Patriots: Bill Belichick and ‘the last 25 years’ of triumphs and anguish

Part of the “Patriot Way” is not resting on past accomplishments.  It also means not hanging your head on past failures.  That is what has made New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick such a great motivator in his tenure as the man in Foxborough.

If you are a new age Patriots fan, meaning you grew up only knowing Tom Brady as your quarterback, Belichick as your coach and Super Bowl appearances seemingly every other year, the last two decades have spoiled you into only knowing winning.

That is way an 8-9 season seems like one of those 1-15 seasons old age Patriots fans got use to back in the late 1900’s with paper bags over their heads.  The reason why it seemed so bad is that Belichick, cheating scandals (Spygate and Deflategate) and all, molded this franchise as the model organization in the NFL.  Brady played a big part in that, but treating each game as a new game and each season as a new season is what set the Patriots apart.

Bill Belichick always made sure the Patriots remained humbled and hungry

In victory, they didn’t ride on a win and in defeat, they used each loss as a motivator.  That was Belichick’s why of getting through to players.  A job wasn’t earned on past achievements, a job was earned doing your job going forward.  That goes for Belichick himself.

Without Brady, that resume hasn’t been as impressive.  A team mirrored around the .500 mark hasn’t looked like a typical Belichick team since the legend of TB12 walked out that door.  Belichick has often been out-coached and made decisions with coaching and player personnel that would’ve had any other coach kicked out of Foxborough.

Six Super Bowl championships, 9 appearances and dominance for two decades has given Patriots owner Robert Kraft every reason not to move on from Belichick.  That is the optimism fans are supposed to hang their head on.  At least that is the answer the Patriots coach gave when asked what fans should be optimistic about at the NFL Owners’ Meetings.

"“I don’t know.  The last 25 years,” Belichick answered."

You know Patriots fans, former players and critics wasn’t letting that slide. It prompted this response from Patriots legend Tedy Bruschi who has no problem holding his former coach accountable for this particular contradiction.

"“That’s my guy who had a little slip right there,” Bruschi said, as transcribed by NESN.  “I don’t know how many times I’ve been in meetings with Coach Belichick and the very first meeting is, ‘I don’t care about anything in the past.’  We win Super Bowls, ‘last year doesn’t matter.’ Pro Bowls don’t matter, All-Pros don’t matter. ‘Everything you’ve done last year doesn’t matter fellas.  It’s about who we are going forward.’”"

Bill Belichick still has room to mark his legacy as Patriots head coach

So, who is Bill Belichick and who are the Patriots going forward?  The team made some moves in free agency and appear to make moves like trading for Lamar Jackson that would put them back into relevance.  While Belichick took the time to clarify his statement by saying “we’re not resting on our past laurels,” it doesn’t take away from what fans had to endure the “last 25 years”.

Don’t get it twisted, there has been just as much anguish as there has been accomplishments.  Because the end results typically ended with success, we, the fans bought into the “In Bill We Trust” mantra.

All the cheating scandals, all the grumpy podium remarks, bad decisions like not playing Malcolm Butler or even keeping Brady in a Patriots uniform till he retired will irk us until he puts another winning team on the field. This is the Belichick Patriots fans have had to defend the “last 25 years” and while we will ride with our coach, now is the time to hold him accountable.

Those Super Bowl banners hanging in Gillette Stadium is every reminder of what dominance looks like, but they are also reminders of what the current team isn’t…give us a real reason to be optimistic Coach Belichick.