flair for quarterbacks. To draft Mahomes at No. 10 in 2017, the Chiefs traded that pick to the Buffalo Bills for two first-round picks and a third-round pick.

Reid had a hand in that decision, too. Just two years later, Mahomes led the Chiefs to their first and only Super Bowl triumph to date.

Now both are making their next attempt to win the Super Bowl for the second time with Kansas City.

Reid feels part of the Kelce family

On the other side, then, is Jason Kelce. One of the two Kelce brothers whose story would have been different without Reid.

It was he who drafted both brothers: Jason in 2011 still for Philly, Travis two years later for the Chiefs.

“I’ve invested time in both of them. So I feel like I’m part of the family,” the 64-year-old explained, already looking forward to the reunion at the 2023 Super Bowl: “The Chiefs versus Eagles duel will be fantastic. “