A Complicated End, But an Uncomplicated Legacy

Bill Belichick is not the head coach of the New England Patriots, and I don't know how to feel.

This isn't like Tom Brady. For Boston natives and diehard Patriots fans, especially those in their late 20s who haven't known any other Patriots team such as myself, Brady's departure was a gut punch. The writing may have been on the wall but it was faint and never in permanent marker. It stung even more because we all knew it was the beginning of the end. The rollercoaster was over. The dynasty was on its last legs.

Belichick, though... It's been clear for two seasons now where this was going. A gradual unraveling of everything he built. Each draft bust and failed coaching hire serving as the final nails in his coffin. Patriots Nation has had the privilege of watching from the mountaintop as dozens of NFL coaches have led themselves to their demise over the years. We knew what it looked like-- nepotism hires and an obvious reluctance to change what had once worked, a frigid relationship with local media (which Belichick had by the end, even by his standards) and leaks coming from places we've never seen before. It's one thing to watch it happen to other teams and see the string play out exactly as it does every single time. It feels... weird watching it happen to Belichick, the one figure everyone assumed was immune to the standard process.

Because that's pretty much his entire coaching tenure, right? The bad things that happened to other teams didn't happen to Belichick teams. They always seemed to get the favorable call at the most opportune moment. He was never behind the curve of innovation, and instead was often at the forefront. His players always did the right thing at exactly the right time with a borderline disturbing consistency, to the point it caused allegations of cheating (many justified, just as many not). For those who were fans, it felt comfortable to assume Belichick would never fall victim to the same issues that led to the downfall of those before him. For those who weren't fans, that was always the safest assumption because it meant he couldn't prove you wrong.

And that was indeed the case. Until it wasn't. The dynasty is officially, unequivocally done. And I don't know how to feel.

However complicated the end of his tenure was, though, Belichick's legacy is not. He is the greatest coach of all time and his 24-year reign with New England will go down in history as the most dominant stretch by a coach ever. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

His record without Brady will be thrown around in the coming days, weeks, and months as Belichick's legacy is discussed. It isn't good and does prove a point that any football coach, no matter how great, needs an excellent quarterback to win multiple championships. But it should not take away what Belichick has accomplished. All the defensive gameplans he drew up that were designed to stifle a player or scheme down to the finest detail, oftentimes so successful that every other team in the league copied it to a T (see: The Greatest Show on Turf and Sean McVay). The personnel moves he'd make that felt colder than ice that almost always worked out in his favor. The leadership he had to provide as the head coach of a team that won Super Bowls a decade apart.

There were mistakes aplenty. There were scandals, some of horrific nature, and some that were absurd at the time and have aged worse. Belichick was, without fail, an asshole to media members just trying to do their job for nearly every day of his entire tenure. A trait that is not and should not be commendable yet was seen as a fun quirk of personality because the team was so good for so long.

But no revisionist history will ever take away the football coach he was with the Patriots and the incredible feats he pulled off. More than that, he became part of the fabric of everyday life for tens of millions of fans. Constants like that, surviving for over 20 years, are once-in-a-lifetime occurrences. And that, more than anything, is his legacy-- for all the good and bad about Belichick, he was always there. That means a lot to people, and it's why you'll have thoughts like these circulating around you in the coming months.

There will be a lot of metaphors out there comparing Belichick's departure to the death of a loved one or something of the ilk. I see that as low-hanging fruit in the analogy department and a comparison that belies an outsized level of seriousness to the situation. It's sports, after all. Instead, I would say this is more like the closing of your favorite restaurant. It's been there for decades and you went for 20 years and it was delicious every single time. It became an institution, an indelible part of life. And then the head chef left and the owner was left scrambling. The restaurant stayed open but the quality decreased; slowly, at first, and then very quickly all at once. Belichick's departure from those sidelines he roamed all these years is the closing of that restaurant. You're very sad to see it go, but you also knew it was time. There will be another restaurant; it won't be the same.

But it was time.