As Bill Belichick’s Patriots prepare to meet his former assistant, Matt Patricia’s Lions, it is hard to overlook the nagging blemish on Belichick’s claim as the greatest NFL coach of all time; the abysmal record of his professional coaching disciples.
The collective NFL coaching records of Romeo Crennel (28-55), Eric Mangini (33-47), Josh Daniels (11-17), Bill O’Brien (31-34), Nick Saban (15-17), and now Patricia (0-2) is 118-172 for a winning percentage of .406.
One can be written off as an aberration. Two a concern. Three is a pattern.
So, what do we make of six, and not a one of them have a winning record?
Some might ask how I can blame Belichick for the failures of his disciples. Valid question, to which I say, the same way we give him credit for winning five Super Bowls when he never made a tackle or caught a pass? Much of the discussion about coaching effectiveness is subjective, associative, and situational. The other factor is that several of Belichick’s competitors for the G.O.A.T. have compelling cases precisely because of their coaching tree.
Take the late great Bill Walsh. Not only was his offensive innovation the most impactful of the last 40 years, but his coaching tree has won seven Super Bowls, none of which were by the winningest coach in his tree, which is Andy Reid…whom I believe should go into the Hall of Fame some day.
Don’t we all consider that a part of Walsh’s legacy? Then it is fair game for Belichick.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, celebrates with head coach Bill Belichick (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
In fairness to Belichick assistants, none of them had Tom Brady as their quarterback. The fact is that Belichick is sub .500 without Brady as his starting QB. The common response to this is, “but he won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008”.
That is absolutely true…and highly misleading.
The 2007 Patriots went 18-1. They clearly had a great deal of additional talent to Brady on the 2008 team, including a “pretty good” wide receiver named Randy Moss. He had a track record for making average QBs look better than they really were.
Furthermore, other candidates for the NFL coaching G.O.A.T. have managed to fare much better than Belichick without elite QB play. His mentor, Bill Parcells, won his second Super Bowl despite losing a former Super Bowl MVP quarterback in Phil Simms to an injury. Don Shula managed to get to a Super Bowl with a two-headed QB combination of David Woodley (he was out of LSU…need I say more about him as an NFL QB) and Don Strock. Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different starting QBs, none of whom were Hall of Famers.
I am not suggesting that Bill Belichick is not a great coach. He absolutely is…perhaps the best ever. He has a case with the five SB wins, and coaching in arguably the toughest era to date. I also do not take it for granted that having a great QB makes winning automatic. In fact, there have been five Hall of Fame Coach/QB combos that never won a super bowl. It is nowhere near as easy as Belichick has made it look.
I am only saying that those of you who want to crown his ass, pump the breaks just a little bit. It is hardly an open and shut case.
