Having played in six Super Bowls, Don Beebe couldn’t be more relaxed about this coming Sunday’s “Big Game.”
Super Bowl LIX will be played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Beebe already knows how he will be spending his weekend. His casual approach to arguably the number one sporting attraction in North America is surprising to some, but not unpredictable for others. When you have been on the sidelines for as many iterations of the NFL’s annual top game as Beebe, it’s understandable that the former wide receiver has settled into a routine.
Four times with the Buffalo Bills and twice as a Green Bay Packer, Beebe entered Super Bowl Sundays hoping to be on the winning side of the game and collect a championship ring. After being part of four consecutive Bills’ squad that claimed the American Football Conference Championship, only to come away on the losing side of Super Bowl play, the fifth time being part of the “Big Game” with the Green Bay Packers in 1997 proved to be Beebe’s football charm. With a Packers victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, finally, a ring was claimed.
Earlier this week, Beebe told The Epoch Times what he'll be concentrating on while watching Sunday’s Chiefs versus Eagles clash.
“I always watch the coach. Kansas City’s Andy Reid is amazing. Why not pick his brain from the plays he designs? How he works, not only calling plays, but the timing of them has my attention. Arguably, Andy is the best ever,” he said.
Another key aspect of the Super Bowl that Beebe said will have his attention while watching Sunday’s match-up is the emotional end of it. Beebe, along with Mike Lodish who are the only members of the Bills’ team that lost four consecutive Super Bowls and claimed championship rings with other teams, said that his Buffalo teammates didn’t handle the emotions of the games very well.
“The Green Bay teams that I was on, and went to Super Bowls, they did. Typically, every team that handles the emotional side of the game, the highs and lows, they always pull it out. The bigger the game becomes, the more your emotions get caught up.”
This Saturday, Super Bowl Eve, Beebe, 60, will be speaking at an event for men of all ages. Football, faith, and fellowship is the lineup presented at Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, Ill. Beebe, who played his last NFL games with the Packers, is a man of faith. He speaks softly and with purpose. There is no guessing for Beebe what his purpose is after a successful football career as a player.
“I believe God called me to mentor young men. First, it was at the high school level, and now college,” said Beebe, who since the 2019 season has been the head coach of the NCAA Division-III Aurora University Spartan football program.
“In January 2006, when [former Bills’ head coach Marv Levy] called me and said he was going to be Buffalo’s general manager, he asked me if I would consider coaching in the NFL. Without blinking an eye, after I told him that I was honored he asked, my answer was no. God called me to work with Christians. I’ve enjoyed so much over the past 20-plus years of coaching.”
Beebe’s coaching success with the Aurora Spartans (51–10 in six seasons) and Aurora Christian Schools (97–26 in 10 seasons) in Aurora, Illinois, shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who followed how intense and committed he played in the NFL. He is responsible for one of the most memorable Super Bowl plays that sums up his dedication to giving his all out on the field. It was during Super Bowl XXVII, a game in which the Dallas Cowboys were leading the Bills 52–17 in the fourth quarter, that Beebe’s fierce competitiveness became front and center.
When Dallas’s Leon Lett recovered a Bills fumble and headed to the end zone hoping to score, prematurely celebrating turned out to be a serious miscalculation on his part. Clearly, with the game out of hand for a Buffalo comeback, Beebe proved to have no quit in his spirit. He sprinted down the field, caught up with Lett, and knocked the ball out of his hands. A touchback instead of a touchdown.
When first joining the coaching ranks, during the transition of going from elite NFL player to guiding high school students, Beebe remembers his top hurdle to climb.
“I had to scale back my mind of football knowledge. Something that would be natural to me, but to my players, I had to go back to football 101. I definitely had to keep catching myself. ”
Beebe is among the most unassuming, celebrated professional athletes to have reached the zenith of their game. This humble and yet dedicated approach professed to his players is bringing a constant level of success other college programs could envy.
Entertainment value aside, there will be no taking the coach out of Beebe when watching Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX. Adapting, learning, and critiquing, this will be fun for the former NFL veteran and current college football coach.
