The news of Bill Belichick’s move to college football, to become the next head coach for the UNC Tar Heels, has taken the NFL world by storm. Analysts have been deciphering Belichick’s decision to not join an NFL franchise. And, it has led to some interesting theories including Skip Bayless’ assertion that Belichick is an overrated NFL head coach.
Advertisement
Following Belichick’s signing, it was reported that he was “disgusted” with NFL teams and their hiring process. It led to some, including Bayless, to question if other NFL organizations really viewed Belichick as the “greatest head coach of all time”.
Bayless believes Tom Brady propped up Bill’s entire career.
“I believe a lot of GMs have come around the same way I’ve been thinking about Bill Belichick for the past 10 years,” Bayless said on his YouTube video. “Way overrated as an NFL head coach. Very good defensive coordinator, but as a head coach, product of Tom Brady.”
It’s a bold claim to make, even for Bayless, who is known for his hot takes. However, he came prepared with numbers that were hard to argue against.
During his time as head coach with the Cleveland Browns (1991-95), Belichick went 30-34 and 1-1 in the playoffs. And, when he joined the New England Patriots in 2000, he was 5-11 in his first season, before falling to 0-2 in his second.
“That guy Brady fell out of heaven into his lap out of the sixth round, and the rest is history,” continued Bayless, mentioning that without Brady in New England, Belichick was 34-51. And after Brady left for Tampa Bay, in his last four years with the Patriots, he went 29-38.
The numbers are hard to argue with. When Brady was there, Belichick won Super Bowls. When he wasn’t, his team looked just about okay.
To further strengthen his argument, Bayless recounted how every Patriots Super Bowl had a Tom Brady game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. And the two years they lost, it was to a lowly Eli Manning-led Giants team, and a backup quarterback in Nick Foles. Two blemishes on an otherwise stellar resume.
While it’s easy to agree to Bayless’ argument solely based on the numbers, they don’t present a fully objective picture. Any head coach without a competent quarterback is going to struggle. And Belichick had a handful of average quarterbacks in the years without Brady. That included Drew Bledsoe, Cam Newton in the late stages of his career, and draft bust Mac Jones.
A season that is rarely brought up in Belichick’s career is 2008. Brady only took 11 pass attempts that year before tearing his ACL and missing 15 out of the 16 games. Matt Cassel stepped in, and the Patriots maintained a top-five offense through the season. However, the Patriots somehow missed the playoffs despite a 11-5 record.
That had a lot to do with the quality of the division the Patriots were part of. For perspective, the Chargers made the playoffs that season with an 8-8 record because the AFC West was not as competitive a division as AFC East.
The season still showed Belichick’s ability to coach a good team without Brady. If he can find a stable quarterback at UNC and develop a defense akin to what he had in New England, the Tar Heels should find success. However, Bill will surely face constant scrutiny from analysts like Bayless all along.
