As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Thursday morning, after 24 years, it was announced that Bill Belichick - eight-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL Coach of the Year - will not return in 2024 as head coach of the New England Patriots after he and the front office have agreed to part ways.
Following Bill Parcells' exit from the New York Jets in 1999, Belichick - who had served as the Jets' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach from 1997-1999 - was tabbed by Parcells himself to take over the reins with the Jets. However, on Jan. 4, 2000, when he was supposed to be formally introduced as head coach of the Jets, Belichick shockingly announced his resignation. 23 days later, he was introduced as head coach of the Patriots.
24 years later, Belichick's legecy is cemented as the greatest coaches in NFL history, let alone one of the greatest in all of sports.
Prior to New England, Belichick was one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, leading two Super Bowl defenses with the New York Giants in Super Bowls XXI and XXV - implementing a scheme that was revolutionary in the way that it used perhaps the game's all-time greatest defensive player, Lawrence Taylor. In 1995, Belichick led the Cleveland Browns to an 11-5 record and a divisional round appearance where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 29-9. Since, the Browns have only two 11-win seasons - 2020, where they lost in the divisional round to the Kansas City Chiefs, and this season, where they finished 11-6 and will visit Houston in the wild card round on Saturday, Jan. 13.
Don Shula coached 26 seasons in Miami. Tom Landry coached 29 in Dallas. Belichick's 24 is the modern example of building a culture and legacy in one city. He has compiled 302 victories, 26 behind Shula for the all-time record. Of those victories, 266 have come in New England.
The Patriots secured back to back 14-win seasons in 2003 and 2004, and three seasons later went 16-0. From 2003-2019, the latter being Tom Brady's final season as a Patriot, the team won at least 10 games, and won the AFC East an astounding 16 of 17 times.
Foxborough, MA is about an hour south of Boston. It's population, as of 2020, was a shade under 19,000. It is not Boston, but yet it has become more synonymous with winning than Boston since Belichick took over. Yes, the Celtics won the NBA Finals in 2008 (defeating the Lakers, no less) and yes, the Boston Red Sox lifted a near 90-year drought in 2007, before winning again in 2013 and 2018. But since 2000, the Patriots have reigned supreme in the area, a dynasty that so many owners and front offices yearn to create but can never produce.
Post-Brady, the Patriots have had just one winning season (10-7 in 2021, resulting in a wild card loss to the Buffalo Bills). They finished 7-9 in 2020, 8-9 last season, and 4-13 this past season, the club's fewest win total since 1992 (2-14).
Because of this, most of the credit for the Patriots' success in the Belichick era has been attributed to Brady. But, as phenomenal as Brady was, you do not win six out of nine Super Bowls without a great head coach and team.
53 men make up an NFL roster, and it takes all being on the same accord, striving for one common goal, to be successful. Football has so many moving parts, so many positions, so many schemes. 53 men that need to be accounted for. All on the same page.
That, is the coach's job. To create an environment where all 53 have no choice but to buy in. You buy in, or you're out. Creating an environment that is easy for each player to relate to, one that is about winning at all costs and nothing else.
All the great organizations have it. That is why the Patriot Way is more than just a moniker, but a way of doing things, a way of working yourself to be the best that you can be to help the team.
As Belichick rides off, probably to another franchise for one or two final cracks at a championship, or at least to catch Shula's record, a legacy is firmly supplanted, an impact so great that made Foxborough, that tiny town of around 19,000, just as synonymous with winning as Dallas or Pittsburgh.
Who knows if that will happen again. If it does, it likely will not be any time soon. 24 seasons in one spot, implementing a culture that is now renowned in not just the NFL, but professional sports. A good thing for Foxborough, for the NFL, and a model for all other franchises to follow.
A good thing that has come to an end.
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