Sorry, Bill.
It feels sacrilegious to put one of the all-time great coaches in any sport at No. 3 on the list of the best NFL coaches. But Belichick has slipped, in the three years since Tom Brady left for Tampa. And while it’s premature to say Belichick has lost his fastball, it’s fair to say he has misplaced it.
Look no farther than last year’s decision to entrust the offense to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. It seemed like a potential disaster at the time, but Belichick’s six Super Bowl rings got him the benefit of the doubt. The end result potentially has gotten him on the hot seat.
Through comments that failed to attract nearly enough attention, owner Robert Kraft made it clear in March that something will change if the results don’t improve. Can Belichick survive another failure to make the playoffs? We’ll see. But those Super Bowl trophies are fading fast into the rear-view mirror. If those successes had secured for Belichick a lifetime pass, Kraft would have said so when he had the chance.
Belichick’s successes still put him near the top of the list. Without the Super Bowl wins, the most recent of which came five years ago, he’d currently be in the middle of the pack. Chances are he’ll be even lower next year than third.
The real question is whether, come 2024, he’ll be with a new team. Will another owner clamor to hire him? Will he regard that team as a worthy destination?
As we now know, he needs a great quarterback. How many teams with great quarterbacks could be looking for a new coach in 2024? The list begins and ends with the Chargers.
Then there’s the reality that Belichick will expect to run the show, which means running off both the coach and the G.M. and giving Belichick the keys. Will someone do that?
These are weighty topics in what should be a glowing assessment for the third best coach in football. But Belichick is at a very real crossroads in his career. He was the no-doubt No. 1 for years. Now, he’s slipping through the top five and could soon be creeping toward No. 10.
Coaching is what he does and who he is. And he’s surely determined to prove that he can get back to the top of the mountain without Brady. Will he eventually be doing it without “New England Patriots” on his hoodie with scissor-cut sleeves? We’ll see.