As the son of a radiologist and a Hollywood set designer, no wonder Andy Reid tends to be equal parts pragmatist like his mother the doctor and animated artist like his father.
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But whether from afar or up close, when people think of his essence they tend to stress his bedrock consistency and constancy, harsh old-school approach to training camp and remarkably consistent routines.
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For a glimpse of that, just watch any news conference of his. Almost invariably, it begins with Reid stepping to the microphone exhaling “all right,” a recitation of injuries, reference to the challenge ahead and some snippets before telling the media, “time’s yours.”
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All of that tends to obscure something just as vital about the 68-year-old Reid, something that was subject to fresh scrutiny after his Chiefs’ precipitous tumble last season to 6-11 after five Super Bowl berths in six seasons.
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How much would he be willing to modify the offense that last season finished 21st in scoring?
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While the 2025 won-loss record may or may not have been a blip, that stat was the extension of a trend: Since a six-year span in which the Chiefs finished among the NFL’s top six offenses and led the league in scoring twice, the Chiefs had finished 15th in 2023 and 15th in 2024.
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Whether it was a matter of personnel or schemes, it was reasonable to wonder about the line between being stubborn and staying the course and to what degree Reid would adapt.
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“I kind of knew what needed to be done,” Reid said in his Missouri Western dorm office last month.
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But even if the signs of a reboot seemed promising after the Chiefs signed running back Kenneth Walker III, the Super Bowl LX MVP for Seattle, it remained to be seen how he’d be deployed.
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Until Monday night, anyway, when the Chiefs blasted Denver 31-10 behind Walker’s 173 yards on 23 carries — including a 60-yard touchdown run on a bold fourth-and-1 that in itself illustrated the abiding evolution of Reid.
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That play in part was enabled by a jumbo blocking package that was pivotal in several short-down situations, and Walker also scored on a trick play from 1936 called “Heisman.”
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Those underscored but didn’t fully encompass a prevailing mindset of renewal that actually should be of little surprise when it comes to Reid, who didn’t become the fourth-winningest coach in NFL history and win three Super Bowls by being stagnant or averse to change.
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Quite the opposite, as it happens, even if it’s sometimes more subtle than other of Reid’s traits.
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But it’s virtually always been there.
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As far back as 1999 in Reid’s first season as a head coach in Philadelphia, he told then-Eagles running back Eric Bieniemy something that has proven to be Reid’s modus operandi.
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“ ‘You either evolve, or you die out like a dinosaur,’ ” Bieniemy recalled in 2022.
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Certainly, that view has been evident all along to Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who was drafted by the Chiefs shortly after Reid took over in 2013.
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“Oh, without a doubt; I’ve adapted with him, you know?” Kelce told The Star on Friday. “I’ve been part of this offense since the jump. Look at what it was back when we had Jamaal Charles and Alex Smith, and even that offense in itself was a revolution from what he had been doing over there in Philly.
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“And then when old Patty Mahomes got here, he took it a step further in terms of the spread and a lot of the (run-pass options) really started kicking in.
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“It just keeps developing. I mean, he understands that more than anybody. You’ve got to keep growing in this league in terms of an offense. You can get schemed up in a heartbeat, so you’ve got to keep things moving.”
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While Kelce recalls that the changes from Smith to Mahomes were considerable, he reckons that the adjustment from last season to this may be even more substantial.
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“I guess you could say that,” Kelce said, noting the ability to lean on what he called a “superstar running back” with a dynamic run-blocking offensive line and tight ends.
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That said, Kelce wouldn’t call it a fundamentally changed offense.
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“Don’t get me wrong: It’s not like we got away from any of the stuff we did when Coach first got here,” he said. “He just switches it up knowing what type of personnel we have. … He’s really good at magnifying the positives in everybody’s skill sets.”
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Mahomes shared much the same view, noting that Reid always has contoured philosophical tweaks and play-calling to personnel to “play to everybody’s strengths.”
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At least in the Chiefs’ opener, that meant a heavy emphasis on Walker as Mahomes played for the first time since last December in what should be considered the next phase of Mahomes’ recovery process from season-ending knee surgery.
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Having not played so much as a snap in a preseason game, Mahomes completed just two of his first 12 passes on Monday before connecting on 13 of his final 15 and seemed to find much more of his rhythm in the second half.
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With Walker providing a dimension the Chiefs haven’t realized in years, imagine the possibilities when Mahomes returns to his full range of game and the Chiefs can enjoy the implications of defenses having to respect the run.
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“Now,” Mahomes said, “we’re trying to find that perfect balance of both.”
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They’re at last on the right trajectory because of this reminder of Reid’s own balance:
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Enduring principles can be enhanced by the essential replenishment of ideas — notions that might seem to contradict but that also sure can live in harmony.
瓦什格里高利
堪萨斯城之星
瓦赫·格雷戈里 (Wahe Gregorian) 在《圣路易斯邮报》工作 25 年后，自 2013 年起担任《堪萨斯城星报》的体育专栏作家。他涉猎过广泛的运动项目，其中包括 10 届奥运会。瓦赫是宾夕法尼亚大学英语专业的学生，并在密苏里大学获得了硕士学位。
