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Andy Reid was fired from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012. His legacy and support within the organization have only grown stronger since that day.
In fact, the Eagles honored their long-time head coach with a small ceremony before he left town. There was never any ill-will, quite the opposite. The team needed to move on after years of embodying the definition of insanity, or “doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results” in the words of former executive Joe Banner.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has kept in close contact with Reid over the years and he’ll be in Miami on Sunday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, to hopefully watch Big Red finally win that elusive Super Bowl. Reid will be making his second appearance as head coach in a Super Bowl after leading the Eagles there in 2005. Philadelphia lost that game to the mighty Patriots, 24-21.
Lurie led Eagles players in a standing ovation for Reid before he left Philadelphia back in 2012. He called hiring Reid in 1999 the “best decision he ever made,” per Bob Grotz of the Delco Times.
“There is only one coach who can be the winningest coach in the history of an NFL franchise,” Lurie said in 2012. “Especially one that goes that far back as the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Donovan McNabb Chimes in on Reid’s Legacy
There is no quarterback-coach tandem more closely linked together in Philadelphia sports than Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb. Reid hand-picked McNabb to be his quarterback and the face of the Eagles franchise in 1999. They enjoyed an unrivaled era of success that spanned more than a decade.
Of course, the pair never delivered the ultimate prize: the Vince Lombardi trophy. They did get to one Super Bowl in 2005 and nearly pulled off a shocking upset. Some have blamed Reid for questionable coaching decisions in that one that contributed to the defeat. McNabb doesn’t want to hear any of that noise.
Per NFL.com’s Judy Battista:
“The tough part about it — people in Philadelphia love what we did,” said McNabb. “As soon as things started to go south, everybody pointed the finger at Andy. It was wrong. Andy took it. Andy stuck his chest out and took it.
“I don’t think it bothers him. But it pisses me off. It pisses me off because that’s what they go to. You should not be defined by the championships you won, but by the legacy you left. We wish we could have that one back in Super Bowl XXXIX, but how many coaches have the opportunity to get back 15 years later?”
Reid remains the winningest coach without a Super Bowl title or NFL Championship in league history, per NFL Research. Reid invited McNabb to address the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this week ahead of Super Bowl LIV.
“He’s been there and done it,” Reid said of McNabb, via CBS Sports. “He’s been in the league, played a long time. It was good hearing from him.”
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