With Bill Belichick’s departure from New England, the Patriots are at a turning point in their historic run.
A handwritten resignation letter as the head coach of the New York Jets and the forfeiture of a first-round draft pick were the starting points of it all 24 years ago. Over the years, the team has experienced a number of events such as subdued press conferences, league investigations, Brady’s uncanny football tactician skills, an uneasy partnership, an often depressing business style, a remarkable run of success that included six Super Bowl championships, and, most recently, a roster erosion that even the greatest coach in NFL history—who also happened to be the same person—could not hide.
Bill Belichick’s rule over New England and the Patriots came to an end on Thursday, and the league may never witness anything like it again in terms of drama and total dominance.
However, a different owner will undoubtedly attempt to replicate what they once referred to as “The Patriot Way.” Remarkably, Belichick, at seventy-one, is not hanging up his sweatpants. What happened on Thursday was not a coach’s retirement, but rather a mutual parting of ways between Belichick and the Patriots. Additionally, Belichick’s rough yet incredibly effective style of franchise molding and culture creation will probably appeal to team owners seeking their own second chance. With playoff victories included, Belichick leaves the Patriots with 333 wins overall, 14 fewer than Don Shula’s record of 347. Belichick has a great appreciation for football history, so it is difficult to see him leaving the sidelines without that record under his belt.
In New England, there was a hope that Belichick would break the record there. It was expected that the return of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien would fix the offense and get the Patriots back to winning, even after the 2022 season, when team owner Robert Kraft did little to conceal his displeasure for how that 8-9 season transpired, particularly Belichick’s perplexing choice to have Matt Patricia and Joe Judge oversee the offense, to the detriment of quarterback Mac Jones.
Rather, the 2023 season was a protracted, heartbreaking letdown, and it became evident by the halfway point of the season that the Patriots would require a change of direction. The offensive playmakers lacked explosiveness, and the quarterback play was clumsy. The Patriots have spent December setting up their playoff seeding for the past 20 years. However, they were just playing out the string this past December, having entered the month at 2-9. But Belichick was so important that it never felt totally certain that he would leave. It seemed inconceivable when it occurred and the entirety of his New England career was taken into account. It was only five years ago, at the end of the 2018 season, that the Patriots won their most recent Super Bowl. Once upon a time, the money obtained from
But Belichick’s demise came gradually and then all at once. When Brady was granted the opportunity to become a free agent in 2020, the division had officially started. At that point in the 2019 season, after the Patriots lost their playoff opener in Foxborough to the Tennessee Titans, the all-time quarterback had grown weary of New England and did not hide his frustration with what he saw as inferior weapons around him.
