The Kansas City Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday, seeking their second consecutive championship and third time in the past five years. There’s a lot of talk about the Chiefs joining his NFL dynasty as a result of their current unparalleled success.
Although this distinction is subjective, it cannot be denied that there is already one person in their ranks worthy of that nickname.
Let’s take a look at their one-man dynasty. Meet linebackers coach Brendan Daley.
You’ve probably never heard of Daly. But make no mistake, he’s one of the winningest guys in NFL history. Entering Sunday’s game against the 49ers, he’s already a five-time champion and has a chance to add to his illustrious career — perhaps even owning six Super Bowl rings. He will be one of the few.
However, Daly’s career began in rather inglorious fashion.
He was traded to become a tight end and played college football at Drake. However, it was clear that his future was not as an active player. Instead, he wanted to go into coaching.
But as the Des Moines Register noted in the week leading up to last year’s Super Bowl (the game in which Daley won his fifth ring), the road to getting there was a bumpy one.
He graduated in 1997 and worked several odd jobs around Des Moines. He bartended at AK O’Connor’s and then took a job at Stanley Steemer, cleaning carpets during the day and selling drinks at night.
But coaching was always his dream. When he got a call late that fall from Mike Rooney, a former graduate assistant at Drake University, he seized the opportunity. [Rob] Ash. Rooney was looking for a coach for his staff at Ridgewood High School in Florida. Ash saw Daly’s potential as a coach and recommended him.
“I loaded everything I owned into a pickup truck, smashed the back window, loaded the couch, and drove to Florida in the middle of a rainstorm,” Dailey said.
Daley paid his dues and worked as a special educator and coach at Ridgewood before returning to Drake in 1998. Although he was officially the tight ends coach, his responsibilities were wide-ranging. Basically, he had to lend his hand whenever needed.
Practicing shooting? of course.
Do you pack and unpack a bus for a road trip? Sure.
Daly served in that role for a year before moving on. villanovaMaryland; oklahoma and Illinois. He served as a tight ends coach, graduate assistant, and strength and conditioning coach along the way. He did what he had to do to make money as a coach.
And in 2005, he took on another role. That position was one he briefly held at Ridgewood eight years ago. When he returned to Villanova that year, he was asked to coach the Wildcats’ defensive line.
Since then, Daly has continued to serve on that side of the ball, making the jump to the NFL level just one year later. minnesota vikings He spent three years there, then another three years in St. Louis before returning to the Vikings in 2012 and taking over the primary job of coaching defensive linemen.
His accomplishments and extensive career have led him to be noted as perhaps the greatest coach in the history of professional football.
Bill Belichick and the Patriots hired Daley as a defensive assistant in 2014. Although he was a low-level coach at that point, he achieved remarkable results that season.
Daley won three Super Bowls with the Patriots from 2014 to 2018. He earned his first win as a coaching assistant and then transitioned to defensive line coach in the offseason. In that capacity, he led New England to two more titles, capping the 2016 and 2018 seasons.
Following the 2018 season, Daley departed for Kansas City as the Patriots made several changes to their defensive staff. He quickly won his fourth Super Bowl, and three years later won his fifth Super Bowl.
The success he’s enjoyed over the past few seasons goes beyond a hand full of championship rings. Daley has also played in every AFC Championship Game since 2014 (in case you haven’t counted, that’s the 10th straight year), and on Sunday he will play in his eighth Super Bowl. He will serve as a coach.
Compared to the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid, he seems like a fairly insignificant cog in the Chiefs’ machine. But he’s not like that at all.
Think of last year’s Super Bowl vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. This time, his position group made one of the biggest plays in the Chiefs’ 38-35 win. Linebacker Nick Bolton returned a Jalen Hurts fumble for a defensive touchdown. As a result of this play and his team’s effort, especially in the second half against the Eagles, the 47-year-old added his fifth win to his record.
No. 6 may follow on Sunday. But regardless of the outcome against the 49ers, the Daley dynasty is alive and well, and there’s no telling how far it can go.
