PATRIOTS
What was Bill Belichick’s record with New England Patriots without Tom Brady?
The Krafts may have played a role in his lack of a coaching job, but “greatest ever” coach Belichick’s record without Brady went from legendary to ordinary.
ESPN released a bombshell report that made claims that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft may have warned other NFL teams “not to trust” their former head coach of 24 years, Bill Belichick. The report claims that no one on the Atlanta Falcons staff, who Belichick felt confident would hire him, even had him in their top three candidates. The anonymous source claims that Kraft had a lot to do with the fact that the Falcons ended up choosing Raheem Morris instead.
The relationship between Robert Kraft and Belichick had begun to deteriorate before they parted ways due to a falling out with quarterback Tom Brady. Later in Brady’s time with the Patriots, there was often a power battle between he and Belichick, who maintained majority control over the Patriots during most of his 24-year tenure there.
As it stands, Belichick did not get hired as head coach of any NFL team for the 2024 season, but is still confident he’ll land somewhere in 2025 and is apparently eying the NFC East’s Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants as his top choices. Whether or not Kraft did send out a warning about Belichick to the Falcons or any other NFL team heading into this season, one fact remains: Belichick is the most accomplished coach in NFL history, but his last four years with the Patriots, without Brady, was quite the opposite of accomplished. Perhaps that - plus his age, 72 - could have something to do with it as well.
Belichick’s record with the Patriots post-Brady
Over 29 seasons as an NFL head coach, Belichick won the most Super Bowls of any head coach in NFL history (six), had the most playoff wins of any head coach (31), and the third-most regular-season victories (302) of any head coach after Don Shula and George Halas. He is 302-165 (.647 win percentage) and is 31-13 in the postseason (.705 win percentage).
However, his success deteriorated significantly once Brady left the Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the four seasons that followed Brady’s departure, Belichick’s Patriots made the playoffs only once. With Brady as his starting quarterback, Belichick’s record with the Patriots was 219-64 (.774). Without him during that same span, his record with the Patriots was 47-57 (.452). After Brady left for the Bucs, Belichick’s Patriots went 29-38 (.433) with just the one postseason appearance and no AFC East titles in four years.
Including his five years with the Cleveland Browns, which were also much less successful, Belichick has a record of 83-101 without Brady as his starting quarterback. In the 10 years that Belichick coached without Brady as his starting quarterback, he made the playoffs only twice total, has just three winning records, and is just 1-2 in the postseason with no division titles. By contrast, together with Brady, over 18 seasons, Belichick and the Patriots won six Super Bowls, had 18 winning seasons, 17 AFC East titles, and 30 playoff victories.
Belichick’s 83-101 (.451) record without Brady is shockingly one of the worst in NFL history. His last season with the Patriots, they finished 4-13 and dead last in the AFC East, which led to his being fired. He’ll still go down in history as one of the best head coaches of all time, but it will be forever linked to Tom Brady. Without him, and at 72 years old with this tainted relationship with his former team, does Belichick have a future as a head coach in the NFL or has his time come and gone? According to ESPN’s anonymous source, “I don’t think Bill Belichick will ever be a head coach again in the National Football League...Unless it’s [for] Jerry Jones.”