Let’s get this out of the way: LeSean McCoy’s latest casual take on Fox Sports 1 about Bill Belichick ain’t it.
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Sure, having the greatest football player of all time on his team all those years has absolutely bolstered Belichick’s resume as the greatest coach in NFL history. No denying that. But Brady wouldn’t have been the GOAT without Belichick helping construct and coach all those title times, either.
If you have an issue with that last part, debate a wall.
But Belichick’s handling of the 2022 season might be testing the patience of even the coach’s most ardent supporters. In particular, his insistence on tasking Matt Patricia and Joe Judge to help run his offense has predictably backfired spectacularly, leaving second-year quarterback Mac Jones battling just to look competent on every snap after his strong rookie season.
As that experiment sours, Boston Globe sports columnist Chris Gasper sees the legend of Belichick’s infallibility fading fast.
“I just think there was this false narrative all these years of like, ‘Bill will figure it out and it doesn't matter who the talent is.’ It's like Iron Chef. You throw Bill any ingredients, and he'll cook up a gourmet meal no matter what. That's just not realistic,” Gasper told the “1st and Foxborough” podcast. “I don't know how much of that Belichick bought, but I think the fan base bought it a lot. And I think they're coming to realize that, yeah, Bill's so good that he can take a team with middle-of-the-pack talent and get them into the playoffs. But he can't take a team with middle-of-the pack-talent and a middle-of-the-pack quarterback and make them a genuine contender or even win a playoff game. … So I think that this is sort of a lesson for a lot of football followers in New England and not just the Patriots organization.”
The refrain is a fairly constant one even from national media members or football experts – “I’d never question Bill Belichick” or “They’ve still got Bill Belichick; they’ll be fine” – and Belichick has shown at times he and his coaching staff are worth the praise they receive.
But as the rest of the league evolves to build teams around elite talents and tailor their schemes to fit those game-changing players, Belichick is still plugging away with good-but-not-great rosters and complementary football even after Tom Brady, who helped cover up the deficiencies of those squads, now playing elsewhere.
“I think having Bill on the sidelines is worth two wins a year. I don't think there's a better coach in the NFL. However, I think there was a mythology built here over two-plus decades that really is absurd, which is the idea that as long as you have this particular coach, no matter who the players are, you'll be a contender,” Gasper added. “That's not how it works in sports, and this is not a knock on Bill. … You will never convince me that a coach, no matter how great in professional sports, is more important or has a greater impact on winning than the greatest player of all time at the singular, most important and influential position in North American professional sports. You're not going to convince me of that.”
Unfortunately, Belichick has also apparently has forgotten everything he once knew about developing a young quarterback into a star, throwing Jones to the wolves with offensive coaches who’ve never coached offense full-time before and don’t know how to help him succeed.
As Belichick nears the end of his career and the top spot on the all-time coaching wins list, we shouldn’t take for granted what he’s accomplished. He is every bit as great as his resume suggests he is. But he’s definitely not above reproach.
