Nah, they haven’t won a playoff game in 5 years and made quick exits in 2 of the last 5 years. That’s good for a lot of teams but they’re a bit spoiled in Boston after the long run of success.
There’s been “hot seat” talk about him for a few years now and it’s only those 6 championships that made it seem ridiculous until now. It’s exactly because of his success he’s been given longer than many coaches would have given their track record over the last several seasons.
Likability has zero impact on it. Might even be a detriment. Lots of likable coaches have gotten the axe over the years. That’s why the league is often called Not For Long, and he was already an exception to that rule a decade ago
ETA: I mean, that’s what happened his first go around as HC in Cleveland. He got cut after a few seasons while they were still in rebuilding mode. He definitely wasn’t liked so he got himself fired sooner than he might otherwise have. And look at the result of that - he was the best HC the Browns had until they got Stefanski
Yeah, that surprised me as well. He was HC there for six years. They had winning seasons for the first four years, and made the playoffs three times, getting to the AFC championship game once. They were the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs just two years ago, but lost in their first game to the Bengals. The last two seasons, however, they finished under .500.
Like you, I think he’ll land somewhere else relatively soon.
Gotta wonder about his relationship with Ran Carthon. You don’t fire a coach like that unless you’re some kind of idiot owner (and Amy Adams Strunk is usually considered one of the better ones) or there’s a lot of friction with the front office. Sounds like maybe there was some office politicking
I think it’s also worth noting that almost all of his success in New England came when Tom Brady was the quarterback, and ended when Brady left, which has to lead to questions about how much of their success was Bill’s doing.
(My personal opinion is that Belichick is a genius and probably the greatest head coach in NFL history, and I say this as someone who does not care for the man himself and hates the Patriots as a team.)
I know that’s a popular hot take, but they went 11-5 (though missing the playoffs) with Matt friggin’ Cassel at QB when Brady went down in the first drive of Game 1 in '08. Maybe people can talk about declining powers after so many years but that alone was a pretty nifty job of coaching.
So I’m with you (and a lot of other people) in thinking the guy is arguably the greatest head coach in NFL history. But probably also not alone in thinking he’s maybe not the greatest talent evaluator around
I’m also reminded of the fact that Brady’s last year in New England was pretty bad and it was a big reason why Brady and the Patriots parted ways. Of course, Brady went to Tampa Bay and was a big factor in them winning the Super Bowl the next year. It’s really hard to tell who deserves credit for what.
I think Belichick is a genius because of how he analyzes other teams, finds their weaknesses, and exploits them. The Patriots for years was like a shapeshifter which changed how they played each weak to become the worst matchup for every team they faced. He is also reportedly a walking history book and can recite things about football history (and other historical facts) off the top of his head. And some of the stuff he cooked up on the field was brilliant, like the ability to prep his team so well that they could get a play set and snapped in seconds to catch a team off-guard. That happened so often it became a cliche.
There is an article in The Athletic today (it’s paywalled, so I won’t bother linking to it) laying into Strunk and her shambolic and chaotic approach to front office/HC hirings/firings. The title of the article is: “Titans give Mike Vrabel the pink slip, but Amy Adams Strunk created the problem.” A representative quote:
It’s the accumulation of decisions — massive decisions, some of them contradicting previous massive decisions in short order — that speak to an aimless approach to leading this franchise.
I’m sure the 49ers will lose their assistant GM* Adam Peters to somebody. The Commanders and Raiders have asked for interviews already. I don’t think he’s really the “real brains” of John Lynch’s front office, as some fans and pundits claim, but he’s certainly a valuable piece of it. I’ve seen Peters floated as a possible GM for New England, whether or not Belichick stays, as he was a scout there for six seasons the in the 2000s.
The Pats have supposedly been grooming Jerod Mayo to be Belichick’s replacement for quite a while. While the Vrabel connection makes obvious sense, they would probably be burning some bridges if the moved on from Bill and handed the gig to Vrabel.
That’s not to say they won’t do that, but worth keeping in the back of your mind. Vrabel in Washington feels like the right fit to me. If the Bears actually boot Eberflus and Harbaugh falls through; Vrabel would be an interesting addition if he can bring a good OC along with him.
Mayo has only been a coach for 4 years, not really “quite a while”. After last year’s coaching fiasco they sort of subtly announced that he was the heir apparent, but they didn’t expect it to be this soon - they were probably thinking 3 more years of Belichick, elevating Mayo one or 2 times during that period. Frankly, it’s nuts to hand the top job to someone who’s maybe had one year as an unofficial defensive coordinator.
It’s not that crazy. Among the current set, DeMeco Ryans had 5 years of coaching before getting the Houston job. And done a pretty good job all around. Even Mike Vrabel had limited coaching experience (3 college, 4 NFL) before Tennessee hired him.
That said, we also have the case of Jeff Saturday getting the interim HC gig in Indy despite not being one of the coordinators and having basically no coaching experience (and had an inside track at the top spot) but that got kiboshed. Another case of one of the worse owners setting a very low bar. Jim Irsay kinda went for Dan Snyder’s spot there. That really was nuts.
None of those cases are necessarily indicative of the result if Jerod Mayo is tabbed, but a relatively short coaching resume is not necessarily a sign of insanity, especially if it is backed by learning/experience under a good coach.
As @Great_Antibob said, there’s been plenty of examples of inexperienced coaches getting HC gigs. Some were pretty successful. Some not. Being an HC is an executive job and is more about vision, people skills and creating a culture. None of that really requires a wealth of experience. Mayo’s biggest challenge would probably be hiring a staff. Compare him to Antonio Pierce and I think there’s a fair bit of similarity.
That said, if he and Vrabel have a mutual respect and Vrabel is willing to keep Mayo on. Promote him to DC, Defensive Passing Coordinator or some other hybrid role, even maybe as assistant head coach, it could provide the best of both worlds.
In other horrible news.
Which is classic fucking Bears. What a pathetic excuse for a professional franchise.
They have a golden opportunity to reboot the whole fucking thing. A great slate of available head coaching candidates. The 1st overall pick with a highly touted QB class. An ascending OL and defense. Tons of cap space and the ability to possibly turn Fields into more assets. They even have a GM who, until now anyways, seemed to have his head screwed on right. Everything was there.
And what do they do? The least possible. They fire the OC, QB Coach, RB Coach and WR Coach and Assistant TEs coach (???), so basically the entire offensive staff, but they keep the lame duck HC who hired all those clowns. And who also hired the previous DC who had to be let go for “inappropriate behavior”. This means they are sticking with Fields but asking him to learn a brand new system, or they are drafting a rookie but asking him to play his rookie year under a HC whose seat is engulfed in flames starting week 1.
Just utterly inept. Whelp, hopefully this means they fire Poles and Eberflus this time next year. When this inevitably goes bad, Poles will need to own this idiotic half measure.