Bill Belichick is moving to college football to become the next head coach for the UNC Tar Heels, and the news has taken the NFL world by storm. Analysts from every corner of sports have been analyzing Belichick’s decision to go to college instead of what was expected to be an NFL franchise. And it’s led to some interesting theories. One of those theories, as Skip Bayless has been professing, is that Belichick is an overrated NFL head coach.
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It was reported following Belichick’s signing that he was “disgusted” with NFL teams and their hiring process. It led some, like Bayless, to question if other NFL organizations really view Belichick as the “greatest head coach of all time”. Bayless thinks that they don’t, and that Bill’s entire career has been propped up by Tom Brady.
“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 for Bayless to make, but he’s known for his hot takes. This time, however, he came prepared with numbers that were hard to argue with. During his time in Cleveland, Belichick went 30-34 and 1-1 in the playoffs. Then he went to New England and 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. He went on to mention 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 okay.
To even further strengthen his argument, Bayless recounted how every Patriots Super Bowl had a Tom Brady game-winning drive in the fourth quarter that propelled them to victory. And the two years he 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 hear Bayless’ argument and agree based solely on the numbers, they’re also a bit unfair. Any head coach without a competent quarterback is going to struggle, and Belichick had a handful of incompetent quarterbacks in the years without Brady. Like 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 season before tearing his ACL and missing 15/16 games. Matt Cassel stepped in, and the Patriots maintained a top-five offense in the game. However, the Patriots somehow missed the playoffs, albeit with an 11-5 record.
For reference, the Chargers made the playoffs with an 8-8 record because the AFC West was not a good division.
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 be set up for success. But it’s not going to stop analysts like Bayless from tearing him down in the process.
