I've Convinced Myself Bill Belichick Is Trying To Lose: And Doing It Better Than Anyone Ever Has

For the record, I’m on the Tom Brady side of the “who made who more” argument when it comes to him and Belichick. Emphasis on the word “more”. They both made each other.

But that doesn’t by any means negate the brilliance of Belichick and how much of a football mastermind he is. Brady would’ve won anywhere, but no way he wins six without Bill. 

Since Bill is a certified football genius, it makes you wonder how he and the Patriots have fallen from grace so fast. How every decision he makes seems to be so wrong, leaving you scratching your head wondering if the 71-year-old occasionally forgets to take his Alzheimer’s meds.

For weeks, I’ve thought he’s lost his touch. You could argue years, dating back to last season’s co-offensive coordinator debacle. 

But after watching Sunday’s game against the Giants (yes, I watched the whole game like a sicko), I’ve now convinced myself he’s even more of a genius than ever before. 

Mac Jones peaked his rookie season. He made the Pro Bowl**** (everyone makes the Pro Bowl), the Pats won 10 games, but proceeded to get smoked in the first round of the playoffs by the Bills. 

Bill saw then what no one else could/did.

That was the ceiling for the Mac Jones-led Patriots. For all that Mac looked that year, the questions of arm strength and ability to move the ball down the field have always been there. There’s a reason he was the fifth QB drafted in that draft.

After losing McDaniels to the Raiders, Bill was forced with a decision: be mediocre for years to come without having a realistic chance of winning anything of significance, or start an atomic bomb-like implosion to be able to rebuild in two years time, while simultaneously remaining in the vague scope of relevance.

He chose the latter. 

What else justifies the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge nepotism co-hire to mentally destroy a young and naïve Mac Jones?

What else justifies not signing any, literally any, high profile, highly talented WRs in the three years Mac has been there?

And what else justifies how he’s handled the QB room this season, benching Mac four times in the first eleven games for the likes of Bailey Zappe who is somehow even worse than a broken Big Mac?

He’s trying to lose. 

And he’s doing so so perfectly it’s like he’s not.

He’s continued to coach solid defense despite losing most of the best players on that unit, so saying he’s lost his touch from a defensive schematics perspective is invalid and incorrect. It’s the offense that is so dreadful it makes me want to spend my Sunday’s putting Christmas lights around my house instead of watching the Patriots play. And it’s all, or mostly, Bill’s fault.

He decided two years ago to slowly debilitate Mac Jones, and has done so in an excruciatingly painful way you can’t help but feel bad for the guy. He drafted a kicker who can kick the ball a country mile in every direction but straight in the fourth round, missing extra point-length kicks to lose to the Giants. It’s so bad in New England nearly every Bostonian is calling for Bill’s head.

But the Patriots will have a top three pick more than likely. That should, please lord, be either a new franchise hopeful QB, or Marvin Harrison Jr. Pair that with having one of the most cap dollars in the league, money that again, please lord, is used correctly, and a defense that will always keep this team in games as long as Bill is creating the game plan, and the Patriots are right back in the mix. I’m talking as soon as next year.

That’s how the game is played. It’s not easy being an evil emperor. Sometimes you have to create a sacrificial lamb for the betterment of the empire. That’s what he’s done. That’s why he’s Bill Belichick and you’re not. 

Either that or he was trying to be good all along and has completely lost touch with how to successfully coach in the modern NFL and all hope in New England is gone forever. One or the other.