Getty Images Andy Reid.
Head coach Andy Reid is leading his Kansas City Chiefs into battle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, for Super Bowl LV.
As Reid takes to the sidelines in enemy territory — while the Super Bowl is technically played on neutral ground, the Bucs are the first team to play in its home stadium– fans can’t help but think of how he’s looked on the various sidelines throughout the 2020 NFL season.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reid’s face coverings have evolved over time and gone memetic, with plenty of football fans finding levity in his various solutions and their seemingly inherent pitfalls.
Here is what you need to know:
Andy Reid Began the Season With a Plastic Face Shield That Was Subject to Fogging Up
This is all Andy Reid saw tonight
Shortly after the Chiefs took the field at Arrowhead Stadium for a hometown match-up against the Houston Texans on September 10, 2020, the jokes started rolling in.
The Week 1 game was the season’s first game since the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers, and it garnered a national broadcast on NBC.
Reid’s plastic face shield displayed various degrees of fogged-up opacity throughout the game — which his team won convincingly by a score of 34-20 — and became the talk of social media. The veteran head coach acknowledged the difficulties he faced after the game to the media.
“That was brutal. I didn’t do very good with that thing. It will be better the next time. I appreciate you asking that, though. It was a bit of a mess, but we’ll get it fixed,” Reid told reporters, according to The Province.
Patrick Mahomes trying to talk to Andy Reid like..
The face shield itself wasn’t the only thing that was brutal. Barstool Sports compared Reid’s fogged-up shield to being unable to defrost a car’s windshield in rainy weather.
His former assistant coach in Philadelphia, John Harbaugh — now the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens — confirmed he would not be utilizing a face shield after seeing what his former boss endured, adding that his wife thought the look would still be replicated by others.
“I dismissed that after last night. “She did mention to me, in the Kansas City area, there’s going to be a lot of Halloween outfits with face shields and mustaches — and foggy face shields,” Harbaugh said, as reported by ESPN.
Andy Reid Switched to a Cloth Face Mask That Clearly Did Not Fit Well
Getty ImagesAndy Reid.
After the difficulty he faced during Week 1, ESPN reported that Reid said he’d once again use a plastic face shield, but that he’d employ an anti-fogging product popularly used by NHL players to keep their face shields from being obscured.
Unsurprisingly, that did not put an end to the jokes.
As KansasCity.com reported, Reid switched to a cloth face mask for the Chiefs’ October 25 game in in Denver, Colorado, against the Broncos. Once again, Reid’s switch did little to stem the flow of jokes, given how ill-fitting and oddly shaped the mask appeared.
You can see some of the best tweets below.
Bill Belichick probably saw Andy Reid’s face shield, so he decided to wear two facemasks
Where’s Andy Reid’s face shield? What is this beak thing?
@PardonMyTake is Andy Reid using a #ChiefsKingdom napkin from the local Dave & Busters as a face mask?
Andy Reid’s mask choice is must-see TV every week
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