Pigskin Over and Out

Sometimes the inevitable is still a shock to the system.

Bill Belichick is no longer the HC of the NEP. 

Now we know when the good old days officially ended.

I am going to miss Belichick (will definitely miss his stand up routines) but I also agree that it's time to close the books on perhaps the greatest run in the history of the NFL. 

Perhaps?

Strike that.

The greatest run in the history of the NFL.

If you include his appearances as a coordinator, Bill Belichick has been to the Super Bowl twelve times with an overall 8-4 record, 6-3 as a head coach.

In his 24 years in Foxborough, the Patriots won the AFC East 17 times, made it to the AFC Championship Game 12 times, and went on to win 6 Lombardi Trophies.

For Context: There's nobody else on the list of head coaches with 6 Super Bowl wins. Just Belichick. That's the list. 

Bill Belichick's teams were 31-13 in the playoffs. That's a 70.5% winning percentage against the very best teams in the league. Only three teams in the 2023 regular season had better winning percentages (Baltimore, Dallas, San Francisco).

I don't know if I can put a number on the memories. Do Your Job. Taking down the Greatest Show on Turf as 14 point underdogs and shutting down the Scott McVay "Boy Genius" Rams almost twenty years later. Peyton Manning Face. Hearing pigskin pundits and bobbleheads reference "The Patriot Way" and knowing they just peed a little. The Amoeba Defense. The intentional safety in Denver. Ineligible Eligible. Darth Hoodie. We're on to Cincinnati. Thinking SB 49 was the greatest game I'd ever see for almost two whole years before SB 51 and 28-3 happened. 

I guess you could say it's been a pretty good run.

Elvis Costello sang in Almost Blue that "not all good things come to an end…" but this good thing has. 

Godspeed, William Stephen Belichick.

Go Pats!