Everyone thinks they know why the Kansas City Chiefs keep winning. They point to the "Mahomes Magic" or the way Andy Reid looks at a laminated play sheet like it’s a Five Guys menu. But honestly, if it were just about talent or play-calling, they wouldn't have survived the mess that was the 2025 season.
We’re sitting here in early 2026, and the conversation has shifted. It’s no longer just about whether Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are "good." It’s about whether they are actually the most resilient duo in the history of the sport. Last year was brutal. A 6-10 record is enough to make any fanbase start calling for a rebuild, especially with Mahomes dealing with a torn ACL suffered late in the year.
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Yet, here we are, looking at a 2026 return where Big Red is still holding the whistle and Mahomes is grinding through rehab. Most people think their success is a straight line up. It's not. It's a series of pivots that would break most other coach-QB pairings.
The 2025 Reality Check and the ACL Factor
Let’s be real for a second. The 2025 season was a disaster by Chiefs standards. For the first time in nearly a decade, the AFC West wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Mahomes finished the year with 3,587 passing yards—the lowest of his career for a full-ish season—and 11 interceptions. Then the ACL happened.
When you look at the stats, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have always thrived on innovation. But in 2025, the innovation stalled. The offensive line struggled, and the " Mahomes-to-Kelce" connection finally showed the inevitable signs of age. Travis isn't getting any younger, and the league finally started to figure out how to bracket him in ways that frustrated Reid’s complex spacing concepts.
But here is the thing: Reid isn't leaving. At 67 years old, after a 6-10 season, most coaches with three rings would head for the beach. Reid confirmed just a few days ago, "If they'll have me back, I'll come back." That’s not a man looking for an exit; that’s a man who knows he has 307 career wins and is chasing George Halas (324) and eventually Shula. He needs Mahomes, and Mahomes needs his brain.
Why the "Genius" Label Is Actually Misleading
We call Andy Reid a "quarterback whisperer." It’s a bit of a cliché. The truth is more interesting. Reid doesn't just "whisper" to Mahomes; he lets Mahomes yell back.
In the early days, around 2018, Reid would sit Mahomes down between every single possession. He was teaching him the "NFL language." But by 2022, when Mahomes put up that monstrous 5,250-yard season, the relationship changed. It became a laboratory.
Think about the "Weezy Right" play or the stuff they’ve pilfered from old Rose Bowl tapes. Most coaches have an ego that prevents them from taking ideas from a high school coach in South Dakota. Reid doesn’t care. If a play works, he wants it. Mahomes is the only person with the "arm talent"—another overused phrase, but accurate here—to actually execute a sidearm no-look pass on a play originally designed for a 1940s single-wing offense.
Breaking Down the Wins
- Total Wins: Reid currently sits at 307.
- The Gap: He needs 18 more to pass Halas for third all-time.
- The Outlook: If Mahomes is healthy for Week 1 of 2026, they could hit that by the end of 2027.
The ACL Recovery: What 2026 Looks Like
Mahomes had surgery in December 2025. He’s already on record saying he wants to be ready for the season opener. That is an incredibly aggressive timeline for a quarterback whose entire game relies on "off-platform" throws. When you throw across your body or scramble out of a collapsing pocket, you need that knee to be a rock.
If he isn't 100%, Reid has to change the offense again. We’ve seen this before. When Tyreek Hill left for Miami, everyone said the deep ball was dead in KC. So what did Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid do? They turned into a ball-control, "death by a thousand papercuts" offense. They used 13-personnel (three tight ends) more than almost anyone. They adapted.
In 2026, if Mahomes’ mobility is limited, expect a lot of quick-game, RPOs, and a heavy reliance on the run game—assuming Brett Veach can shore up the interior line this offseason.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Dynasty
People love to compare them to Brady and Belichick. It’s the natural comparison, but it’s fundamentally flawed.
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The Patriots dynasty was built on "The Patriot Way"—a rigid, disciplined, almost militaristic structure. The Chiefs dynasty is built on "The Lab." It’s improvisational. It’s jazz compared to New England’s classical.
When things go wrong for the Chiefs, like they did in 2025, it’s usually because the improvisation gets too cute. But when it works, it’s unstoppable because you can’t scout "random." You can't draw up a defensive scheme for a play that Mahomes and Reid literally invented on the plane ride to the game.
The Success by the Numbers (Pre-2025 Slump)
- Seven straight AFC Championship appearances (2018-2024).
- Three Super Bowl titles in five years.
- 90 regular-season wins between 2018 and 2024.
That kind of run is statistically impossible in the salary cap era. You’re supposed to lose your coordinators. You’re supposed to lose your depth. They did. They lost Eric Bieniemy. They lost Joe Thuney. They lost L'Jarius Sneed. And they still kept winning until the wheels finally wobbled last year.
Can They Do It One More Time?
The 2026 season is the "Last Dance" feel without the retirement announcement. If Reid gets 10+ wins this year, he proves 2025 was a fluke—a product of injuries and "Super Bowl fatigue." If they struggle again, the "dynasty" talk officially ends.
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The dynamic between Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid is the only reason to bet on a comeback. There is a level of trust there that doesn't exist elsewhere. Mahomes mentioned recently that if Matt Nagy leaves for a head coaching job, he trusts Reid to find someone who "brings new ideas every single day." That’s the secret sauce. They are addicted to the "new."
Actionable Insights for the 2026 Season
If you're following the Chiefs this year, watch these three things to see if the duo still has the "it" factor:
- The Depth of the Drop: Watch Mahomes' drop-back depth in September. If he's staying shallow and getting the ball out in under 2.4 seconds, his knee isn't ready for the "scramble drill," and Reid is protecting him with a west-coast shell.
- The Personnel Groupings: If they stay in 11-personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) more often, it means they finally trust their young wideouts to win one-on-one battles without the "gimmicks."
- Pre-snap Motion Frequency: Reid uses motion to "tell" Mahomes what the defense is doing. If the motion frequency drops, it might mean they are trying to simplify things to lower the mental load during Mahomes’ physical recovery.
The story of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid isn't over. It’s just in a very messy chapter. Most people are counting them out because of the 6-10 record, but that’s exactly when Reid usually finds a way to break the NFL again. Keep an eye on the injury reports out of St. Joseph this summer; that's where the 2026 season will actually be decided.