HENDERSON, Nev. — Until Chiefs coach Andy Reid says definitively that he’s coming back next season, speculation about him retiring will continue. And as he prepares for the Super Bowl, which could be his last game, he left his future open-ended.
“Am I retiring?” Reid said. “I’m ready to go right now. Let’s go. . . . Today’s not the day.”
Reid will turn 66 next month and is wrapping up his 25th season as a head coach.
A victory against the 49ers on Sunday would make him one of five coaches to win at least three Super Bowls, matching Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs and putting him just behind Chuck Noll (four) and Bill Belichick (six). He is fourth all time with 293 wins, including playoffs, and trails only George Halas (324), Belichick (333) and Don Shula (347).
“Andy is as good as there is, especially on offense,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday.
Retirement talk seems unfounded at this point other than Reid clearly having accomplished enough to walk away after a tremendous career. Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said Monday that he hasn’t gotten any indication Reid is winding down.
If he does step away, former Bears coach Matt Nagy would be a candidate to succeed him. He’s in his second stint as Reid’s offensive coordinator and has worked for him his entire career other than when he coached the Bears from 2018 through ’21. This is Nagy’s seventh season with the Chiefs.
Fields talk
You wouldn’t think 49ers tight end George Kittle would have an opinion on the Bears, but he does. He was adamant that they should keep quarterback Justin Fields and trade down from the No. 1 pick to acquire assets to help him.
“What the Bears should do is trade back as many picks as they can and build around a guy they’ve been trying to build around,” he said. “Give the guy some actual options — he has options but help him out as much as you possibly can. Build him up as big as you can and trust the kid.”
Kittle, who’s from Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in Iowa, said he was a Bears fan as a kid.
Gipson still going
When the Bears moved on from veteran Tashaun Gipson after the 2021 season, he figured that would be the end of his career. Instead, he’s about to play in his first Super Bowl as a starting safety for the 49ers.
They signed him in training camp in 2022, and Gipson, 33, has started nearly every game for them the last two seasons.
“I started talking to my financial adviser, and I started a Little League team,” Gipson said. “I was well-cemented into being Coach/Dad. That was a role that looked good on me. Then the 49ers called.
“I kinda just [accepted] this is the reality, and I was blessed enough to play 10 years, which is an accomplishment in itself. Then I got that call, and it changed my life.”
Gipson started for the Bears alongside Eddie Jackson in 2020 and ’21 and had four interceptions.
