By Ossian Shine
LAS VEGAS – While the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers juggernauts continue to rumble towards each other for a Super Bowl showdown on Sunday, for head coaches Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan it was a mutual respect love-in on Tuesday.
The Chiefs’ 65-year-old talisman was full of praise for his young adversary, his junior by 21 years, telling reporters it will be “an honour” to pit his wits against him.
“I think he is one of the top coaches in the National Football League, obviously,” Reid said. “This isn’t just a one-year thing for him, he’s been doing this for a while now, so I have a ton of respect for him.
“He’s a great offensive mind but he’s also very sharp from a defensive standpoint and special teams which makes for a great head football coach and so a ton of respect for him and I look forward to the challenge of being able to do that on Sunday.”
Shanahan, too, was relishing Sunday’s mental arm-wrestle with Reid and his team.
“Andy is as good as there is, especially running the offence,” he said.
“Spags (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnolo) on the defence is as good as there is… they’ve been doing it for a long time. We all have real good players, so we’ll see how it unfolds on Sunday.”
Kansas are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots achieved the feat in 2004 and 2005, and the eighth team overall, while the 49ers are out to avenge their 2020 Super Bowl defeat at the hands of the Chiefs.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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