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New England Patriots: Is Bill Belichick The Greatest Head Coach In NFL History?

By Jason Fletcher
Published on: 09:30 PST, Sep 23, 2016

One of the best debates in all of sports is determining who is the best at their profession. In the NBA, many people consider Michael Jordan to be the greatest player of all time, but some believe it was Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, or Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. In MLB, many consider Pete Rose, Ted Williams, or Tony Gwynn to be the greatest hitters of all time, but Ty Cobb has the highest batting average in MLB history with a .366.

In the NFL, the question often centers around who is the best quarterback of all time with Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning as the three most popular answers. But after watching the New England Patriots destroy the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football, I started to wonder: Is Bill Belichick the greatest head coach in NFL history?

In order to correctly evaluate this question, I believe we must start in the beginning. Belichick’s father, Steve, was an assistant coach at the United States Naval Academy and Bill gives him the most credit for his success. Bill would study football with his father growing up before playing football and lacrosse for Annapolis High School.

After a year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Belichick would attend Wesleyan University in Connecticut where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. Bill played lacrosse and squash at Wesleyan, in addition to football where he played center and tight end.

Upon graduating, Bill Belichick took a position with the Baltimore Colts as an assistant to head coach Ted Marchibroda in 1975. The next season, Belichick took a job with the Detroit Lions as the team’s assistant special teams coach before taking the receivers coach position in 1977. After leaving the Lions, Bill would spend one year with the Denver Broncos before moving on to the New York Giants where he coached from 1979-1990.

During his tenure with the Giants, Belichick won two Super Bowls as defensive coordinator, one in 1986, and one in 1990. His brilliance as defensive coordinator landed him a job as head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991. The season prior to Bill arriving in Cleveland, the Browns were 3-13 and within four seasons, Belichick had the team in the playoffs. That’s right, Bill Belichick took the Browns to the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns.

The next season, Bill and the Browns struggled to a 5-11 record and Belichick was fired following the season as the franchise moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Ravens. Bill wouldn’t be out of work long as he joined the New England Patriots as assistant head coach and secondary coach. Belichick’s tenure in New England would only last one season before he moved on to the New York Jets to work under Bill Parcells.

After serving three years as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach with the Jets, Belichick was named head coach of the team after Parcells stepped down. Bill’s tenure as head coach of the Jets would last all of one day as he resigned and took the head coaching position with the Patriots.

Bill Belichick’s first season in New England was a forgetful one as the team went 5-11. Apparently Belichick isn’t a fan of losing because the Patriots haven’t had a losing season since. That’s right, the New England Patriots haven’t had a single losing season since 2000. A lot of that has to do with the Patriots’ sixth-round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, Michigan quarterback Tom Brady.

The very next season, Belichick and Brady would lead the Patriots to the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl championship. New England has since reached five more Super Bowls, winning three, on their way to one of the winningest stretches in the history of the NFL.

Bill Belichick is in his 17th season as head coach of the New England Patriots and he’s only missed the playoffs three times: 2000, 2002 and 2008. In 2008, Tom Brady tore his ACL in the first game of the season, but the Patriots still went on to win 11 games with Matt Cassel as the team’s starting quarterback.

Overall, Belichick has a 226-113 record as a head coach in the NFL, which is good for a 66.7 winning percentage. As impressive as that statistic is, Bill Belichick doesn’t have the highest winning percentage in NFL history, nor does he have the all-time wins. Heck, he doesn’t even have the best playoff winning percentage. So how can he be considered among the greatest coaches in league history?

Let me first say, in my opinion, Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach in NFL history. Many will point to “SpyGate” and “DeflateGate” as knocks against him, but none of that matters. Was it wrong? Sure, and the team has been punished for each incident, but the team consistently finishes the season with double-digit victories even without the perceived cheating.

A lot of people will give the majority of the credit for the Patriots’ success to Tom Brady, and while he deserves part of the credit, Belichick is the head coach that drafted Brady in the sixth-round and helped develop him into the quarterback he is today. There’s no chance that Tom is quite possibly the greatest quarterback in NFL history without the presence of Belichick. No chance.

Bill is a student of the game. He understands how to take advantage of his opponents’ weaknesses. He studies film and creates some of the greatest gameplans we’ve ever seen. Remember the Sunday night game in 2014 when the Patriots went to take on the Indianapolis Colts and a guy by the name of Jonas Gray rushed 37 times for 201 yards and four touchdowns? Here it is two years later and Gray only has 588 rushing yards for his career.

Or how about in Super Bowl 49 when the Patriots dissected the Seattle Seahawks’ defense with quick routes and short throws en route to a massive upset? Or the numerous times they’ve shut down the best quarterbacks in the league? Or in 2008 when Cassel won those 11 games for the Patriots? Sure, they missed the playoffs, but it led to Cassel getting a massive contract with the Kansas City Chiefs and he’s only won 24 games in the eight years since.

Let’s look at this year. The New England Patriots were expected to struggle with Tom Brady being suspended the first four games of the season. All the experts said the Patriots were going to lose their season opener on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. They won. Then last night, everyone thought New England would struggle starting a rookie quarterback and Belichick constructed a gameplan that ended in a 27-0 victory.

So while Bill Belichick may not be the all-time winningest head coach, nor have the best winning percentage in NFL history, he is tied with Chuck Noll for the most Super Bowl victories with four and is tied Don Shula for the most Super Bowl appearances. If not for two all-time great catches by David Tyree and Mario Manningham, Bill Belichick would be 6-0 in Super Bowls.

Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, and Don Shula all deserve consideration when talking about the greatest coaches of all time, but those guys also had some of the greatest teams in NFL history. Belichick has never been blessed with a top-tier talent save from Brady, one year of Randy Moss, and Rob Gronkowski, but he’s put together the best system in football that gets the most of its talent.

Bill Belichick always puts his players in the best position to succeed and it’s why he’s the greatest head coach in NFL history.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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