Loose Legacy: Belichick's Final Seasons With Patriots Whitewashed?
You heard it time and time again on the most surreal Thursday in the history of the New England Patriots: "Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history."
Though Vince Lombardi and his seven championships (two Super Bowls, five NFL titles) in nine years with the Green Bay Packers might have something to say about it, the argument can be made that with 333 career victories and a record six Super Bowls, Belichick is the most successful coach in NFL history. But ... the greatest? That's not only subjective, it's - pardon the blasphemy - suspect.
Did the fawning players, peers and pontificators showering Belichick with bouquets of slobbering adulation conveniently forget that he oversaw two of the biggest scandals in the history of the league: one (Spygate) in which he was personally fined the maximum punishment of $500,000 and his team docked $250,000 and a first-round draft pick; another (Deflategate) that cost his organization $1 million and two draft picks and his quarterback, Tom Brady, a four-game suspension? Did they not see any Patriots football the last three seasons? Did they suspiciously sidestep the fact that none of Bill's heroic grinding, meticulous preparation and heralded "Do Your Job!" mantra and "on to the next game" blinders worked worth a damn without a crucial part of the equation named Brady?
Lost in the awkward eulogies to a living legend was a fact - not an opinion - that can't be ignored nor dismissed when it comes to Belichick's head coaching legacy:
With Brady: 249-75 (.768), 30 playoff wins, 6 Super Bowls.
Without Brady: 84-103 (.449), 1 playoff win.
Since Brady left Foxboro after the 2019 season, Belichick's Patriots went 29-39 without a single playoff win.
"They needed each other," owner Robert Kraft said diplomatically. "They were both the best of their professions and we were fortunate to have them both together for two decades. They would not have had the success without each other."
Added Brady, "I’m incredibly grateful to have played for the best coach in the history of the NFL. I could never have been the player I was without you, Coach Belichick."
Ironic, because one of the reasons the Patriots are in the mess they're in - 12-22 over the last two seasons and with no Pro Bowl players for the first time since 2000 - is because Belichick botched eight of the last 10 drafts and, outside of Brady, has never shown the ability to develop a quarterback.
According to a new story by Sports Illustrated, he defiantly ignored his scouts and drafted receiver N'Keal Harry over A.J. Brown and Deebo Samuel in 2019. In 2021, he picked a quarterback in Mac Jones who drastically regressed and humiliatingly lost his job. And despite a glaring lack of offensive playmakers and linemen, last year the Pats became the first team in 30 years to select both a kicker and a punter in the same draft.
The 2023 season was an outright embarrassment.
The Patriots were the worst offense in the NFL, shut out twice at home and held to one touchdown or less in eight of their 17 games. They lost consecutive games 38-3 and 34-0. Receivers coach Ross Douglas left for a lateral move to a college staff. Offensive line coach Adrian Klemm got sick and never returned. Left tackle Trent Brown quit on the team. Belichick cut cornerback Jack Jones, who went to the Raiders and produced two Pick 6s in the final month of the season. The decision to let receiver Jakobi Meyers walk and instead sign JuJu Smith-Schuster was gross mismanagement.
Belichick's team played hard, just hardly ever well.
You didn't hear it Thursday, but there are "the game has passed him by" whispers. In retrospect, old-school Belichick might be the stubborn guy still buying horses the day after the car was invented.
GOAT candidacy notwithstanding, Belichick's Patriots - make no mistake, they were his team - weren't great, even good, during his last five seasons. He's leaving New England with his reputation clearly intact but his former franchise in tatters.
Belichick made his bed ... now he gets to walk away from it.
Brady left Belichick and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The pressure is now on Belichick to prove he can win without Brady ... or the nurturing, patient environment provided by Kraft and the Patriots.
Wherever he lands - the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers are the early leaders in the clubhouse - Belichick better take copies of Apple TV's upcoming docuseries, The Dynasty. Because his final episodes in New England were hardly the work of the greatest coach in NFL history.
