Bill Belichick is regarded by most as the greatest NFL coach of all time, or at least of this generation. He’s led the New England Patriots to eight Super Bowl championships and four more appearances. However, there may be a coach coming for his crown.
Andy Reid won his second Super Bowl last month and has made two more appearances: one with the Philadelphia Eagles and one with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Andrew Fillipponi and Danny Parkins of the Audacy Original Podcast “1st & Pod” discussed the possibility of Reid surpassing Belichick as the best coach of this generation in the coming years.
“Is there a scenario that exists where he holds on too long and Andy Reid keeps winning where Reid gets to like four Super Bowl rings … and Belichick strings together five losing seasons in seven years post-Brady, finishes with more wins, finishes with more rings, but we’ll end up looking at it like ‘Man, Andy Reid had winning seasons with six different quarterbacks and as soon as he got a good one he was amazing. Belichick, he really only did it with Brady,’” Parkins said (19:07 in player above). Is there any scenario in which that happens and the GOAT conversation – or even the best coach of his generation – becomes a legitimate debate?”
It wouldn’t be the first time that a coach with more rings isn’t looked at as the best in the league.
“Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls and had such a bad run in the ’80s where they only won, I think, two playoff games and they basically went from 1980 to 1991 and only won two playoff games in 12 years,” Fillipponi said. “And because of that, even though he had four, I think when (Bill) Walsh retired with three, there was a thought that he was a better coach than Noll… I don’t think Noll was regarded as the best coach in NFL history while he had four Super Bowl championships.”
Belichick’s status as the GOAT is rarely ever up for debate. It’s said “as a statement of fact like Gretzky is talked about as the GOAT in hockey,” Parkins chimed in.
“I agree with you on that,’ Fillipponi replied. “The argument I’m trying to make is that we’ve already had at least one era of football where the coach with the most Super Bowls was not widely regarded, or universally regarded, as the best head coach of all time.”
Belichick has 298 regular-season wins to Reid's 247, and the Patriots coach sits 30 wins behind Don Shula for the most in NFL history.
“I wonder if it goes poorly for a while, like how many years it would take for him to not unravel his legacy,” Parkins said. “I mean he’s unbelievable, obviously. He’s a Hall of Famer. He’s unbelievable. But I’m wondering, because it’s not one more year, but like you said, if he wants the wins record and he has a bad team, he might be hanging around for the better part of the decade.”
Belichick is hearing footsteps and they may continue to get louder and louder in the coming years.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram