The NFL is full of stories about the origins of head coaches and that tree descend. Not to go back to forgotten times, the greatest contemporary trunk comes from Bill Walsh, the architect of the West Coast Offense. Head coaches like Andy Reid, Ron Rivera, John Harbaugh O Mike Tomlin descended from genius. Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Zac Taylor O Matt LaFleur they have ties to all proceeding from Mike Shanahan, who in turn has a part of his origins in George Seifert, Bill Walsh’s lieutenant.
In front of Bill Walsh was for a long time Bill Parcells, from whose trunk descends Bill Belichick and with whom he won two Super Bowls as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. Belichick, the most diligent student of The Big Tuna He has long since surpassed his mentor and has written his own history, six Super Bowls and all kinds of records and records that will hardly be repeated. But there is something that stands out in BB: his tree ends with him.
The Branches of the Bill Belichick Tree
Belichick’s first foray as head coach was the Cleveland Browns, where he finished with a 36-44 record and one playoff entry in four seasons. When the team moved to Baltimore, Art Modell fired him. Thus, Belichick was able to join Jimmy Johnson’s Miami Dolphins, but preferred to reunite with Bill Parcells in New England, who was later followed by the New York Jets. When Parcells decides to step aside, in his capacity as the highest executive, he appoints Belichick as head coach of the Jets, who only hours later resigns to be named Head Coach in New England, in the middle of a tremendous controversy.
BB’s first year, with rookie Tom Brady as QB3, ended with a 5-11 record. The next, to the surprise of the entire league, the New England Patriots, already with Brady as QB, give the bell in the Super Bowl by beating the then all-powerful St. Louis Rams. After a gray 2002, they rebound in 2003 and 2004, dominating the league and taking another two Super Bowls. In those teams Charlie Weis, offensive coordinator, and Romeo Crennel, defensive coordinator, have already begun to emerge, these in turn had Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia and Eric Mangini below.
Weis and Crennel are the first to take off. The former marched to Notre Dame in college football, while the latter to the Cleveland Browns. This was fired after four seasons (24-40) while the first lasted five years in the Fighting Irish before being fired, without winning any Bowl.
Next to jump were Mangini to the New York Jets and McDaniels to the Denver Broncos. The former became more famous for uncovering the scandal of the Spygate than for his work as HC, where he finished with a 23-25 record. Inexplicably (or not, because of the fame Belichick had already achieved by then), he was Crennel’s replacement at Cleveland, where he was 10-22 in two seasons. For his part, McDaniels did not finish his second season in Denver (11-17) where he proved not prepared for the position.
While some marched, other future head coaches such as Bill O’Brien, Brian Flores or Joe Judge joined Bill Belichick’s staff. Matt Patricia and the aforementioned O’Brien ended up being fired outright in Detroit and Houston, leaving both teams shattered. Flores and Judge’s projects are beginning to be questioned in a league that demands immediate results.
What is clear is that Bill Belichick’s tree does not seem capable of producing branches that bear fruit. We can even trace a part of his assistants in his time in Cleveland who have failed as head coaches in the NFL, such as Nick Saban, Jim Schwartz and Al Groh.
On the other hand, the current NFL season has not started well for the branches of Bill Belichick’s tree. Flores and Judge combine a negative 2-8 record. Will both be the following branches to wither on Belichick tree?
The trunk of the tree remains
While all the branches of the tree have produced practically no viable fruit, the trunk had remained stronger than ever … until, in 2020, Tom Brady left New England. The first year without the QB, the Patriots finished with a negative 7-9 record, something that had not happened since 2000. Meanwhile, Tom Brady has already won a Super Bowl with his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Is the very trunk of the tree beginning to dry up, I mean, Bill Belichick? Right now, in New England, things are not going exactly well, despite having a 2-3 record with wins against the NY Jets and the Houston Texans. Belichick burned an astronomical amount of money in the Free Agency and recovered players who did not participate in 2020 due to COVID 19 with hardly any results to offer. The equipment does not finish working, They just traded CB Stephon Gilmore for a modest sixth round and the schedule does not invite optimism.
What is undeniable is the common link between all the branches of the Belichick tree: none had a Tom Brady from QB. Coincidence or not, Belichick’s own tree seems to be drying up without the presence of Tom Brady, who not only wins Super Bowls, but at 44 is playing at a very high level. And coincidence or not, neither in Cleveland Bill Belichick had a Tom Brady.
Not so long ago, the debate in the Brady-Belichick duo centered on whether it was the chicken or the egg before. Perhaps the debate that needs to be raised now is whether Tom Brady was the water that watered the tree.
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