This weekend the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Super Bowl LVII. The meeting between the two head coaches — Andy Reid of the Chiefs and Nick Sirianni of the Eagles — is among the many fascinating matchups in this game.
Yet, for a sliver of time in 2013, there was a moment where these two men could have gone down many different paths, altering the course of football history.
During the 2012 NFL regular season, the Chiefs struggled, finishing with a 2-14 record under head coach Romeo Crennel. Crennel, who took over on an interim basis the previous season when the team parted ways with head coach Todd Haley, was let go at the end of the year.
That same season, the Eagles limped to their own losing record, finishing 4-12 under Reid. It was just the third losing season for the Eagles during Reid’s tenure, but it would be his last in Philadelphia. Following the end of the season, owner Jeffrey Lurie announced that his contract, which had expired, would not be extended.
As Lurie discussed this week, Reid’s job performance was not the reason why. “I think he realized that for his family, a change in venue was probably the best. He certainly is very confident in his ability to be an extremely successful coach again. I had that confidence in him too. That’s what made it so hard.”
Reid’s son Garrett passed away tragically at the start of training camp that year due to a drug overdose.
However, while one chapter of Reid’s life closed in Philadelphia, another opened for him. In Kansas City. The Chiefs hired Reid as their head coach early in 2013, and one of the first to praise the move was Reid’s former boss, Lurie. “Congratulations to Clark Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs for hiring a good man and a good coach,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said Friday night. “We wish Andy, (wife) Tammy and their entire family all the best in their new home.”
The move raised questions about the rest of the Chiefs’ staff, including a young wide receivers coach.
Nick Sirianni.
Sirianni began his NFL coaching career under Haley, starting out as an offensive quality control coach. When the Chiefs parted ways with Haley, Sirianni remained on staff under Crennel, with a promotion to wide receivers coach.
But with a new head coach in town, Sirianni’s job status was in doubt, and Reid did not waste time confirming those doubts. The new Chiefs head coach had someone in mind for the job, yet Reid took the time to let Sirianni know personally, something Sirianni talked about this week.
“He (Reid) had a guy that I really admired that he pulled me into the office and asked to meet with me and told me face to face that he had a guy, but had heard good things about me, and I appreciated that,” Sirianni said during Super Bowl media week. “His honesty, his ability to get to me as soon as he possibly could so I could move on and find another job. I didn’t get a chance to pick his brain at all on anything like that but got a ton of respect for Coach Reid and who he is as a person and who he is as a coach. His record speaks for itself, but you talk to anybody, and they think even higher of him as a person.”
Reid confirmed that brief exchange as well during Super Bowl media week. “When I came here, I was told Nick Sirianni is a really special coach. Really a good football coach,” Reid said earlier this week. “But, I had David (Culley). David was my assistant head coach and he had been with me for 14 years and so, he was coming with me. And I had to make that determination to keep Nick or not, and I knew being as good as he was and the reputation he had, I knew he was going to get something. And so, it’s worked out great for him.”
It has worked out great for Sirianni, and really for both coaches. After leaving Kansas City, Sirianni joined the staff with the San Diego Chargers, starting out as an offensive quality control coach, and working his way up the ranks, first as a quarterbacks coach and later as the team’s wide receivers coach. He worked under the team’s offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, and when the Indianapolis Colts hired Reich as their head coach in 2018, Sirianni followed him to Indianapolis, now as their offensive coordinator.
His next stop? Philadelphia.
But Sirianni’s time in Kansas City put him on the path to the Eagles and put him on another path as well. A more personal one, which he discussed this week. “Obviously, it was really important both ways,” Sirianni said. “Kansas City is a great town. We really enjoyed our time there. My wife had a lot of friends there. I made some good friends there, as well, none of which I would assume are rooting for us or our family this weekend, but that’s okay.When you have something as significant as meeting your wife there in that city, that place, that time frame, that city is always going to carry a special place in my heart because of that.”
As for the man who, for a brief moment, was his boss in Kansas City? He has enjoyed some success in the years since that moment as well. Reid won his first Super Bowl title with the Chiefs, and Kansas City has been to three Super Bowls, and hosted five-straight AFC Championship Games, during his tenure.
Now they’ll meet in Super Bowl LVII.
Something that was put in motion back in January of 2013.