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Judging by wins and losses, Andy Reid is one heck of a football coach. Judging by the ability to manage the clock, Andy Reid is one of the worst football coaches in the history of the planet.

Luckily, for Reid's sake, the former overshadows the latter. Unluckily for Reid, when his issues with saving time surface, they tend to pop up at the most inconvenient times -- like, you know, the Super Bowl against the Patriots or the divisional playoff game against the Patriots.

So, consider it somewhat promising news that Chiefs coach understands his issue. He wants to get better. Really, he wants to improve his clock management.

Stage 5: Acceptance.

"We could be better there,'' Reid said about the final two minutes of games, per ESPN. "Both sides of the ball, we could be better. It's about our working on it and we're doing that. We've got to capitalize on a few [more] situations there.

"It's a matter of just repping it, making sure I'm putting the guys in the right position. We've got to do that. We've got good players and we've got to make sure we've got an opportunity to make plays. It's important that the young guys see enough of the different looks, knowing when we have to get out of bounds, knowing we can score. All of these types of things are involved here and this is a good time to do it, when you can slow it down and work on it.''

This is good! This represents progress! Change could be coming to Kansas City this fall ...

... just kidding. He already knew all of this. He practices it every single year.

"We do this every year,'' Reid said. "It's an important part of the game. So many games are determined in that last part of the game, in the fourth quarter. The parity in the league has really made that an important part of the game.

"We work on it in camp. Really most of the work you get is normally during that time, now and during training camp. During the season it's kind of a review."

So, what has that annual review looked like? A bunch of two-minute drills that took on the form of an airport security line.

As I wrote after the latest debacle in January:

It's been more than a decade and Andy Reid is still running the five-minute version of the two-minute drill.

On Feb. 6, 2005, the Eagles faced the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter, the Eagles needed a quick score. Instead, Donovan McNabb methodically worked his way down the field on a 13-play drive, eventually scoring a touchdown to cut the Patriots' lead to three. That drive started with 5:40 left in the game. By the time the Eagles reached the end zone, only 1:55 remained in the game. They ended up running out of time.

On Saturday, the Chiefs faced the Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs. Trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs needed a quick score. Instead, Alex Smith methodically worked his way down the field on a 16-play drive, eventually scoring a touchdown to cut the Patriots' lead to seven. That drive started with 6:29 left in the game. By the time the Chiefs reached the end zone, only 1:13 remained in the game. They ended up running out of time.

Those two paragraphs are identical for one reason: Andy Reid, who coached both of those teams.

To really drive the point home:


And honestly, the best part about that wasn't even the actual incident itself. It was how Reid and then-coordinator Doug Pederson tried to justify their lackadaisical approach. Reid said, the situation "was handled right," while Pederson explained how the Chiefs didn't want to give the ball back to Tom Brady ... even though the Chiefs kind of needed to considering they trailed by two scores. Reid and Pederson could've responded to all those questions about that two-minute drill by listing their Chipotle orders and they still would've made the exact same amount of sense.

Seriously.

Q: Coach, can you explain why your offense huddled with less than two minutes remaining in a playoff game in which you trailed by two scores and the clock was running?

Answer A: That "was handled right."

Answer B: We didn't want Tom Brady to have the ball.

Answer C: Extra guac.

Answer D: All of the above.

See? Same thing.

All of this shouldn't overshadow the fact that Reid is a damn good football coach who quickly turned the Chiefs into a consistent playoff team. He overcame a 1-5 start and a Jamaal Charles ACL tear to make the playoffs last year. Alex Smith is his quarterback. In his 17-year coaching career, he's won 59 percent of his games.

The point being, all human beings -- with the notable exceptions of Leonardo DiCaprio and House Stark -- have their flaws. Clearly, time management isn't Reid's strong suit. It's an issue that's spanned more than a decade. It followed him from Philadelphia to Kansas City. It's not going away.

So it's time, I think, for us to accept Reid for who he is, with his flaws and all. And let us never forget where his true strength lies.

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