Belichick & Carroll Fired? Potential End for Patriots, Seahawks Coaching Legends
In what could be a surreal Sunday the NFL, two of the winningest coaches in pro football history might be on their long-time sidelines for the last time. Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks' Pete Carroll enter Week 18 on two of the hottest seats in the league.
While the 8-8 Seahawks could still make the NFC playoffs as a Wild Card with a win and a Chicago Bears upset of the Green Bay Packers, the 4-12 Patriots will simply take the final, fatal breaths of a disastrous season that saw them mathematically eliminated before Thanksgiving.
After 24 years and a record six Super Bowls in Foxboro, the 71-year-old Belichick might be coaching his final game for the Patriots Sunday at 1 p.m. against a familiar foe in the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. A couple hours later in Arizona against the Cardinals, it could be the same for the 72-year-old Carroll - after 14 years and the one championship for Seattle.
Belichick's Patriots beat Carroll's Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX at the end of the 2014 season. Seattle hasn't been back to an AFC Championship Game since, while New England last won a Super Bowl in 2018 and is 29-38 and without a playoff win since Tom Brady left.
With a loss, the Patriots would secure their worst season since 1992 when they went 2-14. In this nightmare they have endured season-ending injuries to their best running back (Rhamondre Stevenson), receiver (Kendrick Bourne), pass-rusher (Matthew Judon) and cornerback (Christian Gonzalez). Their rookie kicker (Chad Ryland) has missed a league-high nine field goals. Their starting quarterback (Mac Jones) was benched in three separate games before finally losing his job to Bailey Zappe.
New England is the only AFC team not to have a player voted to the Pro Bowl, their first such occurrence since 2000.
The Seahawks were 5-2 and trending in the right direction after an exhilarating rally to beat the Cleveland Browns on Halloween weekend. But two months later they're limping into the New Year having lost six of nine.
Belichick is a no-nonsense curmudgeon; Carroll a fountain of boundless energy and relentless optimism. Despite their opposing styles, they both are headed for the same destination: the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
But is time up for the two oldest coaches in the NFL? With their teams similarly underachieving - if not nosediving - are Carroll and Belichick dinosaurs peering into imminent extinction?
