2025 Super Bowl: Where Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid rank among the best QB/head coach duos ever

It's finally Super Bowl Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs look to become the first team to ever win three straight Super Bowls. We are witnessing a dynasty that has been created and managed by two men. After becoming the winningest head coach in Philadelphia Eagles history, Andy Reid joined the Chiefs and became their winningest head coach while picking up three Super Bowls in the process. Reid couldn't have accomplished this without a generational quarterback, which the Chiefs acquired with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Patrick Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith for one season, then was given the reigns to the franchise and quickly became one of the most recognizable athletes in the entire world. 

Reid is considered to be one of the best head coaches in the NFL, while Mahomes is the best quarterback in football. If they win a fourth Super Bowl together, where would they rank among the legendary head coach-QB duos? Let's take a look. 

What Mahomes & Reid would accomplish with a win

• The first duo/team to ever three-peat in the Super Bowl era
• Mahomes becomes the fourth quarterback to win four Super Bowl titles
• Reid becomes the third head coach to win four Super Bowl titles
• Mahomes could join Michael Jordan (6), Tom Brady (5) and LeBron James (4) as the only players in MLB/NBA/NHL/NFL history to win four championship round MVPs 

Other elite duos

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, Tom Landry and Terry Bradshaw, Don Shula and Dan Marino. There are plenty of legendary head coach-QB duos. Pro Football Hall of Fame archivist Jon Kendle published a list of his top 10 head coach and quarterback tandems, while our own archivist/historian, Bryan DeArdo, published his list of the top 20 coach-QB duos five years ago.

Both lists did not include Reid and Mahomes, since they were not published recently, but that allows us the chance to find a place to plug them in. Before we do so, here are DeArdo's top 10 greatest coach-QB duos:

A couple of duos that made the Hall of Fame's list but not CBS Sports' list are Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger, who won a Super Bowl together, Mark Levy and Jim Kelly, who made the Super Bowl together four times but never won, and then Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning, who won one Super Bowl.

What is most important when it comes to judging these duos? Is it Super Bowl championships? Winning percentage? Something more nebulous like their impact on the sports world altogether? However you want to slice it, Reid and Mahomes deserve a place on this list. 

Verdict

When researching the history that this Chiefs duo has made or is on the precipice of making, two names continue to come up: Belichick and Brady. For example, Mahomes and Reid are the second duo to reach five Super Bowls, the other of course being Belichick and Brady. Mahomes is now tied for the second-most Super Bowl appearances by a starting quarterback all time behind Brady, while Reid is now tied for the second-most Super Bowl appearances by a head coach behind Belichick. The two Patriots legends won six together, while Mahomes and Reid could win their fourth together on Sunday. 

Could we conceivably place Reid and Mahomes at No. 2 among the greatest coach-QB duos? With a win on Sunday, they would have more Super Bowl victories than any duo minus Belichick and Brady. Consider that Mahomes is 89-23 as a starter with Reid. That's a .79 win percentage in the regular season! Otto Graham is the only quarterback in NFL history to have a better win percentage, but he played in the 1950s and started 40 fewer games than Mahomes. When it comes to postseason football, Mahomes is 17-3. Those are already the second-most postseason victories by a starting quarterback all time. If you value winning games and winning in the playoffs, Mahomes and Reid are already a legendary duo.

The narrative has shifted from "Mahomes sure got off to a fast start in his NFL career" to "We are watching one of the best quarterbacks of all time" -- and rightfully so. Reaching the Super Bowl is almost the norm for Reid and Mahomes. In Mahomes' seven seasons as starter, he has reached the AFC Championship every single year. He has never not made the NFL's "final four!"

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How they have changed

It's interesting how the Chiefs have changed over the years. Back when Mahomes had Tyreek Hill, Kansas City finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in total offense twice in four seasons. When the Chiefs traded Hill away to Miami, some believed it would crush the offense. Instead, Mahomes and Co. responded by finishing first in total offense, first in scoring offense AND winning the Super Bowl the very next year. That's a credit to coach Reid as much as Mahomes. 

This past season, the Chiefs' offense statistically was the worst of the Mahomes era, finishing 16th in yards and 15th in points. Instead of an explosive unit, Reid fielded an efficient offense that looked to control time of possession, take care of the football and win on third/fourth down. That game plan worked just as well, since the Chiefs find themselves in the big game once again.

Clutch factor

Apart from winning in different ways, perhaps the defining factor of this Chiefs dynasty is the clutch factor that Reid and Mahomes clearly possess. Mahomes has created quite a reputation for not only being clutch, but a captain of comebacks in the biggest games as well. 

No lead is safe when you're playing the Chiefs. Under Reid, Mahomes is 3-1 in Super Bowls when falling behind by double digits. All other quarterbacks are 4-48. He's 5-2 in the playoffs when trailing by 10 points, and only Brady has more playoff wins when trailing by double digits (6). 

Mahomes has the best record of any quarterback in NFL history when going down by double digits (min. 15 starts), at 19-14. He is also the only quarterback with a winning record when trailing in the fourth quarter since 1950 (including playoffs) at 27-26! 

Mahomes' clutch factor is off the charts. He already has the second-most game-winning drives in playoff history with seven, trailing only Brady's 14. He's 7 of 7 on game-tying or go-ahead drive chances ending in the final minute of a fourth quarter or in overtime in the postseason. In fact, Mahomes owns an NFL playoff record with three game-tying/go-ahead drives beginning in the final minute of regulation. You can trust him to get the job done

It's difficult to compare and contrast a 29-year-old quarterback with quarterbacks that played in the 1960s or 70s. It's also impossible to register the kind of impact that Reid has had on Mahomes. What we do know is that this duo found immediate, sustained, remarkable success with each other. If they win their fourth Super Bowl in the last six seasons on Sunday, you could easily make the argument they should rank second all-time behind Belichick and Brady when it comes to greatest coach-QB duos. 

The most fascinating part of this discussion is that their story is still being written. We have yet to see Mahomes have a "down" season. The Chiefs make a deep run every single year. Reid ranks fourth in NFL history with 273 career regular-season wins, and second in postseason wins with 28. As for Mahomes, well, he's on track to become the greatest quarterback of all time.

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