Early in the 2014 NFL regular season, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick stood in front of the assembled media following an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Asked repeatedly about the state of that team, and the status of staring quarterback Tom Brady, the legendary head coach demurred each time stating simply: “We’re on to Cincinnati.”
Bill Belichick and the Patriots have gone full circle
As his days in New England appear numbers, Bill Belichick forges ahead
Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
It became a rallying cry in and around New England, as the team would go on to beat the Cincinnati Bengals in dominating fashion the following week, and ended up winning the Super Bowl.
Year later, Belichick is trying a similar tactic.
Only the questions are about him, and his future.
Days after reporting emerged on NBC Sports Boston that his fate has already been decided, and that he and the Patriots are going to “part ways” at the end of the season, Belichick again addressed the media. When speaking Wednesday Belichick was asked multiple times about the reporting, repeating the same answer each time.
“I’m getting ready for Kansas City.”
Things have come full circle for Belichick. After a loss to the Chiefs back in 2014, he was facing questions about just how good a team he had in that building, and if he remained confident in Brady. Jimmy Garoppolo was waiting in the wings, and many around Foxborough wondered if the aging Brady was good enough at that point in his career to deliver New England back to greatness.
We know how that story ends. Brady brought New England three more titles, and the Patriots enjoyed a second stint as the NFL’s premier dynasty.
But 2014 is a lifetime ago. Brady is retired, and the Patriots have not won a playoff game since he last bolted out of the tunnel in Gillette Stadium wearing a Patriots uniform. New England has already been eliminated from the playoffs, and the Patriots can only hope to play spoilers down the stretch, starting this weekend with a Kansas City organization that sparked that rallying cry almost a decade ago.
However, now the mantra is focused not on the team, but on the man that helped build those dynasties. And, if the reporting is to believed, even playing the role of spoiler down the stretch might not be enough to save Belichick in New England.
A scenario that seemed almost unimaginable just a few seasons ago.
Such is life in the NFL.
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