Reid and Fangio Set to Meet Again
Andy Reid and Vic Fangio, two legendary NFL coaches, have had an interesting rivalry. over their storied careers.
The two will meet again on the biggest stage Sunday when Reid, the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and the team’s play caller on offense, meets up with Fangio, the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator in the Super Bowl.
If you’re looking at this Super Bowl as a bit of a chess match between these two coaches and the two on the other side of the ball as well — Philadelphia’s Kellen Moore and Kansas City’s Steve Spagnuolo — here’s a little insight.
Reid and Fangio have gone head-to-head 11 times over their long careers. The first time occurred in 2011 when Reid was head coach of the Eagles and Fangio was the DC for the San Francisco 49ers. Fangio and the 49ers prevailed, 24-23, in Philadelphia.
Surprisingly that was the only time Reid faced a Fangio coordinated defense in his time with the Eagles.
In his second year with the Chiefs, 2014, Reid faced Fangio and the 49ers again and lost again, 22-17.
Fangio moved onto Chicago in 2015 and faced Reid and the Chiefs again and the Bears won that one, 18-17, making Fangio 3-0 against the KC head coach.
And that was Fangio’s last taste of success vs. Big Red.
Long Run for Reid
Reid takes a personal eight-game win streak over Fangio into Sunday’s Super Bowl. From 2019-2021, Reid and the Chiefs beat Fangio and the Denver Broncos where Fangio was head coach six straight times. In those six games, Reid’s offense averaged 28 points per game against Fangio’s defense.
Then just a year ago when Fangio was the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator, Reid and the Chiefs won two more times against his defense. Kansas City beat Miami, 21-14, during the regular season and 26-7 in the playoffs.
On the flip side, Moore, who calls the plays for the Eagles offense, just as he did for the Dallas Cowboys from 2019-22 and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023, is 0-3 against Spagnuolo, the Chiefs heavy-blitzing defensive coordinator. In two of those three games, Moore’s offense failed to score a touchdown.
The first meeting came in 2021 when Kansas City beat Dallas, 19-9. The next two came a year ago when the Chiefs swept the Chargers, 13-12, and 31-17.
What happens Sunday may be totally different, just know that in the past Reid and Spagnuolo have had the edge on Fangio and Moore.
Second Best (For now)
This will be Andy Reid’s sixth Super Bowl appearance as a head coach (he went to one as an assistant in Green Bay as well). He’s 3-2 overall, 3-1 with KC and 0-1 with Philadelphia.
Reid is tied with Don Shula, who also went to six Super Bowls (2-4, 0-1 with Baltimore, 2-3 with Miami). Both trail Bill Belichick’s nine Super Bowl appearances (6-3, all with New England).
This will be Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes fifth Super Bowl appearance, which ties him for second all-time with Denver’s John Elway. Tom Brady’s 10 appearances is No. 1.
