The Michigan Wolverines are closing a deal to hire the former Giants defensive coordinator to take over the same post with the reigning national champions, according to a source.

Martindale, 60, is a home run hire for new Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore.

His Baltimore Ravens defenses ranked second, third and second in scoring, respectively, from 2018 through 2020. The Ravens won the AFC North twice in that span and went to the playoffs all three years.

His 2022 Giants defense paced the team’s 6-1 start and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016 with significant improvements on third down (from No. 16 in the NFL to No. 5) and in the red zone (from No. 9 to No. 5).

His 2023 Giants defense tied for the NFL lead in takeaways (31) and scored three touchdowns on pick-sixes. That included 11 takeaways in a three-game span from Weeks 11-14 to pace a three-game winning streak that prevented the bottom from falling out on a 2-8 start.

Martindale is also the only NFC defensive coordinator ever to beat Ravens two-time MVP Lamar Jackson (20-1) in Jackson’s 21 games against teams from that conference. His Giants forced two fourth quarter takeaways to beat Baltimore, 24-20, in Week 6 of the 2022 season.

He was a free agent after resigning from the Giants in early January. He is one of eight Giants coaches in the past month who either got fired or voluntarily left Brian Daboll’s staff.

Former Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, who was fired after the season, just landed as Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ new special teams coordinator, as well.

Martindale brings an NFL pedigree and a familiar scheme to Moore’s Wolverines.

Recent Michigan defensive coordinators Mike McDonald (Seattle Seahawks head coach) and Jesse Minter (L.A. Chargers defensive coordinator) both worked on Martindale’s Ravens defensive staff under Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh before flexing their play-calling muscles in Ann Arbor, Mich.

So Martindale’s blitz-heavy, man-to-man scheme will give Moore’s Michigan players and program some consistency on that side of the ball.

McDonald and Minter both worked for Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, at Michigan. Jim Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a national championship this past season, got hired as the Chargers’ new head coach and took Minter with him.

Martindale, interestingly enough, was born in Dayton, Ohio, and now will coach against the Ohio State Buckeyes in one of college football’s greatest rivalries.

It was surprising that Martindale did not land one of the NFL’s defensive coordinator vacancies with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys among the intriguing openings.

But joining Michigan puts him in a prominent position to win football games in the national spotlight and make a long run in college or an eventual return to the pros.

News broke earlier in the day that the 76-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer, after a report was widely shared from Miami’s ABC affiliate Local10, citing sources close to the matter.

Somehow, a rumor seemed to get back to “The Juice” that people thought he was in hospice care, because he then took to X, sharing a video from behind the wheel of his car and telling the camera, “I’m not in any hospice, I don’t know who put that out there.”

Hospice??? pic.twitter.com/OXLzs9jWO6

— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) February 9, 2024

Simpson didn’t address the cancer or chemo reports but added that he’s “hosting a ton of friends for the Super Bowl here in Las Vegas. All is well!”

Back in May, the former Buffalo Bills star briefly glossed over the fact that he had undergone chemotherapy for a cancer diagnosis in a separate video.

“[I] unfortunately caught cancer” in recent years, he told the camera, and “had to do the whole chemo thing,” Simpson said. He didn’t offer any additional details but clarified that he was “over the chemo stuff” now.

Never before a game! pic.twitter.com/F0rFCwWQ3n

— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) May 30, 2023

It’s unclear whether the latest reports of prostate cancer are connected to the previous diagnosis he shared, but from the clip posted Friday, it appears he’s at least healthy enough to host a Super Bowl party at his Las Vegas home.

Simpson moved into a gated community in Sin City after serving nine years in a Nevada prison for armed robbery.

In 2007, he was caught leading a group of five men into a confrontation with several sports collectibles dealers in a Las Vegas casino. The football legend maintained that he had only aimed to take back personal mementoes and items which were previously stolen from him.

The incident came a little over a decade after Simpson was acquitted in what became known as “The Trial of the Century,” surrounding the double murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994.

KENNEBUNK, Maine  — As long as they still have each other, they’re still going to go to every Super Bowl.

That’s the sentiment shared by three friends who say they are the final fans who can claim membership in the exclusive “never missed a Super Bowl” club. And they’re back again for number 58 — Super Bowl 58 — this year.

The three fans, all in their 80s, are Don Crisman of Maine, Gregory Eaton of Michigan and Tom Henschel, who splits time between Florida and Pennsylvania. The three are gathering this weekend in Las Vegas for the big game, and they’re hoping they can all make it to the sixtieth edition of the game two years from now.

The fans have sat together at the Super Bowl before, and they were still trying to make last-minute arrangements to do that for this year’s game this week. At the very least, they planned to get together for brunch on Friday, as always.

Eaton, 84, who runs a ground transportation company in Detroit, has been especially invested in this year’s football playoffs, as his beloved Detroit Lions won playoff games for the first time in more than three decades. The Lions fell just short of qualifying for their first Super Bowl, but Eaton said getting together with retirees Crisman, 87, and Henschel, 82, is the real draw of going to the big game year after year.

“Yeah, I’m a Lions fan,” Eaton said. “But in two years, I just hope I’ll be in good shape to be there again.”

The men have attended every game since the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the forerunner to the modern Super Bowl, took place in Los Angeles in 1967. This year’s game is at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Crisman and Henschel first met at the 1983 Super Bowl, but they didn’t meet Eaton until the mid-2010s. The fans have said in the past that they might be getting ready to let the tradition go, but every year they make the decision to do it again.

They’re part of an ever-dwindling group of people who have attended every Super Bowl that has also included media members, football executives, groundskeepers and others. Norma Hunt, wife of late football pioneer Lamar Hunt, was the sole woman to attend every Super Bowl until she died in June.

The fans all said the one thing that could keep them from attending is if they or one of the other two was not healthy enough or mobile enough to do it. Health concerns have cropped up for all of them in recent years, but they all said they’re feeling well enough to go this year and planning on the next two.

“I think that might be the factor that would definitely tip it,” Crisman said. “I’m not looking to be the survivor. I just go for the fun, and the guys. We’ll see what this year brings and address it in December ’24.”

The three men have witnessed all of the most iconic moments in Super Bowl history, but some of their most cherished memories of the game are a little more personal than David Tyree’s “helmet catch” in Super Bowl 42 or Scott Norwood’s missed field goal in Super Bowl 25. Crisman’s home is adorned with Super Bowl ephemera, right down to a collectible hat commemorating the first Bud Bowl, a promotion about beer that ran during Super Bowl 23 in 1989.

Eaton fondly remembers he got his tickets to the first Super Bowl from a friend from Michigan State University, Herb Adderley, who played for the Green Bay Packers. Henschel recalls being especially excited for Super Bowl 3 because New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, like himself, was from the Pittsburgh area.

Crisman hadn’t yet acquired tickets for this year’s game as of mid-January, when telecommunications giant Verizon surprised him with complementary passes for himself and his daughter, Susan Metevier. Getting to Las Vegas will be much easier than his trip to Super Bowl 2 in 1968, which involved a 24-hour train ride to Miami.

The three men reminisce fondly about the era when it was possible to get a ticket to the big game for $8. Henschel recalls getting a face value ticket to Super Bowl 3 for $12 on the day of the game. This year, the cheapest tickets available are more than $7,000.

Henschel, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, has a friendly rivalry with Crisman, a New England Patriots fan, as the two teams have met frequently in the playoffs over the years.

This year, the Patriots failed to contend, and the Steelers made an early playoff exit. But old traditions die hard, Henschel said.

“It’s funny because Don and I, he hates the Steelers and I hate the Patriots,” Henschel said. “Every time we see each other for the first time, we give each other the finger.”

It’ll happen again this year. And they hope at least a couple more times after that.

The Giants quarterback told the Daily News Friday on Super Bowl Radio Row that he has started running on an anti-gravity treadmill at the team’s facility as he rehabilitates his surgically repaired right ACL.

“My rehab is going well,” Jones, 26, said as he strolled. “I’m making progress. I’m three months into it, and I’ve started running on the anti-gravity treadmill. It’s going well.”

Jones said he has been working with head athletic trainer Ronnie Barnes, director of rehabilitation Leigh Weiss and assistant athletic trainer Phil Buzzerio.

“It’s coming along well,” he said.

Jones has said before that he intends to be ready for training camp. GM Joe Schoen said at the Senior Bowl that “the expectation is for him to be the starter when he’s healthy going into camp.”

When Jones got hurt last season, the Giants started Tyrod Taylor. Then they put Tommy DeVito in when Taylor got hurt, and even played DeVito for two extra games when Taylor got healthy.

Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton told Jones on Friday, though, that the Giants actually tried to recruit Broncos quarterback Davis Webb back to play for them when Jones got hurt.

“When you got hurt this year, Davis got a call about, ‘Can you come back to play?’” Payton told Jones and Eli Manning on The Up And Adams Show. And I’m like, ‘Davis, you took this job, you’re coaching.’ And then there’s some rule in our league that if you sign a coaching contract for that year, you cannot play. Anyway, I thought I was gonna lose our quarterback coach to the Giants.”

Fast forward to 2024, and Jones faces pressure to perform in the second season of his four-year contract. The Giants can financially escape the deal after the season if they wish.

Schoen holds the No. 6 overall pick and two second-round picks in April’s NFL Draft and admitted the quarterback position is under consideration. He could sign a veteran behind Jones or draft a rookie to develop behind him as his successor or eventual replacement.

The GM also needs to improve the offensive line to give his quarterback the best chance to succeed while carrying a $47 million salary cap hit this coming season.

Jones has sustained two significant neck injuries during his career on top of the torn ACL, too. And he did not appear to be throwing the ball comfortably against the Raiders prior to hurting his knee. So there are lots of questions.

But it’s positive that his rehab has progressed to running, which puts him on track to be on the field to make a strong case.

Sam Darnold, Backup QB, 49ers — Darnold was taken by the Jets as the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. Dubbed “the next Joe Namath,” he played more like “the next Browning Nagle.” Darnold had a distinguished career at USC, with a 20-4 record. In just two seasons, he threw for 7,229 yards and a staggering 57 TDs. The Jets swapped No. 1 picks to move up with Indianapolis, surrendering three second-round picks in the process. As if that wasn’t enough, the Jets gave Darnold a four-year deal worth $30.25 million fully guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus. All this without throwing his first NFL pass. Darnold struggled through a dismal rookie year, finishing with a 4-9 record. He lasted just two more seasons with the Jets, saddled with a horrendous offensive line and poor offensive talent around him. He was shipped to Carolina in 2021 for second, fourth and sixth round picks. He lasted two years in Carolina, playing well for another bad team, with an 8-9 record with 16 TDs and 16 INTs. In March of 2023, Darnold went back to his California roots and signed with the 49ers.

If Darnold must step in for Purdy, the 49ers would still have a chance to win the Super Bowl. In his lone 2023 appearance, Darnold impressively threw for 189 yards and a TD in a loss to the L.A. Rams. Kyle Shanahan is smart enough to keep a tight leash on Darnold, favoring the running game and short, controlled passes. The talent around him with Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey is far superior to the Chiefs’ offensive weapons.

Blaine Gabbert, Backup QB, Chiefs — Mahomes isn’t the only QB with a Super Bowl ring in the game this week. His backup has one too. Gabbert played his college ball at the University of Missouri. He was a 2011 first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars (10th overall). At age 22, Gabbert became the youngest QB in NFL history to start 14 games, but it was the beginning of a vagabond existence. He lasted just three seasons in Jacksonville, compiling a 5-22 record.

Gabbert bounced around the league from San Francisco to Arizona to Tennessee before joining Tampa Bay in 2019. He separated his shoulder and spent the year on IR, but the Bucs retained him for the 2020 season. It was a fortuitous move as Gabbert would only throw 16 passes serving as Tom Brady’s backup but did walk away with a Super Bowl ring. Gabbert spent two more seasons in Tampa, throwing just 19 passes. Then he traveled to Kansas City, signing a one-year deal. He started the last game of this season, a 13-12 victory over the Chargers, throwing for 154 yards and no TDs.

If Mahomes goes down, so does all hope for Kansas City. Gabbert’s lifetime 14-35 NFL record speaks for itself. He’s only completed 40 passes since 2018. In his two appearances with the Chiefs this year, he had three interceptions and no TDs on 35 pass attempts. His QB rating is a comical 47.

Elijah Mitchell, Backup RB, 49ers — “Louisiana Lightning” played his college ball at the University of Louisiana at Lafeyette in the Sun Belt Conference. He averaged over six yards per carry, scoring 46 total TDs in a little over three years for the Ragin’ Cajuns. His collegiate effort was rewarded with the 49ers drafting him in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. Mitchell was outstanding as a rookie, breaking the 49ers single-season rookie rushing record with 963 yards.

His 2022 season was cut short with a sprained MCL in Week 1, followed by a torn MCL in Week 12. By then, the 49ers had acquired RB Christian McCaffrey.

Mitchell hasn’t played much this season, but of all the backups listed in this report, he is the best of the bunch. When featured, Mitchell had multiple games of over 100 yards. He took the 49ers deep into the playoffs in 2021, running for 149 yards and a TD over two games.

La’Mical Perine, Backup RB, Chiefs — Hot off his MVP 138-yard, three TD performance for the Florida Gators in the 2019 Orange Bowl, Perine was drafted by the Jets in the fourth round of the 2020 draft. He struggled with a high-ankle sprain and a bout with COVID-19, ending his disappointing rookie year with 232 yards and two TDs. He rarely played in 2021, appearing in only four games, and was cut at season’s end.

There were practice squad stints with the Eagles and Dolphins in 2022 before joining the Chiefs’ practice squad in January 2023. He finally made his K.C. debut against the Chargers in the meaningless season ender for the Chiefs. He played reasonably well, rushing for 76 yards and catching three balls for 33 yards.

Perine excelled on the big stage in the Orange Bowl, but he has very little professional experience. If Isiah Pacheco was injured in this game, La’Mical could possibly see a 60-40 split with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but I’m not predicting much success against the 49ers’ stout run defense.

Charlie Woerner, Backup TE, 49ers — Probably the least known name on this list, Woerner attended the University of Georgia where he was known as one of the best blocking tight ends in the nation. That would explain his miniscule receiving statistics of 34 catches for 376 yards and a TD in four years as a Bulldog. Woerner was a 2020 sixth round pick of the 49ers.

It would be a disaster if Kittle exits the Super Bowl. Charlie has 11 receptions for 120 yards and no TDs in his three seasons with the 49ers. There’s a reason he’s known as a “blocking tight end.” The only other TE on the San Fran roster is Brayden Willis, a 2023 seventh-round pick out of Oklahoma. He caught 75 balls at OU but has not yet had a professional catch. I doubt it will come in the Super Bowl.

Noah Gray, Backup TE, Chiefs — Gray was a fifth-round selection out of Duke. The 6-3, 240 pounder had 51 receptions for 392 yards and was named second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference and second-team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation. Gray had two non-descript years for K.C. in 2021-22, but he upped his game in 2023. He caught 28 passes for 305 yards and two TDs playing in Kelce’s shadow.

Gray is a capable TE who’s in his third year of the system and has played well. He and Kelce both average almost 11 yards per reception, are similar in size, and sport a scruffy beard. The biggest discrepancy between the TEs is the 24-year-old Gray got married last summer and the 34-year-old Kelce is still in the dating scene with some gorgeous blonde rock star.

* * *

Look for Fantasy Billboard every week in the Daily News during the NFL season and a separate column at FantasyGuru.com.

The Dallas Cowboys are expected to hire Mike Zimmer — and not the outspoken former Jets coach Ryan — as their defensive coordinator, according to ESPN.

Ryan, a defensive maven who last coached in 2016, recently interviewed for the job.

The anticipated hiring marks a homecoming for the 67-year-old Zimmer, who was part of the Cowboys’ defensive staff from 1994-06, including as the coordinator from 2000-06.

Zimmer also served stints as defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals before becoming head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, with whom he went 72-56-1 from 2014-21.

He replaces Dan Quinn, who led the Cowboys to top-seven finishes in scoring defense in each of his three seasons as coordinator. The NFC East-rival Washington Commanders hired Quinn as their head coach last week.

Zimmer takes over a talented Dallas defense led by star pass rushers Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence that is coming off a brutal performance in last month’s 48-32 loss to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in the first round of the playoffs.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decided to keep head coach Mike McCarthy despite that embarrassing home defeat in a game that was largely decided by halftime.

Ryan, 61, spent six years as Jets head coach from 2009-14, advancing to the AFC Championship Game in both of his first two seasons. He failed to post a winning record in any of his final four seasons with Gang Green, however, and his tenure bottomed out with a 4-12 season in 2014 that led to his firing.

Ryan’s defenses finished top 10 in terms of yards allowed in all but three of his 12 seasons as either the head coach of the Jets or Buffalo Bills or as the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens.

He’s spent the past seven years as an analyst for ESPN, where was critical of McCarthy multiple times, including when the Cowboys hired him after he was fired by the Packers.

“It’s not a sexy hire by any stretch to me because you didn’t win,” Ryan said on “First Take” in 2019. “You were like the rest of us when you never had Aaron Rodgers.”

Despite his extensive NFL absence, Ryan’s name continues to come up on the coaching rumor mill. He was considered a possible in-season replacement for Denver Broncos coordinator Vance Joseph after his defense surrendered a jaw-dropping 70 points in a blowout loss to Miami in Week 3 last fall. Joseph, however, remains as Denver’s DC as part of Sean Payton’s coaching staff.

Ryan’s twin brother, Rob Ryan, served as Cowboys defensive coordinator from 2011-12.

The entire country watched Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs eliminate the high-flying Miami Dolphins and Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills, ascending from their pedestrian regular season to postseason excellence.

And we still all convinced ourselves that this was going to be the year for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. These Chiefs weren’t good enough to beat the NFL’s biggest buzzsaw and a soon-to-be two-time MVP on the road.

Five minutes into that game, we all knew: Never again. Never again would it be wise to bet against Mahomes.

And yet Super Bowl LVIII is now only days away. Mahomes and the Chiefs are 2.5-point underdogs to the San Francisco 49ers. And there are real, flesh-and-blood humans who believe that Niners second-year, seventh-round pick Brock Purdy is going to beat Mahomes head-to-head for the Lombardi Trophy.

As former President George W. Bush once said, butchering an old adage: “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

What more does Mahomes have to do to convince every fan that he or she will make money by playing the Chiefs’ moneyline at the Vegas sportsbooks this Sunday?

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts had 374 yards of offense, four touchdowns and one turnover in Super Bowl LVII in Arizona last year. He lost to Mahomes and the Chiefs, 38-35.

Mahomes is 14-3 for his career in the playoffs and 2-1 in Super Bowls.

His only losses came to Tom Brady twice and Joe Burrow once. His only Super Bowl loss was to Brady’s Buccaneers in Tampa’s home stadium in February 2021.

Mahomes now has won six playoff games in a row and is on the verge of repeating as a champion.

Not to discount how Purdy has exceeded expectations as Kyle Shanahan’s point guard.

It’s amazing that a Mr. Irrelevant draft pick would even get this far. The 49ers’ supreme confidence in him is evident and says everything about his makeup.

But it would be ignorant to dismiss how shockingly steady Mahomes’ heartbeat has been this postseason, as if he is now emotionally unfazed by the stage.

It’s not about him being a first-round pick and Purdy being a seventh-rounder. It’s about experience and ability.

Even when the Bills had multiple chances to take it from Kansas City in hostile Buffalo, Mahomes looked like he was taking a walk in the park on a Saturday.

The 49ers, meanwhile, should have lost to the Green Bay Packers and should have lost to the Detroit Lions. And they know it.

There were moments during both games when the broadcast showed the faces of the Niners’ players, such as left tackle Trent Williams, and it was clear that many of them felt their season was about to come to an end.

To Purdy’s credit, he has been resilient when his team’s backs have been against the wall.

Purdy and the 49ers outscored Jordan Love’s Packers 10-0 in the fourth quarter, including a decisive, game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter captained by their young QB.

Purdy’s Niners also outscored Jared Goff’s Detroit Lions 27-7 in their furious NFC Championship comeback to earn this Super Bowl berth.

His 48 rushing yards against Detroit definitely gave the Chiefs defense something to think about, too. As if they don’t have enough on their plate already with Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk on the field.

And certainly, if the 49ers could return to their dominant regular season form for this Super Bowl, in theory they wouldn’t have much problem with the Chiefs at all.

Still, the point of this exercise is that we’ve been taught over and over again about how dangerous it is to get lost in the weeds when evaluating a matchup against Mahomes.

Truly, the only wild card is probably the recent DWI arrest of his father, Patrick Mahomes Sr. It’s always unpredictable how players’ personal lives may impact their performance.

They’re humans first, after all.

Still, Mahomes’ steely gaze, steady body language and efficient play this postseason foreshadows a cold-blooded killer strutting into Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.

And while history has shown us that he’s not invincible, it has also taught the NFL world that he’s pretty darn close.

Sunday’s NFL title bout in Las Vegas again pits Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, the venerable two-time champion whose masterful trick plays and in-game adjustments stifle the stoutest of defenses, against San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, whose explosive, quarterback-friendly scheme can turn even pedestrian pocket passers into Pro Bowlers.

The Chiefs got the better of the Niners when these teams met in Super Bowl LIV four years ago, with San Francisco squandering a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in what remains one of several legacy-defining collapses for Shanahan.

That long-awaited first championship validated the veteran Reid in the same way a win Sunday would check the most elusive box on Shanahan’s otherwise illustrious résumé.

Despite their many similarities, Reid, 65, and Shanahan, 44, took very different paths to get back to the big game.

Reid’s football journey began in working-class Los Angeles, where he grew up the son of a Hollywood scenic artist and a radiologist. An early growth spurt made Reid a football natural. At age 13, he famously towered over the other children in a 1971 “Punt, Pass, and Kick” competition that aired years later on “Monday Night Football.”

Reid, who stands at 6-3, played offensive line at BYU from 1978-80. There, he displayed his high football IQ, frequently picking the brain of coach LaVelle Edwards, who encouraged him to pursue coaching rather than become a writer as he aspired.

Upon graduating, Reid spent nearly a decade coaching at different colleges until Mike Holmgren hired Reid to his Green Bay Packers staff in 1992. Reid held multiple offensive coaching roles with Green Bay, including becoming quarterbacks coach in 1997 for a position group led by Brett Favre.

In Reid’s first season as quarterbacks coach, Favre won his third consecutive MVP and led the NFL with 35 touchdown passes. The next year, Favre led the NFL with 4,212 passing yards.

“It’s simple,” Favre told ESPN of Reid in a 2020 feature. “He calls plays that expose the strengths of his players.”

In 1999, Reid became head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, taking over a wayward franchise fresh off a 3-13 season and a 6-9-1 campaign before that. Within two years, Reid turned Philly into a perennial power, winning at least 11 games five seasons in a row from 2000-04.

The Eagles made it to the NFC Championship in four consecutive seasons from 2001-04. They advanced to the Super Bowl in only the last of those seasons, however, and fell to Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the dynastic New England Patriots.

Reid went 130-93-1 over 14 seasons with the Eagles. Playmakers including Terrell Owens, Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy thrived in his system, earning first-team All-Pro honors. Quarterback Donovan McNabb made six Pro Bowls under Reid and finished second in 2000 MVP voting.

But Reid earned a reputation for not being able to win the big one. The Eagles decided not to bring Reid back after a career-worst 4-12 season in 2012. The Chiefs hired him soon afterward.

Reid turned around the Chiefs even more quickly than he did the Eagles. Fresh off a 2-14 disaster, Kansas City went 11-5 in its first year under Reid and made the playoffs.

The Chiefs reached the playoffs in four of their first five seasons with Reid, but they took off even further in 2018, when Patrick Mahomes became the starting quarterback.

Mahomes, who excels at delivering off-script highlights as much as he does running an intricate offense, proved to be a perfect partner for the mad-football-scientist Reid. Mahomes passed for 5,097 yards and an NFL-high 50 touchdowns in his first season as a starter. He won the Super Bowl in his second, and made it back in his third.

Last season, after the Chiefs traded top weapon Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins, Mahomes and Reid elevated an average-at-best wide receiver group and carried them to their second Super Bowl championship.

“He listens and he understands what each QB is good at and what each QB needs to improve on,” Mahomes told ESPN in that same 2020 feature. “He doesn’t put the QB in a bad situation. No matter who the quarterback, no matter what his skill set is, he designs the offense around that. That’s different than what a lot of other coaches do. They run their offense and insert the quarterback into it.”

With a win Sunday, Reid would become the fifth head coach with three Super Bowl wins. Shanahan, meanwhile, is still searching for his first.

Shanahan was born into football, the son of Mike Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowls as head coach of the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s.

The younger Shanahan became a staple of the Broncos’ sideline as a teenager, holding cords for his father during the 1997 Broncos’ Super Bowl run.

“I got made fun of a lot for it, but it was neat to be up front and personal with everything,” Shanahan recalled in 2018.

Shanahan, a college wide receiver for Duke and Texas, broke into the NFL as an offensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2004-05. He then joined the Houston Texans as wide receivers coach in 2006 before becoming the team’s quarterbacks coach a year later.

Shahanan quickly established himself as one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the NFL. In 2008, the Texans made the 28-year-old Shanahan the league’s youngest offensive coordinator.

“I’ve worked side-by-side with him, and his knowledge of attacking coverages is beyond his years,” Texans head coach Gary Kubiak told the Houston Chronicle at the time. “I think he’s going to make an excellent play-caller, too.”

Indeed, he did. The Texans ranked third in the NFL by averaging 382.1 yards per game during Shanahan’s first season as coordinator. The next year, former third-round pick Matt Shaub led the NFL with 4,770 pass yards and made the Pro Bowl.

Shanahan then joined his father in Washington, serving as offensive coordinator there from 2010-13. Those teams, with a revolving door at quarterback, weren’t as successful, though Washington’s offense managed to finish fourth in scoring in 2012.

Shanahan spent another uneven season with the then-dysfunctional Cleveland Browns in 2014 before the Atlanta Falcons hired him as their offensive coordinator in 2015.

The Falcons soared under Shanahan, particularly in 2016, when he ran the NFL’s top-scoring offense and helped Matt Ryan win MVP during a career-best season. That season ended in heartbreak, however, as the Falcons squandered a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI and lost to the Brady, Belichick and the Patriots.

During that epic collapse, which remains the biggest choke in Super Bowl history, Shanahan’s offense failed to score in the final 23 minutes and 31 seconds of regulation.

Shanahan landed his first NFL head coaching gig after that rough Super Bowl showing, taking over a spiraling San Francisco team that just went 2-14.

The 49ers went 6-10 in their first year under Shanahan but 5-0 in games started by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom they acquired midseason from the Patriots. They slumped to 4-12 in 2018, with an ACL tear costing Garoppolo all but three games that season.

With Garoppolo finally healthy, San Francisco surged in 2019, riding the NFL’s second-ranked offense to a 13-3 record. Garoppolo, a steady but unspectacular passer, threw for 3,978 and 27 touchdowns.

That season, too, ended in heartbreak, however, with the Chiefs engineering their double-digit comeback against the Niners in an eventual 31-20 Super Bowl victory. Shanahan’s offense went scoreless in the final 17 minutes and 35 seconds in that one.

San Francisco returned to the NFC Championship Game after the 2021 and 2022 seasons but failed to make it back to the Super Bowl. Like they did for so long with Reid, repeated failures to win the big one continue to hang over Shanahan.

This year represents perhaps Shanahan’s best shot. His Niners opened as 2.5-point favorites after cruising to the NFC’s top seed behind the NFL’s second-ranked scoring offense.

Seventh-round quarterback Brock Purdy ran Shanahan’s offense better than Garoppolo ever did, efficiently getting the ball to playmakers Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle with precise passes over the middle and letting them explode for yards after the catch.

But the Niners seemed shaky in their two playoff wins, needing second-half comebacks to survive upset attempts by the underdog Packers and Detroit Lions. The Chiefs, meanwhile, are peaking at the perfect time, rolling past the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens behind timely offense and shutdown defense.

The 2022 arrival of McCaffrey, who led the NFL with 2,023 scrimmage yards this season, added extra intrigue, considering the do-it-all running back’s father, former Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, won two Super Bowls with Mike Shanahan. Ed also won the 1995 Super Bowl with the Niners.

Both Reid and Shanahan boast impressive coaching trees. Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh, Doug Pederson, Todd Bowles and Ron Rivera are among those who coached under Reid, while Mike McDaniel, Robert Saleh, DeMeco Ryans, Matt LaFleur and Bobby Slowik worked with Shanahan.

There’s no denying Reid and Shanahan are among the NFL’s elite coaches. A win on Sunday will solidify one coach’s greatness even further.

On Thursday night in Las Vegas, ahead of the annual NFL Honors awards show, Jets owner Woody Johnson spoke to reporters publicly for the first time since last March during the NFL annual meetings.

Johnson didn’t hide his emotions about Gang Green finishing 7-10 for the second consecutive year.

“They’ve seen me about as mad as I could be with what was going on with the offense particularly,” Johnson said. “We’ve got all this talent and we’ve got to deploy talent properly.

“I think they all got the message. We’ve got to produce this year. This is not a playoff mandate, but we have to do a lot better than seven wins.”

When Johnson met with reporters at the annual meetings last year, he didn’t give a playoff mandate to Douglas and Saleh. Eleven months later, it certainly sounds like he is giving one for 2024.

Douglas became the Jets general manager in 2019. Since then, the Jets have a 27-56 record.

Johnson hired Saleh two years later, but the franchise has remained mediocre. Gang Green is 18-33 with Saleh roaming the sidelines.

The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, the longest postseason drought in North American sports. Many expected that to change after the Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers in a trade with the Packers last April. However, Rodgers tore his Achilles four offensive plays into the Jets’ season opener against the Bills on Sept. 11 and he didn’t play again.

“What does it feel like having your arm chopped off,” Johnson said about Rodgers’ Achilles injury. “That’s about it.”

Following Rodgers’ injury, Douglas and Saleh backed Zach Wilson, who once again became the team’s starting quarterback. However, Wilson struggled just like he had the previous season. His final numbers were 2,271 yards passing, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 60.1% of his passes in 11 starts.

That led to Wilson being benched for Tim Boyle before he returned under center after Boyle’s release. Wilson led the Jets to a 4-7 record before suffering a season-ending concussion.

After being selected second overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, Wilson was once believed to be the Jets’ future franchise quarterback. But after throwing for 6,293 yards, 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions in three seasons, the Jets are expected to trade Wilson this offseason.

“We need a backup quarterback,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have one last year.”

Their targets to upgrade their backup QB situation this offseason could include Ryan Tannehill of the Titans, Jacoby Brissett (Commanders), and Gardner Minshew (Colts), who will all be unrestricted free agents.

Gang Green will enter free agency with $4.9 million under the salary cap. However, the Jets have the ability to add close to $70 million with a few contract restructures.

Douglas and Saleh were both criticized for their decision to keep Wilson as the Jets’ starting QB. The only quarterback the Jets signed after Rodgers’ injury was Trevor Siemian, who started the final three games of the season.

During the last two years, the Jets offense has been one of worst units in the NFL. In 2022, Gang Green finished 25th in yards (318.2) and 29th in points per game (17.4).

The Jets and Mike LaFleur parted ways after the 2022 season, and Nathaniel Hackett was then hired as the team’s offensive coordinator. Somehow, the Jets offense was worse statistically last season. They finished 31st in yards and 29th in points per game (15.8).

Along with the quarterback position, the Jets’ offensive line has been a source of the team’s problems. Gang Green used 14 combinations in 17 games, leading the league.

Meanwhile, the Jets have fielded a top-five defensive unit for the last two seasons. That includes the 2023 season when Gang Green allowed 292.3 yards per game, which was third in the league.

“It has really been about the offense the last five years,” Johnson said. “The offense has to score to keep the defense off the field.

“We are developing a really good plan for free agency.”

6:30 p.m., 49ers by 2 ½, 47 ½

HANK’S HONEYS:  Let’s start with the obvious, the 49ers are the more talented team across the board while the Chiefs are the more playoff-seasoned team lead by the NFL’s best QB, both in the clutch and as an underdog. That makes this an extremely tough call. We can also say that, while the Chiefs seem to be improving with each week, the Niners are playing well below their talent level. Can they turn it on against much better competition?

You can’t overlook two factors: Andy Reid’s success with two weeks of preparation time and that Steve Spagnuolo is arguably among the best big game defense coordinators ever, including a Super Bowl upset of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Out of necessity, Reid’s playbook isn’t as explosively diverse or as complicated as it has been in recent years, but the 49ers have recently displayed a few defensive weaknesses that he can exploit. As for Spagnuolo, granted, this is no ordinary offense he’s scheming against. Kyle Shanahan’s offense is free-flowing and creative. It’s Sid Gillman. It’s Bill Walsh. It’s his father Mike. It forces a defense to cover the entire field, and, in the superbly versatile RB Christian McCaffrey, they have their poster boy. Teams that don’t see the Niners often can be confused by the pre-snap deception and misdirection. Mental sharpness is critical. But the same can be said of quarterbacks who face the Chiefs. K.C.’s blitzes and disguised coverages will force Brock Purdy to be on top of his game. With a little luck he’s delivered so far, but you cannot compare the Packers and Lions’ defensive units to this one. Purdy hasn’t see one this good since his forgettable Christmas Eve game against the Ravens. The Chiefs will not let him get away with the mistake throws he’s made in the playoffs.

This is a defense that allowed more than 21 points only three times all year and had all the answers for Tua Tagovailoa’s Dolphins, Josh Allen’s Bills and Lamar Jackson’s Ravens. Even without super spy Willie Gay in the lineup, they were able to contain Jackson. The probable league MVP looked strangely out of his element while the Chiefs looked perfectly comfortable playing for a Super Bowl berth. The Ravens, for reasons unknown, idiotically failed to challenge the Chiefs’ perceived weakness against the run. The 49ers will. They are a running team first. They are not going to win this game challenging the Chiefs’ corners, although the middle of the field could be there for TE George Kittle (Purdy’s usual escape hatch against the blitz) and WR Deebo Samuel, especially if McCaffrey can work underneath. He has to be the guy and he has to be the focus of the Chiefs’ defense. If the 49ers win, odds are he will be the MVP.

The 49ers defense may have had great numbers during the regular season but were hardly impressive against the Packers and Lions, facing either the run or the pass. The Niners were lucky to win both games and lost both ATS, deservedly so, mostly because their vaunted D was on its heels, allowing almost a full yard more per play than in the regular season. The biggest problem has been at the point of attack. Their defense has been talking about a lack of effort that will not happen again, but their front seven — the strength of their team — has been tossed around, particularly Chase Young, and especially by the Lions’ outstanding group in the NFC title game. Now, the Chiefs’ offensive line is probably their biggest area of improvement, outside of some still nagging pre-snap and holding calls. Reid, meanwhile, has embraced the mentality with a game plan better suited for the ’86 Giants than the 2019 Chiefs. Outside of key contributions from rookie Rashee Rice, he has built the offense around the big three of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco.

No one seems interested in tackling the violent-running kid out of Rutgers once he’s past the line of scrimmage. His production allows the Chiefs to keep grinding teams down with long sustained drives and serve to take some attention away from Mahomes, if that’s possible. The 49ers must stop him early and they didn’t do that against Aaron Jones or the Lions’ two backs, allowing an astounding 318 yards in two games. Ordinarily, the 49ers handle tight ends well because their mobile linebackers excel in coverage, but Sam LaPorta just had nine catches for 97 yards on 13 targets against them. Kelce knows how to find the openings against zone coverage and has been killing teams on the perimeter, rather than inside. The 49ers play zone as well as anyone — until recently. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks may have to be more creative, especially if Reid looks to exploit the Niners’ nickel corner, Ambry Thomas. As for Mahomes, he is still making every play he needs to make and his 10-1-1 career record as an underdog is daunting. He hasn’t made a negative play (unlike Purdy) in what has been an incredible playoff run.

There will be two critical points in the game — how each offense comes out of the gate with its scripted plays and how each defense executes its halftime adjustments — and we give K.C. the edge in both, even though both teams are historically excellent in both areas. Shanahan has gained a reputation as the game’s best play caller, with his best stuff often seen in his first scripted 24 plays. Yet the 49ers haven’t scored a first-quarter TD all playoffs. The Chiefs have scored on eight straight opening drives in the playoffs, six for TDs.

The 49ers have mounted two second half comebacks in the postseason after falling behind early, although Dan Campbell certainly helped them out with his fourth-down gambles. They can’t fall behind by those margins here. The Chiefs have allowed a total of 10 second-half points in their three playoff games and were most impressive in taking the run game away from the Bills after being pounded in the first half.

Special teams could also have a huge impact. Harrison Butker has been money in the playoffs, including from long range. Rookie Jake Moody has been shaky for the 49ers. He’s 3-for-5 in the postseason with both misses between 40-49 yards. With the spread inside a FG, that’s something to consider.

Wrap it up this way. You know what to expect out of the Chiefs. They’ve been here before and they’re going to make you earn it. The 49ers must play up to their talent level and we haven’t seen it lately, although that also makes them dangerous that they’ve made it through to this game. Turnovers, bad calls and dumb plays (we’re thinking of Zay Flowers’ costly macho routine) are the unknowable variables, but all things considered we lean K.C.

As for the total, the Chiefs’ offensive approach of long drives over explosive plays favors low scores, and, true to that, they have been the best under team in the NFL this year, 14-6 in all games. The 49ers have more downfield capability but the way to attack the K.C. defense is on the ground and that should lead to more extended drives on their end. Both defenses are good in the red zone, although offensively, the 49ers were the league’s best regular season team with a 68.49 TD percentage, as opposed to the Chiefs’ 54.1. playbook

IF I WERE A BETTING MAN: Chiefs and the under.

* * *

LAST WEEK: 2-0 ATS, 2-0 OVER/UNDER

PLAYOFFS: 8-4 ATS, 7-5 OVER/UNDER

BEST BETS: 2-1