Mike Zimmer, Andy Reid energized by the NFL life, even when it wears them out

Andy Reid posted 140 victories, including playoffs, in his 14 years with the Eagles. He has won 99 more with the Chiefs and needs another one to become the first coach in NFL history to reach 100 victories with two franchises.

Next up: Chiefs at Eagles.

And, yes, Reid is expected to be on the visiting sideline in Philly come Sunday afternoon, one week after being taken by ambulance from Arrowhead Stadium to a nearby hospital after Kansas City's last-minute loss to the Chargers.

Reid said he felt ill. He was dehydrated. He's also 63 years old in a job that's long on hours, short on sleep and consumed with stress and one-score games that go down to the final snap or kick.

By Sunday night, Reid was "resting comfortably," the Chiefs said. He was released Monday and no doubt was working Monday night.

He's a football coach. They coach, head down and blinders up, through pretty much anything else that's going on in life around them.

Coaching is what makes them feel alive, even if it could be killing them. In a next-man-up league, rarely is there ever a next head coach up.

In 2013, then-Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsed jogging to the locker room at halftime of a prime-time game. He suffered a mini-stroke.

Three years later, he took another ambulance ride to the hospital after a game with the Broncos. Doctors had to order him to take a week off to rest. Now you know why Gary is re-retired after a year as Vikings offensive coordinator and smiling ear to ear down on his ranch in Texas.

In 2016, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was trying to coach through multiple eye surgeries. Finally, doctors had to order him off the field and into a bed for a week. The Vikings lost a two-point game to the Cowboys, which didn't help Zimmer's notorious stress level.

"I worry about everything," is a punchline Zimmer has used more than once.

One-third of the NFL's coaches are 58 or older. Pete Carroll leads the way at 70.

Bill Belichick is next at 69. The same Bill Belichick who back in the early 1990s told some of us media mutts that he had no intention of ever coaching "as long as Marv Levy." Levy was 72 when he left the game in 1997. Raise your hand if you think Belichick will retire in the next two years.

Bruce Arians, fresh off a Super Bowl win with Tom Brady, is 68. Houston's David Culley is 66. And Zimmer, the new grandpa, comes in No. 5 at 65 and vowing to coach the Vikings through at least the 2023 season, when he'd be 67.

George Halas was 72 years, 318 days when he coached and won his last game with the Bears on Dec. 17, 1967. He held the mark for oldest NFL head coach until Week 5 of last year, when the Texans named Romeo Crennel interim head coach at 73 years, 112 days. Crennel coached his last game at 73 years, 199 days.

In an interview with the Star Tribune this summer, Zimmer was asked how much longer he'd like to coach. After saying he wanted to finish his current contract and then decide, Zimmer paused before blurting out one of his classically blunt answers.

"What I don't want to do is die doing this job," he said. "I don't want one day my kids to find me dead because of the stuff that I have to do every day. I want to try to enjoy my life a little bit before I die."

Asked if he is still sleeping in his office, Zimmer laughed and said, "Not as much." He also said he started working out in training camp — something he never does during the season — "but I hurt my back doing something, so I stopped that."

Adam Zimmer, Mike's son, linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator, admitted he sometimes worries about his dad's health because, "He does get stressed out a lot."

Adam sometimes tries small talk or real-world talk to take Dad's mind off football for a bit. Asked if that helps, Adam says, "Not really."

Like Reid and Belichick and Carroll and Arians and others, Zimmer is a football coaching lifer. The game energizes these people. Even when it wears them out.