Think Bill Belichick is retiring? Then I've got a closet of cut-off hoodies to sell you
This won’t be the last we see of Bill Belichick.
Anyone who thinks Belichick parting ways with the team he’s synonymous with, the New England Patriots, means he’s done with coaching hasn’t been paying attention the last two decades. The man has six Super Bowl rings, eight if you count his two as an assistant with the New York Giants, and multiple coach of the year honors.
The one thing he doesn’t have? The NFL’s all-time record for wins as a coach.
Belichick needs 15 more victories to break Don Shula’s record of 347, and if you think he doesn’t want that mark, I’ve got a closet full of cut-off hoodies to sell you. Belichick wants to be alone on the mountaintop — especially after the last few years have clouded his legacy in New England.
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Belichick leaves the Patriots after a second-consecutive losing season, his third in four years. You have to go back to his Cleveland Browns days to find that kind of futility by Belichick teams, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to draw the line between when Tom Brady left New England and the Patriots’ skid into mediocrity.
Belichick is surly even when things are going well, so you just know he chafes at the suggestion he only won because he lucked into the best quarterback the game has ever seen. Sure enough, he mentioned the "great team effort" in New England at his departure news conference Thursday, and said that was why the Patriots had success.
But that idea, that all his wins and titles were because of someone else, will keep him coaching until he can prove the critics wrong. It might not require another Super Bowl title — though a seventh as a head coach would equal the number of rings Brady has — but he wants the chance to remind everyone he played a significant role in all those years of New England’s success, too.
So the 71-year-old will coach on for at least another year or two, chasing both the record and the final say on his legacy.
New England’s two decades of dominance are something just not seen in the NFL, where dynasties are meant to be fleeting. From 2001 to 2019, the Patriots never had a losing season. More impressive was the double-digit victories in all but one season during that stretch.
The question was always who deserved more credit, Belichick or Brady, the sixth-round pick who got thrown into the starting lineup when Drew Bledsoe got hurt and wound up redefining the game. It is easy to look at New England’s struggles the last four years and say it provides a definitive answer, especially when Belichick has made himself so hard to like.
He is cantankerous, treating every question like a personal affront. He is devious, being fined a then-record $500,000 by the NFL for spying on opposing teams in the Spygate scandal. He appears joyless, scowling on the sidelines and rarely cracking a smile even when his teams are winning.
His players and those around the Patriots swear he's a different person behind closed doors, and he opened Thursday's news conference with a joke.
"Haven’t seen this many cameras since we signed (Tim) Tebow," Belichick cracked.
But affable Andy Reid or an Energizer Bunny like Pete Carroll, Belichick is not. Using that as an excuse to not give him his due is lazy, however. And unfair.
"I’m incredibly grateful to have played for the best coach in the history of the NFL," Brady said in an Instagram post Thursday. "... I could never have been the player I was without you Coach Belichick. I am forever grateful."
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Of course having Brady gave Belichick an advantage. But how many other teams have had stupendous quarterbacks and not won rings? Or even won at the rate the Patriots did? Look no further than Indianapolis, New England’s foil for all those years, for your answer.
The Patriots won because Belichick was never afraid to evolve, the offense shape-shifting to keep the rest of the NFL from catching up. Just as significantly, they were a complete team, as scary on defense as they were prolific on offense.
Since Belichick arrived in New England in 2000, there were just three years in which the Patriots weren’t ranked in the top half of the NFL in points allowed. And both of those years, they were 17th. They had the stingiest defense three times and were ranked in the top five another six times. They’ve also been top five in takeaways 10 times.
Last I checked, Brady didn’t play defense. Nor was he drawing up the schemes.
Belichick is also quick to point out that the Patriots hung onto their championship core longer than maybe they should have, which contributed to their struggles after Brady left. They spent so much money to keep their aging players there wasn’t much left to spend on youngsters who could keep New England from crashing when the Super Bowl rush wore off.
“It's nobody's fault. That's what we did the last five years. We sold out and won three Super Bowls, played in a fourth and played in a AFC Championship Game,” Belichick said in November 2020. “This year we had less to work with. It's not an excuse, it's just a fact.”
This was Belichick’s choice to make, as New England’s de facto GM. But it’s a choice every other team would make, too. A million times over. Six Super Bowl titles and nine AFC championships in exchange for a handful of years as a loser? It’s not even a question.
"I don’t think in the NFL there’s been any other partnership that’s lasted longer and has been as productive as ours," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said.
"What Bill accomplished with us, in my opinion, will never be replicated," he added.
Yes, Belichick has made mistakes these last few years. Most notably with Mac Jones and his other recent draft picks. But the Patriots didn't conjure players like Rob Gronkowski, Devin McCourty, Julian Edelman and Dont'a Hightower out of thin air. Belichick drafted them, too.
Even after the last few years, Belichick is still one of the greatest to ever coach the game. Sometimes people just need a fresh start and, unimaginable as it might have once seemed, Belichick is now one of them.
"I’ll always be a Patriot, I’ll look forward to coming back here," Belichick said. "But at this time, we’re going to move on and I look forward and am excited for the future."
On to ... Atlanta?
Regardless of where Belichick ends up, or his record there, it won't change this fact: the Patriots won so often and for so long because of both Brady and Belichick, and no one's done it better than either of them.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.