Chiefs' Andy Reid leads the way in AFC West's head coach 'All-Star lineup'
The division now home for three Super Bowl-winning head coaches
INDIANAPOLIS – The AFC West is already loaded with talent across each team’s roster.
But the same can now be said at the head coaching position, where each coach has the hardware to prove his championship capability.
The Chiefs obviously have Andy Reid, who boasts three Super Bowl championships. Denver has Sean Payton, who won Super Bowl XLIV with the New Orleans Saints. Las Vegas recently hired Pete Carroll, who won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seattle Seahawks and a college national championship with USC. Then, there’s the Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh, who led Michigan to the 2023 national championship before joining Los Angeles in 2024.
That’s five Super Bowls and two college national championships spread out among the division’s head coaches, all of whom are potential future Hall of Famers.
And to put the AFC West’s coaches in more perspective, there are currently seven active NFL head coaches with a Super Bowl championship: Reid, Payton, Carroll, Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Rams’ Sean McVay. Three from the exclusive list are now in the same division.
Call it the NFL’s version of the Rings of Power.
“Oh, man, it’s just a great division,” Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I mean, you look, obviously you got the Chiefs, right? That’s who we’re all chasing. They’ve been the kings of the division for a long time now.
“There’s a lot of talent in the division; there’s a lot of great coaching – it just added Pete (Carroll). I have a tremendous amount of respect for all the coaches in our division and the teams themselves. I know a lot of the GMs and they do things the right way. It’s great. We get to compete against each other (and) try to get to the top.”
The competition in the AFC West sets up to become tougher when considering where Reid, Carroll and Payton sit among the Top 20 of all-time winning head coach regular-season records.
Reid is currently fourth on the list (273), behind Pro Football Hall of Famers Don Shula (328) and George Halas (318), and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Belichick (302). Carroll and Payton each have 170 regular-season wins, putting them inside the Top 20.
While the AFC West presents a fascinating situation, a division boasting a who’s who among head coaches has happened before.
“If you went back to the NFC East—and we are just talking about coaches within divisions—but (Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe) Gibbs and (Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill) Parcells and (Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom) Landry—I don’t know who was in Philadelphia at that time and St. Louis because the division was bigger then,” Payton said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Certainly, my first year in New Orleans, a couple of my closest coaching friends that I had worked with, we had to find a way to get past (Jon) Gruden in Tampa, (John) Fox was in Carolina and (Jim) Mora Jr. was in Atlanta.
“When it comes to your division and you are playing those teams twice, I would rather be looking at someone else rather than Pete (Carroll) right now, but that is a credit to what he has accomplished and a good hire, obviously.”
Nevertheless, the Broncos, Chargers and Raiders still have their work cut out for them.
With Reid at the helm and two-time NFL MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes in his prime, the Chiefs have appeared in five of the last six Super Bowls.
The Chiefs are a proven model of consistency since Reid took over in 2013, making the postseason in 11 of the past 12 campaigns. Reid’s teams have also won the AFC West crown in nine straight seasons since 2016.
“It’s fantastic to watch Andy do it,” Carroll said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Man, the consistency. I love consistency when people can particularly stay on top for a long time. Man, he’s just done all of that. Unfortunately, they didn’t wind up with this game (Super Bowl LIX), but that’s not to take away anything what they’ve established there.”
Hortiz, a native of Philadelphia, echoed Carroll’s thoughts.
“Andy does a great job,” the Chargers’ general manager said. “I’ve been a fan of his since he was the head coach in Philly – I grew up in Philly. And so he just does a great job in team building, his coaching staff is excellent, and they do a great job in finding pieces that fit and tailoring their schemes around the players they do have.”
In the meantime, the path to the 2025 AFC West crown still goes through Kansas City until proven otherwise.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach, though, understands the current makeup of the division among the head coaches makes it even more interesting.
“It’s an All-Star lineup,” Veach said. “We had a really successful regular season and went 15-1 [in the regular season with starters], but if you look at the games where we played against the Chargers, the games we played against the Broncos, they were probably our toughest games, our most physical games, and that’s not going to change. And those teams are only going to add to what they have talent-wise and get better.
“So, it will be a challenge just to win the division next year, and I think that’s kind of the mindset we have going in the offseason.”