How Much is Patriots Belichick Motivated to Win Without Brady?

New England's future Hall-of-Fame coach reportedly feels pressure to win without the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback

Bill Belichick is a football God who in eight NFL seasons without Tom Brady has exactly one playoff win.

Similar tale for San Antonio Spurs’ royalty Gregg Popovich, who in 19 NBA years with Tim Duncan won five NBA championships but without him hasn’t sniffed The Finals and the last three seasons has missed the playoffs. In baseball, revered manager Joe Torre won four World Series with the New York Yankees but in 17 other seasons with four different teams – without the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera – went to the postseason only twice.

70-year-old legend

Bill Belichick

Belichick & Mac Jones

Moral to the story: The best players with the worst coach will (usually) beat the best coach with the worst players.

And so comes the New England Patriots 2022 season and the challenge for Belichick: Enhance his immortal legacy by winning a Super Bowl without the greatest Super Bowl winner.

Though he recently turned 70, Belichick is reportedly working harder than ever and continuing his "no days off" work ethic. According to Sports Illustrated, Belichick is more hands-on than ever and determined to cement his legacy by winning without Brady.

Says the article:

“Belichick still loves doing it. That much is obvious. I had someone there tell me that this offseason he’s actually working more than he has in the recent past, which only speaks to the fact that, to borrow paraphrase an old [Marv] Levy-ism, there really isn’t any place he’d rather be. I’ve heard for more than a decade that those around him believe he wants to show he can win with the Patriots without [Tom] Brady. He got the franchise Mac Jones and a playoff berth last year. The next step is showing that legit championship contention is on the horizon. If Belichick can get there, too, he’ll be in better position to hand something good off to whoever the next guy in Foxborough is—which I believe is another thing he wants to do.”

With eight Super Bowl rings in his career (two with the New York Giants as a defensive assistant and six with the Patriots as head coach), Belichick’s place in history - and Canton - has long since been assured.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Belichick & Brady

(Cred: Boston Herald, Staff Photo by Matt Stone)

The Holy Trinity

Coaching Yoda, in a hoodie

But Brady has won a championship without Belichick. And a host of legendary coaches across all sports stopped winning when their star players departed. Similarly, Jerry Jones has been (unsuccessfully) trying for 26 seasons to prove he can win in Dallas without Jimmy Johnson.

The next step in Belichick’s offseason work comes with the start of the NFL Draft April 28.