Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been having a great regular season so far, with the Chiefs going on a four-game winning streak before entering their bye week. This has brought the veteran coach another step closer to breaking legendary Hall of Famer Don Shula’s record and becoming the Winningest Coach in league history. But the chances of him actually making it before he retires is something that needs some digging into.

There are several factors that need to be taken into account while evaluating Reid’s chances of surpassing Shula: most regular and postseason wins, career win percentage, active coaching years, and years left on Reid’s current contract.

• The first thing to consider is how many wins Reid needs to become the Winningest Coach of all time. The Chiefs head coach, who currently has 311 career wins, needs at least 37 more wins to surpass Shula, who had 347 career wins, including all regular season and postseason wins across his career. 

• That brings us to each coach’s win percentage. Pro Football Reference lists Shula’s regular season win percentage at .677 (with 156 losses) and Reid’s at .643 (157 losses). The difference is near-identical for the postseason as well, with Shula coming in at .667 and Reid at .641. These numbers suggest that even if the Chiefs went undefeated all across the regular season and reached the Super Bowl, Reid would require at least two more seasons at the very least to gain 37 more wins. If we take into account the Chiefs HC’s win percentage, the timespan stretches to around four seasons.  

• When it comes to total years in the NFL, Reid has a slight head start over Shula. After playing as a defensive back for seven seasons, the late Hall of Famer went on to coach for 38 years, spending 43 years with the league. Meanwhile, Reid, who never played in the NFL, has 35 years of coaching experience. If all goes well, this puts Reid right on track to catch up to Shula by the time he reaches his 39th year of coaching.

• Reid signed a five-year, $100 million contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs in April 2024, locking him through the 2029 season. This gives the head coach three seasons to earn the honour of Winningest Coach, if he can maintain or increase his win percentage.

Of course, these aren’t the only things to consider. One advantage that Reid holds is his rank among other coaches with a greater number of career wins. The 68-year-old Chiefs HC is ranked fourth in ESPN’s list of coaches with the most wins, with Don Shula topping the list, Bill Belichick in second place with 333 wins, and late Bears head coach George Halas in third place with 324 wins.

The only contender that could beat Reid to the finish line is Belichick. However, after his decision to move to college football, that is no longer a concern unless the former Patriots coach returns to the NFL again before retiring.

Retirement is another concern for those rooting for Reid to become the winningest coach. But Reid himself doesn’t seem quite as concerned.

Andy Reid Makes His Stance on Becoming Winningest Coach Clear

Reid definitely cares about taking the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, but it seems he doesn’t think too deeply about what those wins mean for him.

The Chiefs’ Week 4 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium marked their seventh win at the stadium. With this win, Reid broke the tie for six wins at Allegiant Stadium, which he shared with former Raiders coaches Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce. But the coach himself was unaware of it until it was mentioned during the post-game presser.

“Thank you. I didn’t know that, and I don’t really care,” Reid said, laughing a little.

As the most experienced active head coach in the league right now, Reid already holds the honor of being the only HC to hold the record for most regular-season wins for two different franchises: 149 with the Chiefs, 130 with the Philadelphia Eagles.