NBC Sports Boston this week reported that not only has the decision on Bill Belichick’s future with the Patriots already been made, in fact it was made more than a month ago in the aftermath of New England’s ugly Week 10 loss to the Colts on an international stage in Germany.
This report of Belichick’s impending job security doom – which NBC Sports paints as a forthcoming parting of the ways rather than a less palatable firing – came on the heels of Pat McAfee’s much-critiqued comment to Robert Kraft on the ESPN College Gameday set in which the punter-turned-podcasting star declared, “I don’t envy your position, what’s about to happen. We all know. We don’t have to ask."
So it would seem that people who are supposedly in the know, know that the next four games will be Belichick’s final four running the football show in New England.
As such, we probably should accept what is a painful reality for some and take the next month of Patriots football for what it is.
It’s the end of an era.
It’s the true conclusion of a two-plus-decade dynasty, the greatest dynasty that professional football has ever seen.
It’s the culmination of a New England tenure that saw Belichick unexpectedly and remarkably pair with Tom Brady to rewrite the NFL record books and redefine football greatness.
Whether the “flak” Belichick has received from fans and media in recent months is deserved or not is, apparently, no longer relevant.
Regardless of what you think of the production of a three-win football team that fields one of the worst offenses in modern football thanks to/because of the ruination of a former first-round quarterback is no longer necessarily debatable.
The deed is soon to be done.
Belichick is soon to be done. At least in Patriot Nation.
Brady threw a pick-6 on his final play in Foxborough, when we weren’t at all sure or even accepting of that as his final, frustrating play in a Patriots uniform. No one could still rationalize that fateful January day that it was over. Closure came much later, after Brady had taken his talents to Tampa and returned a seven-time champion.
We don’t want to make the same mistake again. Regardless of what Belichick has done this season or even in the frustrating failure-filled four seasons post-Brady, he’s still the greatest coach and winner the franchise has ever had. In the conversation among all-time Boston sports greats. Even the GOAT NFL coach in the minds of many.
Acknowledge that. Appreciate that. Recall the success of the first 20 years and not the failures of the last 20 months.
All good things come to an end.
For Belichick, apparently, in front of the Gillette Stadium crowd that’s this Sunday’s matchup with Patrick Mahomes, ol’ coaching friend Andy Reid and the Chiefs. Then it’s a season finale against, maybe appropriately, the hated Jets, his time as the HC of the NEP coming to an END.
And maybe more so than at any point in the last season-plus, there is positive momentum in New England heading toward that final act. Belichick’s Patriots got a fun win last Thursday night in Pittsburgh, his players fighting to the finish and having his coaching back, so to speak.
Bailey Zappe has injected a little energy into the offense that now has a chance to try to hang with a Mahomes-led attack that’s as frustrated as we’ve seen, that’s as dare we say “ripe for the picking” as we’ve seen coming to take on a Patriots’ defense that’s seemingly game for the game.
There’s a little late life in this season in New England, and even those focused on a draft pick reward for 2023 struggles are glad the team is still in line for the No. 2 overall selection next spring.
Of course even with all the speculation-turned-reporting about his finite future in Foxborough, Belichck made it quite clear he’s “getting ready for the Kansas City.”
His focus is and always has been short term and focused on the true task at hand.
Fans and media alike need to take an opposite approach. If this is indeed the final month of Belichick as the Patriots head coach and the final two games he’ll be on the sidelines in Foxborough, it’s a chance for one last look at greatness and history. Once last chance to show appreciation for the big picture of what Belichick has done even if what he’s currently doing isn’t so much worth the holiday cheer.
If this is indeed the closing credits of Belichick’s credit-worthy Patriots career it should be enjoyed, embraced and glorified. He’s not a three-win coach getting run out of town but rather a 6-time Super Bowl winner whose greatness is coming to an end.
And should be treated as such.
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